The Treasure of the Forest. 1897-] boldly into the cave. To my surprise, Cecil followed me. “ ‘You’re not going along, are you ?’ I asked. “‘ Of course I am. I’m not afraid,’ slie replied, smiling. “And then on we went into the depths of the cave. We had gone some twenty rods, when suddenly I stepped on something which rebounded and splashed into the stream at my feet. Curi ous, I glanced down at the object, and beheld, to my horror, a grinning skull gazing at me from the water in which it lay. “ Yes, I must confess, I was scared. And who would not be if such a gruesome object was suddenly thrust before him. Cecil, too, saw it, and started back with dilated eyes. I quickly recov ered myself, however, and said: “ ' Here is where I shall search. That skull must be near the treasure. ’ For I believed it to be the skull of Wetumka, and would he not guard the treasure till his death ? ‘' Down on my hands and knees I went, and opening my clasp knife I thrust it again and again into the sandy floor of the cave. But each time it sank to the hilt without meeting any obstacle. A quarter of an hour of such prodding over the spot and all around it failed to reveal any treasure, and I was about to give up in despair when a sudden thought struck me and I gave a shout of joy. “‘What is it?’ asked Cecil, who had been watching me, silently. “ ‘ How foolish I have been,’ I said. ' Where do you suppose they would hide it for safety but in the bed of the stream itself? Who would think to look for it there ?’ “ And down again on my hands and knees I fell, prodding the sandy bed of the stream. At the third thrust my knife struck something and stuck fast, and it required no small effort to get it out. I could not repress a cry of triumph. Cecil came and bent over my shoulder, while with feverish energy I dug at the sand with my hands. “As fast as I excavated, however, the stream washed the sand in. So I dug another trough and drained the stream off in a new direction. Then I fell to work again and in a few moments I had uncovered a rotten wooden casket some two feet long by nearly as many deep. Wild with excitement, I took the precious box in my arms and rushed to the open mouth of the cave, where I laid it upon the grass. The box, as I called it, seemed to'have neither lid nor hinges. It was a piece of log carefully hollowed out at one end and closed with a wedge-shaped block.
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