“Very good; but the ravine is all on the Glenarm side of the wall, isn’t it ? Now when we get under the wall I’ll show you something.”

“Here we are.” said Larry, as the cold air blew in through the hollow posts. “Now we’re pretty near that sharp curve of the ravine that dips away from the wall. Take the lantern while I get out the compass. What do you think that C on the piece of paper means ? Why, chapel, of course. I have measured the distance from the house, the point of departure, we may assume, to the chapel, and three-fourths of it brings us under those beautiful posts. The directions are as plain as daylight. The passage itself is your N. W., as the compass proves, and the ravine cuts close in here; therefore, our business is to explore the wall on the ravine side.”

“Good ! but this is just wall here—earth with a layer of brick and a thin coat of cement. A nice job it must have been to do the work,—and it cost the price of a tiger hunt,” I grumbled.

“Take heart, lad, and listen,”—and Larry began pounding the wall with a hammer, exactly under the north gate-post. We had sounded everything in and about the house until the process bored me.

“Hurry up and get through with it,” I jerked impatiently, holding the lantern at the level of his head. It was sharply cold under the posts and I was anxious to prove the worthlessness of his idea and be done.

Thump ! thump !

“There’s a place here that sounds a trifle off the key. You try it.”

I snatched the hammer and repeated his soundings.

Thump ! thump !

There was a space about four feet square in the wall that certainly gave forth a hollow sound.

“Stand back !” exclaimed Larry eagerly. “Here goes with the ax.”

He struck into the wall sharply and the cement chipped off in rough pieces, disclosing the brick beneath. Larry paused when he had uncovered a foot of the inner layer, and examined the surface.

“They’re loose—these bricks are loose, and there’s something besides earth behind them !”

I snatched the hammer and drove hard at the wall. The bricks were set up without mortar, and I plucked them out and rapped with my knuckles on a wooden surface.

Even Larry grew excited as we flung out the bricks. “Ah, lad,” he said, “the old gentleman had a way with him—he had a way with him !” A brick dropped on his foot and he howled in pain.

“Bless the old gentleman’s heart ! He made it as easy for us as he could. Now, for the Glenarm millions, —red money all piled up for the ease of counting it,— a thousand pounds in every pile.”