git to work?" He was so transparently inclined to be rude, and possibly to pick a quarrel, that I whispered a warning to Dick. To my great satisfaction he whispered back:—
"I see he wants to quarrel; nothing in the world will make me lose temper to-day." Then he took out his pocket-book, searched for and found a folded paper; opening this he read: "'and the said Richard Sutherland shall be at liberty to make use of such assistant as he may choose or appoint whensoever he may wish during the said engagement at his own expense.' You see, Mr. Murdock, I am quite within the four walls of the agreement, and exercise my right. I now tell you formally that Mr. Arthur Severn has kindly undertaken to assist me for to-day." Murdock glared at him for a minute, and then opened the gate and said:—
"Come in, gintlemin." We entered.
"Now, Mr. Murdoch!" said Dick, briskly, "what do you wish done to-day? Shall we make further examination of the bog where the iron indication is, or shall we finish the survey of the rest of the land?"
"Finish the rough survey!"
The operation was much less complicated than when we had examined the bog. We simply "quartered" the land, as the Constabulary say when they make search for hidden arms; and taking it bit by bit, passed the magnet over its surface. We had the usual finds of nails, horseshoes, and scrap iron, but no result of importance. The last place we examined was the house.
