raised one of the rearward hearth-stones and took out a bag that jingled
pleasantly. He subtracted from it twenty or thirty dollars for himself
and as much for Injun Joe, and passed the bag to the latter, who was on
his knees in the corner, now, digging with his bowie-knife.
The boys forgot all their fears, all their miseries in an instant. With
gloating eyes they watched every movement. Luck! the splendor of it was
beyond all imagination! Six hundred dollars was money enough to make
half a dozen boys rich! Here was treasure-hunting under the happiest
auspices there would not be any bothersome uncertainty as to where to
dig. They nudged each other every moment eloquent nudges and easily
understood, for they simply meant Oh, but ain t you glad _now_ we re
here!
Joe s knife struck upon something.
Hello! said he.
What is it? said his comrade.
Half-rotten plank no, it s a box, I believe. Here bear a hand and we ll
see what it s here for. Never mind, I ve broke a hole.
He reached his hand in and drew it out
Man, it s money!
The two men examined the handful of coins. They were gold. The boys
above were as excited as themselves, and as delighted.
Joe s comrade said:
We ll make quick work of this. There s an old rusty pick over amongst
the weeds in the corner the other side of the fireplace I saw it a
minute ago.
He ran and brought the boys pick and shovel. Injun Joe took the
pick, looked it over critically, shook his head, muttered something to
himself, and then began to use it. The box was soon unearthed. It was
not very large; it was iron bound and had been very strong before the
168