There were twenty-eight shots that could be fired in
about double as many seconds, so you see the robber stood little
chance in the face of such a fusillade. I propose that we dismantle
the forge.'
Lord Chizelrigg was much taken by my reasoning, and one morning early
we cut down the big bellows, tore it open, found it empty, then took
brick after brick from the forge with a crowbar, for the old man had
builded better than he knew with Portland cement. In fact, when we
cleared away the rubbish between the bricks and the core of the
furnace we came upon one cube of cement which was as hard as granite.
With the aid of Higgins, and a set of rollers and levers, we managed
to get this block out into the park, and attempted to crush it with
the sledge-hammers belonging to the forge, in which we were entirely
unsuccessful. The more it resisted our efforts, the more certain we
became that the coins would be found within it. As this would not be
treasure-trove in the sense that the Government might make a claim
upon it, there was no particular necessity for secrecy, so we had up a
man from the mines near by with drills and dynamite, who speedily
shattered the block into a million pieces, more or less.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182