In fact, digging was not in Tom’s line. It was too much like work, and if there was anything to which Tom was bitterly opposed it was work of any kind.
“The boy must know. Likely the old man told him,” he finally concluded. “I’ll watch the boy.”
He therefore lost no time in prowling around the cabin, with the especial object of watching Ernest’s movements. He was especially favored, as he thought, when from a distance he saw Ernest leaving the cabin with the spade in his hand.
The tramp’s heart was filled with joy.
“He is going to dig for the treasure,” he said. “I’ll keep him in sight.”
Tom Burns had no difficulty in doing this, for Ernest bent his steps in his direction.
“I hope he won’t discover me,” thought Burns; “at any rate not till I find out where he’s going to dig.”
All things seemed to favor the tramp. Ernest stopped when he came to the oak tree, and it was evident that this was the spot of which he was in search.
“Why, that’s where I was lyin’ the other night!” thought Burns. “If I had only knowed! Why, the gold was right under me all the time.”
He watched with eagerness while Ernest was digging. He no longer doubted that this was the place where the gold was hidden. Ernest could have no other object in digging in this place.