thereon, which he showed to Pierre.  The Frenchman, however, did not comprehend until Villiers produced a sovereign from his pocket, and pointed first to the gold, and then to the drawing, upon which Pierre nodded his head several times in order to show that he understood.  Villiers then drew a picture of the Pactolus claim, and asked Pierre in French if the nugget was still there, as he showed him the sketch.  Pierre shook his head, and, taking the pencil in his hand, drew a rough representation of a horse and cart, and put a square box in the latter to show the nugget was on a journey.

‘Hullo!’ said Villiers to himself, ’it’s not at her own house, and she’s driving somewhere with it, I wonder where to?’

Pierre—­who not being able to write, was in the habit of drawing pictures to express his thoughts—­nudged his elbow and showed him a sketch of a man in a box waving his arms.

‘Auctioneer?’ hazarded Mr Villiers, looking at this keenly.  Pierre stared at him blankly; his comprehension of English was none of the best, so he did not know what auctioneer meant.  However, he saw that Villiers did not understand, so he rapidly sketched an altar with a priest standing before it blessing the people.

‘Oh, a priest, eh?—­a minister?’ said Villiers, nodding his head to show he understood.  ’She’s taken the nugget to show it to a minister!  Wonder who it is?’

This was speedily answered by Pierre, who, throwing down the pencil and paper, dragged him outside on to the road, and pointed to the white top of the Black Hill.  Mr Villiers instantly comprehended.

‘Marchurst, by God!’ he said in English, smiting his leg with his open hand.  ‘Is Madame there now?’ he added in French, turning to Pierre.

The dumb man nodded and slouched slowly back into the hotel.  Villiers stood out in the blazing sunshine, thinking.

‘She’s got the nugget with her in the trap,’ he said to himself; ’and she’s taken it to show Marchurst.  Well, she’s sure to stop there to tea, and won’t start for home till about nine o’clock:  it will be pretty dark by then.  She’ll be by herself, and if I—­’ here he stopped and looked round cautiously, and then, without another word, set off down the street at a run.

The fact was, Mr Villiers had come to the conclusion that as his wife would not give him money willingly, the best thing to be done would be to take it by force, and accordingly he had made up his mind to rob her of the nugget that night if possible.  Of course there was a risk, for he knew his wife was a determined woman; still, while she was driving in the darkness down the hill, if he took her by surprise he would be able to stun her with a blow and get possession of the nugget.  Then he could hide it in one of the old shafts of the Black Hill Company until he required it.  As to the possibility of his wife knowing him, there would be no chance of that in the darkness, so he could escape any unpleasant inquiries,