"Yes—she's gone, swallowed up, busted!" answered the old tar. "Thet air earthquake done it an' no error," he went on. "It jest shook thet pile o' rock wot made the cave into a heap, and there's the heap."
Bahama Bill pointed in front of him, where a large quantity of rocks lay in a scattered mass, many of them ten and twenty tons in weight. At one point was what he said had been the entrance to the cave, but this was completely blocked by the stones.
"Vot's der madder, can't ve get in?" queried Hans, with a look of real concern on his honest face.
"That doesn't look like it," answered Fred. "Too bad, and after coming so far for this treasure, too!"
"We must get in there somehow!" cried Dick.
"Why can't we blow up the rocks with dynamite," suggested Tom.
"We can—but it will take time," said his father. He turned to
Bahama Bill. "About how far into the cave was the treasure placed?"
"Oh, at least a hundred feet maybe two hundred."
Anderson Rover heaved a deep sigh, which was echoed by his sons. To get down into that mass of rocks a distance of from one to two hundred feet would surely be a herculean task, if not an impossible one. And then, too, there was a question whether or not the treasure had not dropped down through some hole in the bottom of the cave after the earthquake.
"I'll have to think this over," said Anderson Rover, after an examination of the rocks. "We'll have to try to locate the treasure and then see if we can raise enough dynamite to blow the rocks away. More than likely, if we undertake the task, it will take a long time—perhaps weeks and months."