happened, one of them ran directly into it. Clarence, the older, was
anything but a model boy. He was much addicted to ale and cigars, and
thought of nothing in the world so much as money. He was a
spendthrift, and, like Godfrey Evans, had a great desire to be rich,
but he never thought of working and saving in order to gain the
wished-for end. This good old-fashioned and safe way was too long and
tedious for him, and he was constantly on the lookout for a short
road to wealth and consequent happiness. Before he had been
twenty-four hours under his uncle's roof, he thought he had
discovered it, and this was the way it came about:

Clarence and his brother arrived at the General's house in the
forenoon, and before night came, the former wished most heartily that
he had stayed at home. He was lonely and utterly disgusted with the
quiet of the country, and the old-fashioned, prosy way his two
cousins had of enjoying themselves. Music, horseback-riding, hunting,
fishing and visiting made up the round of their amusements, and
Clarence could see no fun in such things. As soon as it grew dark he
slipped out of the house, and leaning over a fence that ran between
the barnyard and a potato-patch, lighted a cigar and settled into a
comfortable position to enjoy it. He had not been there many minutes,
before he was startled by the stealthy approach of two persons, a man
and a boy, who stopped a short distance from him and began digging
with a shovel. Clarence listened to the words which the man uttered
for the encouragement of the boy, who was doing the work, and was
amazed to learn that there was a fortune hidden in that field, and
that these two had come there to dig it up. In his eagerness and
excitement Clarence leaned half way over the fence, puffing
vigorously at his cigar all the while. The little round ball of fire
glowing through the darkness caught the eye of the boy, who showed it