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Willie Hercus, though naturally daring, was now especially timid, the remembrance of that skull he had handled having taken such hold of his mind that the simple mention of it by one of us was enough to make his voice sink to a trembling whisper, as though he feared the dead man might come to life again and appear in our midst to accuse us of having disturbed his bones.
Whilst Kinlay and Hercus were opening out the two seals' skins my eyes idly wandered over the surface of the tombstone, and were arrested by the inscription carved thereon. There was an epitaph in some foreign language, old and worn, but under this was a name that seemed to be newly cut. It was the name "Thora Quendale."
In this servitude we had been companions, in common with Rosson and Hercus; and many a time had she come to me, with tears in her eyes, to tell me of some new act of tyranny that she had suffered at her brother's hands. On one such occasion I found her down at the shore side with little Hilda Paterson.
To begin with, there was the sword apparently the most valuable of all the treasures. Who was to have this? I naturally thought it should go to Hercus, to whom we owed our possession of the wealth, and I remembered that Kinlay already had an equivalent share in the pieces of broken helmet he had appropriated. I handed the sword over to Hercus, therefore.
But a certain man named Hercus, the son of Degha, who had heard many things of Saint Patrick, rose up in the sight of all, and did him honor. Therefore the prelate blessed him, and promised eternal life unto him; and he, believing in God, received the grace of baptism, and, leading his life renowned for virtues and for miracles, after a while he was made a bishop, and died in the city of Slane.
The stone was considered worthless, except for the little band of metal with which it was clasped. "'Deed you'll do nothing of the kind," objected Kinlay. "What for should Hercus take all?" "Well, well," I said, somewhat ruffled, I admit, at Tom's greed, "you needn't be so sulky. Take you and divide the things. You'll not do it any fairer."
When we entered the chasm we were much surprised to find Hercus lying flat on the shingle, with his right arm deep in a hole he had dug, and the dog at his side, wagging her tail and uttering short barks of excitement. "Good sakes!" exclaimed Robbie Rosson. "What's wrong with the lad?" Much relieved we were to hear Hercus speak. I confess I had felt certain some harm had happened to him.
Then deeper down below these we came upon a number of large rings, or bracelets, in the form of horseshoes, and several ingots of silver, similar to the one Hercus had first found. We grew excited in our search; and as the quantity of treasure we unearthed increased, so did we increase our exertions, until there was quite a heap of silver gathered upon the slab of flagstone where we placed it.
I had not known that there was such a cave at that spot, although, indeed, I prided myself upon my knowledge of the whole coastline from Rora to Birsay. I accordingly determined to explore the cliff at some future time. I must not omit to mention that Willie Hercus and Robbie Rosson duly delivered up to Mr. Drever their shares of Jarl Haffling's treasure.
"But if you'd taken the smaller piece of siller for yourself, and given Willie Hercus yon piece you've taken, I'd have thought you more honourable." And then I roundly accused him of having stolen the fragments of the helmet. "You have stolen the things," I said. "You saw that they were of more worth than the rest, and you were afraid that we would want a share of them."
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