Page 451 of 657

"'Some little time ago I bought a small place-a very small

place-within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to

discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my

fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a

comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two

very much larger ones upon the right and left-both of them,

however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were

absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was

quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my

interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value,

but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I

took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they

suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little

deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would

enable us to buy the neighbouring fields.