"And now, Mr.
Drever, I suppose you will wish me to give up my magic stone? Must
it go to Edinburgh with the rest?"
"The talisman? Weel, I hadna thought that. Ye see, it isna worth
muckle. No, I think ye needna send it now. But keep it wi' care,
dinna lose it, just in case it is wanted. Of course I hae written
about it in the book, and it may be claimed; but keep it for the
present, Halcro."
The schoolmaster left me to continue my work, and three days
afterwards I heard that he had started for Edinburgh in a trading
sloop that plied between Kirkwall and Leith.
He was absent in Scotland for nearly two months, and when he
returned I received a message from him asking me to bring Willie
Hercus and Robbie Rosson down to the schoolhouse on a particular
evening. He welcomed us with much affection, and during tea he
related to us many of his experiences in Edinburgh.
But his chief reason for having us with him on that evening was, as
he said, to give us an account of his stewardship in regard to the
viking's treasure. He had had several interviews with the
authorities of the Antiquarian Museum, with whom he had finally
left the curiosities, receiving in return a due share of money to
be delivered in equal portions to the three of us.
I believe that the Jarl Haffling's treasures may be seen to this
day in the Antiquarian Museum of Edinburgh; but I have seen only
the catalogue, in which the curiosities are enumerated and
described as having been found by some boys playing on the shore of
Skaill Bay, Orkney.
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