"Use the pick, Hodge!" hoarsely commanded Browning. "We will soon open it up. Go at it lively!"
Bart obeyed, and the ground gave back a strange, hollow sound as he struck his pick into it. Browning shov
eled away the dirt, having torn off his coat to work with greater ease.
Soon something of a hole had been made in the mound.
All at once, with a cry of horror, Bart started back, pointing down into the hole they had made.
"Look!" he gasped. "That ring—that hand! It is Frank Merriwell's hand!"
And there before them they saw a human hand that seemed to be thrust up through the ground.
Hans began to pray.
The hand moved—it clawed desperately at the ground!
"It is Frank!" Diamond almost screamed. "He is down there! He has been buried alive! Dig, fellows—dig! But be careful not to hurt him!"