Leopold fastened the painter to the rocks, and followed his friend. The bucket was soon filled with clams, the largest and finest to be found on the coast, for they were seldom dug on this beach. In returning to the boat, they passed quite near Coffin Rock, and of course Leopold could not help thinking of the hidden treasure in the sand. Stumpy, with the bucket of clams in his hand, led the way to the spot, not exactly with the approbation of his companion, who was afraid that the waters had not yet smoothed over the beach so as to conceal his recent operations.
"Come, Stumpy, ain't you going down to the boat?" asked Leopold, as he began to move in a different direction from that of his friend.
"No hurry—is there? I want to go to the spring, and clean up a little," replied the clam-digger.
"Can't you do it down by the boat?" suggested the money-digger, who did not feel inclined to answer the questions which the disturbed state of the beach under Coffin Rock would put into the mouth of Stumpy.
"I never wash in salt water when I can get fresh. Besides I want a drink."
Without intending to be obstinate, Stumpy silently insisted upon having his own way, by directing his steps towards the springs, which flowed from the rocks not twenty feet from the hidden treasure. The pure water dropped from an overhanging cliff, in a kind of alcove in the precipice. It was clear and cold, and on a warm day it was emphatically a luxury. If the weather was not warm on the present occasion, Stumpy was, for he had been digging deep into the sand and mud of the beach. The water dropping from the spring had formed a deep pool under the cliff, which overflowed, and was discharged by a stream flowing down the sands into the ocean. In this stream Stumpy washed his face and hands, and then his feet, covered with the black mud which he had thrown up from under the sand at low tide.
Leopold sat down on a bowlder, some distance from the cliff, to wait for his companion. Stumpy seemed to be determined to do just what his friend did not want him to do, for, as soon as he had washed his feet, he walked directly out of the alcove to the spot under Coffin Rock, taking the clams and shovel with him.
"I say, Le, can't we get up a clam-bake for the girls?" said he, calling to the skipper in the distance.
"It won't pay," replied Leopold, walking to the place where Stumpy stood, exactly over the buried treasure.
"Why not? You said Miss Rosabel liked clams."