The three regarded him in perplexity, smiling a little under the contagion of his merriment. He gave no heed to their questions for a full minute, but continued his rollicking mirth.
“Well, I’ve made the first step toward the treasure,” he announced, at last. The rolling volume of his voice was more thunderous even than its wont.
Came a chorus of ejaculations and questions from the others, as they sprang to their feet, and crowded about him.
Billy waved his hand imperiously for silence.
“But it’s only the first step, remember!” he warned. “The first step! And, incidentally, it proves that I was right about the value of this document.” He flourished the music aloft, in a gesture of triumph.
“It’s only the first step that I have taken, remember,” he admonished. “But, as Saint Augustine said, it’s the first step that counts. The miser’s gold is somewhere at the bottom of the lake.”
There followed an interval of astounded silence. It was broken by Roy with an exclamation of bewilderment:
“But--” he began. Then, he halted in confusion. He had been on the point of saying something concerning the secret vault in the music-room, and had checked himself only just in time. The others, however, had given no attention to his utterance, and he sighed with relief. It had flashed on him that his own knowledge in a way corroborated the statement by Billy, inasmuch as he found the vault empty.
“How? How?” Saxe was clamoring; David added his insistence.
Billy Walker preened himself with all the pride of a great discoverer, as well he might.
“It was simplicity itself,” he assured them. “It was only necessary for me to learn music, and the matter soon became clear.” Saxe and the others fairly gaped at the naïve assumption on the part of their friend that, in five minutes, he had mastered the art, but they did not care to question his complacency just then. “Being unhampered by over-much technique,” the oracle continued, with buoyant self-satisfaction, “I was able to investigate with an open mind, examining all the facts.” He paused to grin exultantly on the expectant trio, and then resumed his explanation:
“I had before me two determined facts, which gave no information in themselves, but required perhaps only the addition of other facts to become significant. Now, observe this lone bit of music at the head of the page.” He held up the sheet, so that the others could note the phrase at the top.