“I have it!” exclaimed Morton abruptly. “It’s the place old Totten used to have on the beach just north of Bartanet. He kept very close to himself, but he always seemed to have slathers of money. He died two or three years ago, and since then the sand has nearly rolled over his shack. I’ll venture to say that if we dug there we’d find money enough to make us both rich for the rest of our lives.”
“By jinks! but I believe you’re right,” blurted out Andy with an avaricious glitter in his shifty eyes. “Let’s go there to-night and see if we can find it.”
“Oh, we won’t be able to go to-night,” protested Morton. “We’ll have to get picks and shovels, and we’ll have to do it so quietly that nobody will catch on. And I can’t do it to-morrow night, either,” he continued, as though just recalling something. “I’ve got an engagement that I can’t break. But I’ll make it the night after that, if you’re willing.”
“Sure!” assented Andy. “That suits me fine.”
But there was a reluctance to look into Morton’s eyes as Andy spoke, that convinced the joker that his plans would work out as he expected. He 205 knew Andy Shanks pretty well, and he was sure that Andy would not wait till the appointed time to hunt for the treasure. He guessed that Andy would endeavor to cheat him out of his share of the fictitious treasure by getting in before the time agreed upon. And he made no mistake in reckoning on the mean nature of Andy Shanks.
The two arranged the details of the expedition, such as securing shovels and picks and candles. Then they parted, after Morton had exacted an oath of secrecy from the other.
The latter was no sooner left to himself, however, than he began revolving in his mind plans to outwit the friend, who, he thought, had confided in him so completely.
“It’s a lucky thing for me,” thought Andy, “that he can’t be there to-morrow night. I’ll get a pick and shovel somewhere and beat him to it. If he’s such a fool as to tell all he knows, he deserves to lose his share.”
In the meantime, Morton was hugging himself in anticipation. He confided the matter to a few of his friends, who were delighted at the chance of playing a joke on Shanks, who was anything but popular in the town. All volunteered to help Morton, and having secured an old trunk, they armed themselves with spades and sallied forth in the direction of Totten’s old shack.
After shoveling the sand away from before the 206 door, they entered and started to “plant the treasure,” as one of them expressed it. They dug a hole four feet deep and wide enough to contain the trunk. Then they filled the trunk with sand and lowered it into the excavation. This done, they filled the hole up again, replaced the rotting boards that formed the floor and surveyed the completed job with satisfaction.