This was true, for once three clamps were loosed, the cover could be removed. Here she paused. Though an only child, Jeanne had never been selfish. She had always shared her joys, whenever possible. She was about to open a thing that had been closed for half a century or more. What would she find? “A whiff of sour buttermilk,” as Vivian had prophesied? If more than this, what then?
“A laugh or a secret is always better when shared,” she told herself.
Opening the door, she called softly, “Girls! Come here!”
When Vivian and Violet had entered she closed the door. “See!” she said in the most mysterious of tones. “It’s done like this. You turn this screw, then that one. Now this one, now that one, and, presto! It’s open.”
It was true the churn smelled of sour buttermilk, and such a sourness as it was! This was not all, however. Wedged into the churn so it could not possibly be shaken about was some heavy object.
“It’s copper!” Vivian exclaimed. “A lump of pure native copper taken from the rocks here on the island. How strange!”
“Look!” Jeanne whispered. “Here, tucked away in a crevice of the copper, is a bit of paper.”
“A note! It’s written on!” Violet cried.
As Jeanne’s trembling fingers unfolded it, at the very center of a small page filled with writing, her eyes caught three words that stood out like mountain peaks. The words were: Some considerable treasure.