Sure enough! Close beside the rock and near the spring the ground swelled into a mound covered with grass.
“Of course this must be the place,” said Charlie excitedly. “How did you ever find it, Tom?”
“Well, when she was telling the story I remembered this island, and I thought it was just the place that the pirates would have come to first when they drifted in from sea; so I rowed over to look at it. I found the cove was just as she had said, and sure enough! there was the rock like a big book, and the mound. I knew this must be the place. I wanted to begin to dig right away, but I thought it wouldn’t be fair without you fellows, ’cause you were the ones to tell me about pirates first.”
“Let’s begin to dig now,” said Kenneth eagerly.
“Let’s!” cried Charlie. So they ran down to the dory and got their spades. Then they all fell to work.
The mound was not hard like ordinary earth. When they had gone through the sod their spades struck something queer. Charlie took some of it up in his hand. “Why, it’s broken shells,” he said.
“Clam shells!” exclaimed Kenneth, picking up two which were still unbroken. “The pirates must have had clams for their dinner, and have piled the shells on top of their treasure. Oh, hurry! this proves there is something here, doesn’t it?”
Eagerly they set to work again. It was amazing to see what a number of shells there were in that mound. It was made of nothing else. Down, down they dug until they had a hole as large as Tom’s body. But still there was no sign of any treasure. Their spades tossed up broken shells and nothing more.
“My! Those two pirates must have had a big clambake all by themselves,” said Charlie, pausing to wipe his streaming forehead.
“I suppose Captain Kidd was an awful eater,” said Kenneth. “But I say, how could they finish so many clams?”