"Yes," said the captain, "I fancy you're right, Mr. Drever. Of
course you refer to the law of treasure trove?"

"Exactly," agreed the master. Then turning to me, he continued:

"You see, Halcro, the Crown will claim a share of it, and the laird
gets another part. So ye'd better let the other lads ken about
this. Let them understand that they are breaking the law if they
keep their discovery a secret."

"Yes, sir, I'll tell Rosson and Hercus before school time in the
morning."

"And Kinlay?" said Mr. Drever, looking questioningly in my face.

"Maybe you'd better speak to him yoursel, sir," I returned, almost
afraid to say that my companionship with Tom was at an end.

"Hello! what's in the wind in that quarter? A quarrel, eh? I have
noticed that scratch on your cheek. Has that anything to do with
Kinlay?"

I put my hand to my cheek and found that there was blood there. I
had received a scratch that I was before unconscious of.

"Well, sir," I said, "Kinlay and I did have a bit of a fight over
at Bigging. There was a dispute over the sharing of the treasure."

And then I thought of the small black stone that Tom had given me
as an equivalent of the bar of silver he had appropriated for