“I reckon you’re makin’ a mistake about that, my boy,” Jenkins replied, in a thoughtful tone. “It looks to me as if this place was used to live in, an’ most likely what treasure the people had who built the place was in the chest you fell on. If there were diamonds in it, the gold was there to a dead certainty, an’ we shan’t see anything more in the way of valuables.”
“It won’t take long to find out what is in here,” and Gil struck the ancient desk a heavy blow with the spade, causing it to fall in fragments.
At this instant the torch was extinguished, the wood having been consumed, and the eager explorers were forced to wait until Jenkins could make and send down another.
Now they searched carefully among the fragments, and the first article found was a metal casket covered with rust, and securely locked.
“Here’s what we want!” Gil cried, triumphantly, as he held it above his head that the mate might have a full view. “When this is opened we shall see a pile of gold!”
“It doesn’t appear to be very heavy.”
“You’re right. I never thought of that,” was the reply, in a tone of disappointment, and Gil tried in vain to open the box by striking it with the spade.
“Use this!” and Jenkins threw down one of the hatchets.
Even with such an effective implement it was not an easy matter to break the casket; but the metal finally yielded after repeated blows, and the boys gazed at the exposed contents in dismay.
Instead of treasure, they had unearthed nothing more than a lot of time-stained documents and Gil was about to throw them away when Jenkins called sharply: