“On you, my lad, to be sure ! The old gentleman wanted you to study architecture; he wanted you to study his house; he even left a little pointer in an old book ! Oh, it’s too good to be true !”

“That’s all clear enough,” observed Stoddard, knocking upon the despatch box with his knuckles. “But why do you suppose he dug this hole here with its outlet on the ravine ?”

“Oh, it was the way of him!” explained Larry. “He liked the idea of queer corners and underground passages. This is a bully hiding-place for man or treasure, and that outlet into the ravine makes it possible to get out of the house with nobody the wiser. It’s in keeping with the rest of his scheme. Be gay, comrades ! Tomorrow will likely find us with plenty of business on our hands. At present we hold the fort, and let us have a care lest we lose it.”

We closed the ravine door, restored the brick as best we could, and returned to the library. We made a list of the Pickering notes and spent an hour discussing this new feature of the situation.

“That’s a large amount of money to lend one man,” said Stoddard.

“True; and from that we may argue that Mr. Glenarm didn’t give Pickering all he had. There’s more somewhere. If only I didn’t have to run—and Larry’s” face fell as he remembered his own plight.

“I’m a selfish pig, old man ! I’ve been thinking only of my own affairs. But I never relied on you as much as now!”

“Those fellows will sound the alarm against Donovan, without a doubt, on general principles and to land a blow on you, remarked Stoddard thoughtfully.”

“But you can get away, Larry. We’ll help you off to-night. I don’t intend to stand between you and liberty. This extradition business is no joke,—if they ever get you back in Ireland it will be no fun getting you off. You’d better run for it before Pickering and his sheriff spring their trap.”

“Yes; that’s the wise course. Glenarm and I can hold the fort here. His is a moral issue, really, and I’m in for a siege of a thousand years,” said the clergyman earnestly, “if it’s necessary to beat Pickering. I may go to jail in the end, too, I suppose.”

“I want you both to leave. It’s unfair to mix you up in this ugly business of mine. Your stake’s bigger than mine, Larry. And yours, too, Stoddard; why, your whole future—your professional standing and prospects would be ruined if we got into a fight here with the authorities.”