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.