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 138 



" 'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last train.' 
" 'Where to?' 

" 'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders of Oxfordshire, 
and within seven miles of Reading. There is a train from Paddington which would 
bring you there at about 11:15.' 

" 'Very good.' 

" T shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' 
" 'There is a drive, then?' 

" 'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good seven miles from 
Eyford Station.' 

" 'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there would be no 
chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop the night.' 
" 'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' 

" 'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient hour?' 

" 'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to recompense you 
for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a young and unknown man, a fee 
which would buy an opinion from the very heads of your profession. Still, of 
course, if you would like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do 
so.' 

"I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they would be to me. 
'Not at all,' said I, T shall be very happy to accommodate myself to your wishes. 
I should like, however, to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish 
me to do.' 

" 'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which we have exacted 
from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have no wish to commit you to 
anything without your having it all laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely 
safe from eavesdroppers?' 

" 'Entirely' 

" 'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that fuller's-earth is 
a valuable product, and that it is only found in one or two places in England?' 
" T have heard so.' 

" 'Some little time ago I bought a small place — a very small place — within 
ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to discover that there was a deposit 
of fuller's-earth in one of my fields. On examining it, however, I found that this 
deposit was a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two very 
much larger ones upon the right and left — both of them, however, in the grounds 
of my neighbours. These good people were absolutely ignorant that their land 
contained that which was quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my 
interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, but unfortunately 
I had no capital by which I could do this. I took a few of my friends into the secret, 
however, and they suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own 
little deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would enable us 
to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been doing for some time, and in 
order to help us in our operations we erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have 



ADVENTURE IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER 'S THUMB