went past our doorway.

"There is naught worth taking in this place," growled another man.
"Maybe they have hove their hoards down the well!"

Now at that the sacristan gave a stifled groan of terror, and I
clutched my axe, ready for need.

"All right, go down and see!" answered one or two, but more in jest
than earnest.

Then one dropped a great stone in, and waited to hear it bubble
from the bottom, that he might judge the depth. Now no bubbles
came, or so soon that they were lost in the splash, and the prior
took some of the crumbling mortar from the cell walls, and cast it
in after a few moments. And that was a brave and crafty thing to
do, for it wrought well.

"Hear the bubble," said the Dane; "the well must be many a fathom
deep--how long it seemed before they came up!"

So they drank their fill, saying that it was useless to go down
therefore, and anyhow there would be naught but a few silver
vessels.

"I have seen the same before," said one; "and moreover no man has
luck with those things from a church."

No man gainsaid him, so they kicked the bucket down the well and
went away.