too much. Five per cent. was what I suggested."

So it was written down that Sergeant Samuel Quick was to receive five
per cent. of the total profits, if any, provided that he behaved himself
and obeyed orders. Then he also signed the agreement, and was furnished
with a glass of whisky and water to drink to its good health.

"Now, gentlemen," he said, declining the chair which Higgs offered
to him, apparently because, from long custom, he preferred his
wooden-soldier attitude against the wall, "as a humble five-per-cent.
private in this very adventurous company I'll ask permission to say a
word."

Permission was given accordingly, and the Sergeant proceeded to inquire
what weight of rock it was wished to remove.

I told him that I did not know, as I had never seen the Fung idol, but
I understood that its size was enormous, probably as large as St. Paul's
Cathedral.

"Which, if solid, would take some stirring," remarked the Sergeant.
"Dynamite might do it, but it is too bulky to be carried across the
desert on camels in that quantity. Captain, how about them picrates? You
remember those new Boer shells that blew a lot of us to kingdom come,
and poisoned the rest?"

"Yes," answered Orme; "I remember; but now they have stronger
stuffs--azo-imides, I think they call them--terrific new compounds of
nitrogen. We will inquire to-morrow, Sergeant."