Give it me. It is
thy treasure, and I will never touch penny of it; but fling it down the
well thou shalt not; for this man has lost his life for it, and we have
risked ours for it--ay, and may lose them for it too, perhaps.'
So I gave him the jewel.
CHAPTER 16
THE JEWEL
All that glisters is not gold--_Shakespeare_
There was the turnkey's belt lying on the floor, with the keys and
manacles fixed to it, just as it had failed and come off him at the fatal
moment. Elzevir picked it up, tried the keys till he found the right
one, and unlocked the door of the well-house.
'There are other locks to open before we get out,' I said.
'Ay,' he answered, 'but it is more than our life is worth to be seen with
these keys, so send them down the well, after their master.'
I took them back and flung them, belt and keys and handcuffs, clanking
down against the sides into the blackness and the hidden water at the
bottom. Then we took pail and hammer, brush and ropes, and turned our
backs upon that hateful place. There was the little court to cross before
we came to the doors of the banquet-hall. They were locked, but we
knocked until a guard opened them. He knew us for the plasterer-men, who
had passed an hour before, and only asked, 'Where is Ephraim?' meaning
the turnkey. 'He is stopping behind in the well-house,' Elzevir said, and
so we passed on through the hall, where the prisoners were making what
breakfast they might of odds and ends, with a savoury smell of cooking
and a great patter of French.
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