When they got on board, the king grabbed me by the collar and shook me. “Trying to run away from us, were you, you little dog?”
“No, your majesty! Please don’t! I’ll tell you everything. The man who was holding me was kind to me. He said he had a boy my size who died last year. When everybody rushed to the coffin, he let go of me and whispered, ‘Run, or they’ll hang you!’ So I ran. I couldn’t help you there, and I didn’t want to be hanged. When I got here, I told Jim to hurry, because I was afraid you and the duke were dead. You can ask Jim.”
Jim said it was true. The king told him to shut up and said he had a good mind to drown me. But the duke said, “Let go of the boy, you old fool! Would you have done anything different? Did you look around for him when you got loose?”
So the king let me go and began to curse the town and everybody in it.
“You had better curse yourself,” said the duke. “You haven’t done one sensible thing from the start, except that blue arrow. That was clever. It took them to the graveyard, and the gold did the rest. If those fools hadn’t rushed to look at it, we would be hanging by our necks tonight.”
They were quiet for a minute. Then the king said slowly, “Hm. And we thought the slaves stole it!”
That made me squirm.
“Yes,” said the duke, slow and sarcastic. “We did.”
“At least, I did,” said the king.
“On the contrary,” said the duke, “I did. Don’t you think I know who hid that money in the coffin?”
“Yes! I know you know, because you did it yourself!”
“That’s a lie!” The duke went for him and took him by the throat.
“Let go!” cried the king. “I take it all back!”
“First you admit that you hid it there, so you could come back one day and dig it up for yourself.”
“Duke, if you didn’t put it there, say so, and I’ll believe you.”
“I didn’t, you old fraud, and you know it.”
“Then I believe you. But answer me one more thing: didn’t you plan to take the money and hide it?”
The duke was quiet for a moment. “Maybe I planned it, but I didn’t do it. You did it.”
“I didn’t, duke, honestly. I was going to, but somebody got there before me.”
“That’s a lie! You did it, and you have to say so, or—”
The king began to choke. “Enough! I admit it!”
I was very glad to hear him say that. It made me feel much easier. The duke took his hands off him.
“If you ever deny it again, I’ll drown you. You let them blame a lot of poor slaves, and you never said a word for them! And now I see why you wanted to make up the difference: you wanted my money from the Nonesuch too!”
“Why, duke,” said the king, with tears in his eyes, “it was you who said to make up the difference.”
“Be quiet! And look what you got by it. They have all their own money back, and nearly all of ours too!”
So the king crept into the shelter with his bottle, and before long the duke took his bottle too. In half an hour they were the best of friends again, and the more they drank, the more they loved each other, until they fell asleep snoring in each other’s arms. But the king never got drunk enough to forget that he mustn’t deny hiding the gold again. That made me feel comfortable and satisfied.
When they were snoring, Jim and I had a long talk, and I told him everything.