Todd was so much exhausted by the time they reached the wood, that he at
once cast himself to the ground upon a heap of dry leaves, and he felt
that he was speaking only the truth when he said--

"I could not go a step further just now, if it were to save my life, I
feel that I could not; and here I must lie and rest." "Dear me!" said Mr. Lupin; "what a poor creature you must be. How old
are you, Mr. Todd?" "I don't know," said Todd. "The church I was christened at was burnt
down only the day after, and all the books burnt. My father and mother
are dead, and the nurse was hanged, and the doctor cut his throat." "Upon my word," said Lupin, "they were a lively set. I suppose it was
remorse did all that?" "Remorse! What do you mean by remorse?" "Why that sort of feeling, you know, might be awakened in their minds,
by finding that you were not exactly the sort of baby that was expected. You must have looked a beauty in long-clothes, Todd; and as for your
age, I should guess it about fifty-five." "Guess your own age," said Todd, "and leave mine alone." "Oh, if it's at all a sore subject I won't say another word about it. But come now, Todd, you charming creature, could you not manage to crawl
a little way further?" "What for? If we are safe in the wood at all, we are safe enough here
where we are now." "But, my dear friend, you quite forget." "What--what? What do I forget? Don't plague me, Lupin. It is enough just
now to remember that we have by almost a miracle made an escape from
Newgate; and as for forgetting, I would be right glad to forget if I
could that I had ever been there; but that will be impossible." "It won't be very easy," said Lupin, "and if possible, it will take a
long time; but what I was just mildly going to remind you of was, that
in this wood your two thousand pounds, you know, are hidden, and that we
were to share the amount." "Ah, my dear friend, yes, I had not forgotten that little affair. It is,
of course, very important; but let me rest a little, if you please." "Oh, certainly--certainly." "And then, my dear companion, it will be necessary to get a spade, you
know, to dig it up. Our nails decidedly are neither long enough or
strong enough, and I don't at all see how it is to be done without a
spade, or something that shall be a good substitute for one." "Oh, nonsense," said Lupin. "How deep do you suppose it lies?" "About two feet." "Very good then, you need give yourself no uneasiness about the digging
it up. I have the chisel and the two files here; and if I can't dig two
feet into the earth with them, and my hands to shovel out the mould
with, I'm a Dutchman, that's all. Only you show me the spot, that's all,
and I won't ask you to tire yourself in the matter." "In a little," said Todd, "in a little. Without being so old as you
would make me out, I am still older than you are Lupin, and cannot go
through the amount of fatigue that you can. Just let me recover myself a
little, and then instead of crawling to the spot where my money lies
hidden, I shall be well able to walk to it and show it to you." "Very good--very good. Of course I don't want to hurry you too much
about the matter, only the sooner we do get a hold of the two thousand
pounds the better. I wonder, too, that you don't feel rather anxious to
see that it is quite safe, for some accident might have discovered it,
for all you know to the contrary." "Oh no, my friend, nothing but an earthquake could do that. You may
depend it is quite safe where I put it. In a little time I shall be able
to show you the exact spot, which I have so accurately in my mind's eye,
that I can walk to it with the greatest of ease; of course I did not
trust such a valuable deposit to the ground without accurately marking
the spot that I had made my bank." "Is it in gold?" "All--all. I did think of hiding notes, but I was afraid that the damp,
if there should come any heavy rains, would have the effect of rotting
them, and I had no iron box sufficiently small to place them in; so I
brought all gold, and a good weight it was too." "Ah, we will make that weight light by dividing it." "Just so." Lupin's mouth actually watered at the idea of getting possession of such
a sum, and as he turned his head aside, he muttered to himself--

"If I don't put Todd out of this world, and save the hangman the
trouble, it shall go hard with me, and then I shall have all the money
to myself, and I can get to America, and be a free and enlightened
citizen for the remainder of my days." Mr. Lupin could hardly forbear an audible chuckle over this delightful
prospect; so that it will be seen that both of these villains meditated
evil intentions towards each other, from which it may be gathered how
much faith is to be put in the association of men for any guilty design. Was it likely that such persons as Todd and Lupin, after being false and
ruffianly to all the world, should be true to each other, except so far
as their common interests dictated? No, Todd amused Lupin with the story
of the buried gold in the wood at Hampstead, because he, Lupin, was of
assistance in his escape from Newgate; and Lupin assisted him to escape
with the idea of murdering him in the wood, and securing for himself all
the money that he believed was there hidden! It was quite evident that Lupin was desperately impatient at the rest
Todd was taking, previous to showing him where the money was hidden; and
he walked to and fro, looking as vexed as possible, and yet fearing to
say too much, lest he should get up a quarrel, the result of which might
be, that Todd would refuse to show him where the gold was at all. "I think," he said, "if I were to manage to get a good thick stave off
some tree, it would help considerably in digging, would it not?" "Without a doubt," said Todd. "Then I will try, and by the time I have got it, perhaps you will be
rested enough, my dear friend, to make an effort to get up and show me
the spot where to dig for the gold." "I shouldn't wonder," said Todd. Mr. Lupin found that he was obliged to be contented with this doubtful
acquiescence of Todd's; and he busied himself, by the aid of the chisel
and the files, in getting off a stout strong bough from a sycamore-tree,
which he shaped to a tolerable point. It looked like a formidable
bludgeon; and as he eyed it, he thought what a capital knock on the head
it would give to Mr. Todd. It was rather odd that the same idea crossed Todd's mind, and as he saw
the bit of wood, he muttered to himself--

"That would do it. One blow from that would do it." Now, Todd had but one solitary incentive to the murder of Lupin, and
that was, that he feared when he found out how he had been deceived
regarding the money, he would find some mode of denouncing him to the
police, while he took care of himself; and, therefore, upon that mere
idea, Todd would take his life.