"I MUST have one other man," repeated Edgar, "a man who is strong
enough to dig, and strong enough to resist the temptation to murder
me." The retort was so easy that I let it pass. Besides, on Edgar,
it would have been wasted.

"I THINK you will do," he said with reluctance. "And now the
conditions!"

I smiled agreeably.

"You are already sworn to secrecy," said Edgar. "And you now agree
in every detail to obey me implicitly, and to accompany me to a
certain place, where you will dig. If I find the treasure, you
agree, to help me guard it, and convey it to wherever I decide it
is safe to leave it. Your responsibility is then at an end. One
year after the treasure is discovered, you will be free to write
the account of the expedition. For what you write, some magazine
may pay you. What it pays you will be your share of the treasure."

Of my part of the million dollars, which I had hastily calculated
could not be less than one-fifth, I had already spent over one
hundred thousand dollars and was living far beyond my means. I had
bought a farm with a waterfront on the Sound, a motor-boat, and, as
I was not sure which make I preferred, three automobiles. I had at
my own, expense produced a play of mine that no manager had
appreciated, and its name in electric lights was already blinding
Broadway. I had purchased a Hollander express rifle, a REAL amber
cigar holder, a private secretary who could play both rag-time and
tennis, and a fur coat. So Edgar's generous offer left me naked.
When I had again accustomed myself to the narrow confines of my