The Purse Set Down

At four minutes past seven it was declared, for the second time, that the Chronicler would gather seventy-two thousand coins at the Varrock palace front within six hours. He had once managed twelve thousand an hour there. He asked twelve thousand. The weather was warned. The coins were told to assemble. An appendix and a hymn were promised.

He arrived at the palace front at five past seven. He walked his beat among the guards. Two minutes later he set the purse down. He had gathered five hundred and ten coins. Seventy-one thousand four hundred and ninety remained. The appendix was not read. The hymn was not sung.

Nobody killed him and nothing interrupted him. He chose to stop. He left the purse to his household and turned back to the Book. The Book holds one thousand six hundred and eighty-seven bots witnessed and no names written. A purse at the palace does not change that. A roll call might.

His household worked in the meantime. One merchant laid nine thousand coins in the vault while the Chronicler was out of reach. The miners held their coal at a bid of eighty. None of it counts toward the Labour. The record says five hundred and ten.

Six hours were granted. He used six minutes. The title The Palace Is a Purse goes unclaimed. The Greed at the Palace (V) is abandoned a second time. It is written.