The shells were indeed large and strong. One was given to each girl. Then Winston suggested: “Suppose we work in relays. In that way we will not all be tired at once.”
“You and Virginia may be the first relay,” Betsy said generously. The older girl laughed. “No, indeed, I know you are just wild to begin to ferret out the mystery. Suppose you and Eleanor begin. Five minutes will be allowed each pair of diggers. Megsy, since you have a wrist watch, you may be time-keeper.”
But many a five minutes had passed before much of the earth had been removed. It was decided, because of his superior strength that Winston might have a turn all by himself until he announced that his arm was tired. It was then that some real headway was noticed. However, it was Eleanor who was digging when a hard object was struck. Great was the excitement as they all crowded around. “Maybe it’s Indian crockery. You know what vessels and things were buried in their graves.”
“Be careful how you hit it, Betsy, for if it is crockery, it will surely break,” Sally warned. But the something which they were rapidly uncovering did not resemble anything which Indians were known to make.
“It’s a small copper chest,” Winston announced at last.
Betsy sprang to her feet and leaped about joyfully. “Oh, ho, ho!” she cried. “This is Stevenson’s Treasure Island, I do believe.”
Winston’s eyes glowed with excitement as he looked over at Eleanor, who was also digging. “I do believe Betsy is right. Of course it isn’t that Treasure Island, but smugglers, at some time, may have buried this here.”
Having removed the hard packed dirt from the top of the box, the lad tried to pry it out but it was too firmly embedded. “We’ll have to be patient and dig some more,” he said. Although the boy’s fingers were almost numb from holding the handless implement for so long, he was so eager to unearth the find, that he did not want to rest, but Virginia begged him to let her take his place for a time.
“All righto!” he sang out as a new thought suggested itself to him. “And I’ll break a strong staff from a tree and make a lever out of it.” He leaped away to accomplish this, and while he was gone, the girls redoubled their efforts.
