“It was strongly built, and has probably been repaired from time to time,” said Jack. “But, whoever he was, John Applegate is probably dead and gone now, so we can take what we please from here.”
“I’m glad to hear that!” shouted Harry from the next room. “For I have found something that is indeed a treasure.”
“What is it? What is it?” cried the others, and they rushed to where he was kneeling in front of a worm-eaten chest.
“A stocking full of old coins!” he returned, and he held it up for their inspection.
CHAPTER XXIV.
HARRY’S PRIZE.
“Is it gold?” queried Jack, as he and the others clustered around their kneeling companion.
“Not quite, but there is some silver there,” replied Harry. “Wait till I spread the coins out on the bench over there.”
He walked to a bench beneath one of the windows, and, turning up the stocking, which was covered with mold, and ready to fall apart, he allowed some forty coins of all sizes to roll out.
“Not a gold coin in the lot!” sighed Boxy. “And I was thinking you might have struck a fortune!”
“Here are half-a-dozen silver coins, worth at least twenty-five cents to a dollar,” said Jack, as he handled them one after another. “Just see how old they are! Some of them date away back to sixteen and seventeen hundred!”