Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/209

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THE DRY PLACER
195

at Stone's sleeve to hold him back and as Healy and Harvey went out of sight behind a great boulder the Cockney swooped down on the end of the cigarette that Healy had thrown away, picked it up, separated the remaining tobacco from the paper, and spread the result out on the palm of his hand for Stone to inspect.

"Look at this fag," he said, his voice hoarse and whispering. "See that baccy and that paper? Remember, Healy always smokes rice pypers and Bull. So do you. I smoke a pipe and Harvey does w'en 'e don't chew."

"What of it?"

"Wot hof it? This pyper's brown and the baccy's long cut. There hain't hany long-cut baccy in the crowd. Now w'ot do yer myke of it?"

"Healy may have got some different papers and tobacco at the sanitarium, that's all," said Stone. "Very likely, I should think. You're over-suspicious, Larkin. You don't like Healy."

"Yah, I 'ates 'im! Just you wait. Just you——"

"They're calling to us," said Stone. "Come on."

They found Healy and Harvey at the foot of a great chunk of red sandstone, roughly oval in its circumference. There was an odd projection like a spout at one end and it was curiously topped with a low pinnacle.

"Teapot Rock!" said Healy, triumphantly. "You two get lost? This is the place, all right. A red rock like a teapot, Lyman told me, with a round white stone at its foot like a great saucer. There it is. No