was discovered, lots of it, at the bottom of this hole. And all
three, my master and his two partners, were very happy about it
because now they would be rich. But Manuel Mendoza asked
Bluebeard Bill to go for a walk with him. These two men I had
always suspected of being bad. So when I noticed that they left
my master behind, I followed them secretly to see what they were
up to. And in a deep cave in the mountains I heard them arrange
together to kill Luke the Hermit so that they should get all the
gold and he have none."

At this point the judge asked, "Where is the witness Mendoza?
Constable, see that he does not leave the court."

But the wicked little man with the watery eyes had already
sneaked out when no one was looking and he was never seen in
Puddleby again.

"Then," Bob's statement went on, "I went to my master and tried
very hard to make him understand that his partners were dangerous
men. But it was no use. He did not understand dog language. So I
did the next best thing: I never let him out of my sight but
stayed with him every moment of the day and night.

"Now the hole that they had made was so deep that to get down and
up it you had to go in a big bucket tied on the end of a rope;
and the three men used to haul one another up and let one another
down the mine in this way. That was how the gold was brought up
too--in the bucket. Well, about seven o'clock in the evening my
master was standing at the top of the mine, hauling up Bluebeard
Bill who was in the bucket. Just as he had got Bill halfway up I