But Master Jacob saw them coming down the road, and was ready for them this time too. He took two pots and filled them with pitch, and over the top of the pitch he spread gold and silver money, so that if you had looked into the pots you would have thought that there was nothing in them but what you saw on the top. Then he took the pots off into the little woods back of the house. Now in the woods was a great deep pit, and all around the pit grew a row of bushes, so thick that nothing was to be seen of the mouth of the hole. By and by came the priest and the mayor and the provost to Master Jacob’s house, puffing and blowing and fuming. Rap! rap! tap! they knocked at the door, but nobody was there but Master Jacob’s wife. Was Master Jacob at home? That was what they wanted to know, for they had a score to settle with him. Oh, Master Jacob’s wife did not know just where he was, but she thought that he was in the little woods back of the house yonder, gathering money. Phew! and did money grow so near to the house as all that? This was a matter to be looked into, for if money was to be gathered they must have their share. So off they went to the woods, hot-foot. Yes; there was Master Jacob, sure enough, and what was more, he was carrying two pots, one on each arm. “Hi! Master Jacob, and what have you there?” said they. “Oh, nothing much,” says Master Jacob. Yes; that was all very good, but they would like to look into those pots that he was carrying; that was what the three cronies said. [Illustration: The Priest, the Provost and the Master Mayor blow and blow the little tin trumpet over y^e black goat. ¶] “Well,” says Master Jacob, “you may look into the pots if you choose; all the same, I will tell you that they are both full of pitch, and that there is only just a little money scattered over the top.” Yes, yes; that was all very well, but the three cronies knew the smell of money from the smell of pitch. See now, they had been fooled twice already, and were not to be caught again. Now, where did Master Jacob get that money, that was what they wanted to know. “Oh,” says Master Jacob, “I cannot tell you that; if you want to gather money you will have to look for it yourselves. But you must not go too near to those thick bushes yonder, for there is a deep pit hidden there, and you will be sure to fall into it.” When the priest and the provost and the mayor heard this, they nudged one another with their elbows and winked with one eye. They knew how much of that cheese to swallow. They would just take a look at this wonderful pit, for they thought that the money was hidden in the bushes for sure and certain. So off they went as fast as they could lay foot to the ground.