“I guess that will keep him busy for a while,” remarked Morton, “especially as he won’t know where to look and will have to dig the whole place up, more or less. It’s going to be more fun than a circus.”
“But we want to see him while he’s at it,” objected one of his followers. “How are we going to manage it?”
“That’s so,” agreed Morton. “Guess we’ll have to clear the sand away from the little window there.”
The lads set to work with a will and soon had enough of the sand shoveled away to permit a clear view of the interior of the shack. This accomplished, they closed the door and heaped sand against it, leaving everything as they had found it.
“Well,” declared Morton, “that was considerable work, but it will be worth it. We’ll hustle back to town now and tell the other fellows that everything’s all right. Then we’ll have nothing to 207 do but wait for the fun. I’m as sure as I am that I’m alive that that sneak will try to circumvent me. I could see it in his eye.”
Andy spent a restless night, his mind busied with plans to get the best of Morton. He rose early the next morning and roamed restlessly about town. The great problem confronting him was how to get the pick and shovel without Morton’s getting wind of it. He finally concluded that it would be taking too much of a risk to buy the implements in the village, so he made a trip to a town five miles distant and got the necessary tools.
Night came at last, and the sneak sallied forth and set out for the old cabin, the location of which Morton had been careful to give to him. Throwing down his tools, Andy carefully reconnoitred the surroundings. The jokers had done their work so carefully that he saw nothing amiss, and after satisfying himself that the coast was clear, he started digging in the sand in front of the door.
It did not take him long to gain an entrance, and after getting in he lit two of his candles and took a careful survey of the surroundings. There was nothing in sight to give him a clue. The sole furniture consisted of an old table and a couple of rickety chairs.
Somewhat at a loss where to begin, Andy finally started sounding the rough planking of the floor. When he came to the place where the planks had 208 been ripped up the preceding evening, he saw that they were loose and resolved to take a chance there. He removed the boards, took off his coat and began to dig in earnest.
He made rapid progress at first, but soon his muscles, flabby and unused to such strenuous exercise, began to protest and he was forced to take a breathing spell.