“Ha, ha! ha, ha!” and a sardonic laugh rang through the cave.  “Would that I could wed Joanna to Tyrrel, who would give his soul to call her his.  Once the wife of a member of the band, and some of her power would go.  I misdoubt me if any would long call her queen; and when she had babes to fill her mind and her thoughts, she would soon cease to watch me with those suspicions eyes of hers, and to make me fear continually for my secret.  Would that they were both dead!  Would that I could kill them even as he killed the other seven who had a share in the golden secret!  I would strangle them with my own hands if I did but dare.  Once those two removed from my path and my way would be plain.  I could remove it all, bit by bit and piece by piece, away from this accursed forest, of which I am sick to the death.  Then in some far-off foreign land of perpetual sunshine, I could reign a prince and a king, and life would be one long dream of ease and delight; no more toil, no more privation, no more scorching summer heat or biting winter cold.  I have seen what the life of the East is like—­the kneeling slaves, the harem of beauteous dark-eyed women, the dream-like indolence and ease.  That is the life for me.  That is whither I and my treasure will go.  A plague upon old Miriam, that she clings to these cold forests and the sordid life we live here!  But for her insane jealousy and love I would defy Joanna and go.  But the pair of them are too much for me.  I must find a way of ridding myself of one or both.  I will not be bound like this for ever!”

The man raised his right hand and shook it with a vehement, threatening gesture; and then relapsing into sudden moody silence, continued his pacing to and fro, wrapped in gloomy thought.

Cuthbert held his breath as this monologue proceeded, and a sense of unlooked-for triumph made his heart swell within him.  Here was proof positive that the treasure lay still in the forest; that it had not been taken thence and dissipated; that it still remained to be found by his unremitting endeavours.  The youth felt almost as though the victory were already his.  What might not a few weeks of patient perseverance bring?  He would dog Robin’s’ steps like a bloodhound.  He had not been brought up to hardship and forest life for nothing.  To sleep in the open, to live scantily on such fare as might be picked up at the huts of the woodmen or in the camps of the gipsies, was nothing to him.  He would live on roots and wild fruits sooner than abandon his quest.  Nothing should come between him and his overmastering resolve to win back for the house of Trevlyn the long-lost treasure.