My Buried Treasure | Page 6

treasure, until he found it. That's me! Now I know EXACTLY where
this treasure is, and----"
I suppose, involuntarily, I must have given a start of interest; for Edgar
paused and shook his head, slyly and cunningly. "And if you think I
have the map on my person now," he declared in triumph, "you'll have
to guess again!"
"Really," I protested, "I had no intention----"
"Not you, perhaps," said Edgar grudgingly; "but your Japanese valet
conceals himself behind those curtains, follows me home, and at
night----"
"I haven't got a valet," I objected.
Edgar merely smiled with the most aggravating self- sufficiency. "It
makes no difference," he declared. "NO ONE will ever find that map,
or see that map, or know where that treasure is, until I point to the
spot."
"Your caution is admirable," I said; "but what," I jeered, "makes you
think you can point to the spot, because your map says something like,
'Through the Sunken Valley to Witch's Caldron, four points N. by N. E.
to Gallows Hill where the shadow falls at sunrise, fifty fathoms west,
fifty paces north as the crow flies, to the Seven Wells'? How the
deuce," I demanded, "is any one going to point to that spot?"
"It isn't that kind of map," shouted Edgar triumphantly. " If it had been,
I wouldn't have gone on with it. It's a map anybody can read except a
half-caste Portuguese sailor. It's as plain as a laundry bill. It says," he
paused apprehensively, and then continued with caution, "it says at
such and such a place there is a something. So many somethings from
that something are three what-you-may-call- 'ems, and in the centre of
these three what-you-may-call-'ems is buried the treasure. It's as plain
as that!"

"Even with the few details you have let escape you," I said, "I could
find THAT spot in my sleep."
"I don't think you could," said Edgar uncomfortably; but I could see
that he had mentally warned himself to be less communicative. "And,"
he went on, "I am willing to lead you to it, if you subscribe to certain
conditions."
Edgar's insulting caution had ruffled my spirit.
"Why do you think you can trust ME?" I asked haughtily. And then,
remembering my share of the million dollars, I added in haste, "I accept
the conditions."
"Of course, as you say, one has got to take SOME risk," Edgar
continued; "but I feel sure," he said, regarding me doubtfully, "you
would not stoop to open robbery." I thanked him.
"Well, until one is tempted," said Edgar, "one never knows WHAT he
might do. And I've simply GOT to have one other man, and I picked on
you because I thought you could write about it."
"I see," I said, "I am to act as the historian of the expedition."
"That will be arranged later," said Edgar. "What I chiefly want you for
is to dig. Can you dig?" he asked eagerly. I told him I could; but that I
would rather do almost anything else.
"I MUST have one other man," repeated Edgar, "a man who is strong
enough to dig, and strong enough to resist the temptation to murder
me." The retort was so easy that I let it pass. Besides, on Edgar, it
would have been wasted.
"I THINK you will do," he said with reluctance. "And now the
conditions!"
I smiled agreeably.
"You are already sworn to secrecy," said Edgar. "And you now agree in

every detail to obey me implicitly, and to accompany me to a certain
place, where you will dig. If I find the treasure, you agree, to help me
guard it, and convey it to wherever I decide it is safe to leave it. Your
responsibility is then at an end. One year after the treasure is discovered,
you will be free to write the account of the expedition. For what you
write, some magazine may pay you. What it pays you will be your
share of the treasure."
Of my part of the million dollars, which I had hastily calculated could
not be less than one-fifth, I had already spent over one hundred
thousand dollars and was living far beyond my means. I had bought a
farm with a waterfront on the Sound, a motor-boat, and, as I was not
sure which make I preferred, three automobiles. I had at my own,
expense produced a play of mine that no manager had appreciated, and
its name in electric lights was already blinding Broadway. I had
purchased a Hollander express rifle, a REAL amber cigar holder, a
private secretary who could play both rag-time and tennis, and a fur
coat. So Edgar's generous offer left me naked. When I had again
accustomed myself to the narrow confines of my flat, and the