"It is impossible to tell," answered Frank, working away vigorously. "It may be one foot, it may be ten—— By gracious! here's something now. I've just struck it with my spade."
A sharp, ringing sound was heard. The spade had struck something of a metallic nature at the bottom of the hole.
"I've found it, boys," he cried, in great excitement, stooping down and with his hands brushing back the loose earth from the lid of a great iron chest at the bottom of the hole. "The treasure is mine—mine at last! Let that wretched Callister now beware!"
"And 'that wretched Callister' bids you say your prayers, young man!" cried a deep voice behind them. "In digging that hole you have dug your grave. Prepare to lie in it now."
The four boys sprang back, Frank leaping from the hole.
There, amid the old boxes and barrels in the dim light, the forms of two men could be seen with cocked revolvers pointed—one directly at the head of Barney, the bootblack, the other at the head of Frank.
[CHAPTER XXV.]
THE MYSTERY OF TRINITY CHURCH-YARD EXPLAINED AT LAST.
At the sight of Elijah Callister and his companion standing before him with cocked pistols in their hands amid the shadows of the cellar, Frank Mansfield sprang from the hole in which he stood.