"Now thin, Colonel."
Next second they both found themselves on the flat of their backs. The
stone had given with a run.
Up sprang Harold like a kitten. The broken stone was standing edgeways
in the kist. There was something soft beneath it.
"The light, George," he said hoarsely.
Beneath the stone were some layers of rotten linen.
Was it a shroud, or what?
They pulled the linen out by handfuls. One! two! three!
/Oh, great heaven!/
There, under the linen, were row on row of shining gold coins set
edgeways.
For a moment everything swam before Harold's eyes, and his heart
stopped beating. As for George, he muttered something inaudible about
its being a "master one," and collapsed.
With trembling fingers Harold managed to pick out two pieces of gold
which had been disturbed by the upheaval of the stone, and held them
to the light. He was a skilled numismatist, and had no difficulty in
recognising them. One was a beautiful three-pound piece of Charles I.,
and the other a Spur Rial of James I.
That proved it. There was no doubt that this was the treasure hidden
by Sir James de la Molle. He it must have been also who had conceived
the idea of putting a false bottom to the kist and setting up the
skeleton to frighten marauders from the treasure, if by any chance
they should enter.
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