It cost them quite an effort even then; but they got it out at last and gathered around it, staring curiously, whispering anxiously. It was locked firmly, that they could see. But the wood was rotten and Mark seized the shovel and knocked the hinges off the back with one quick blow. Then the six stood and stared at each other, each one of them hesitating for a moment before revealing that uncanny mystery.
That did not last very long, however. Mark grasped the lid firmly and wrenched it back. And as one man the six leaped forward to glance in.
“Gold!”
The cry burst from throats of every one of them at once. They sprang back and gazed at each other in amazement. For that huge chest was fairly brimming over with five-dollar gold pieces!
Oh, what a scene there was for the next ten minutes. The cadets were fairly wild. They stooped and gazed at the treasure greedily. They ran their fingers through it incredulously; they danced about the cave in the wildest jubilation. For there was in that chest money enough to make each one of them rich.
And then suddenly an idea flashed over Mark. This was a counterfeiter’s cave!
“Is it genuine?” he cried.
Quick as a wink the Parson whipped two bottles from under his coat.
“I thought of that,” he said. “Yea, by Zeus! One is for gold, one silver.”
He wrenched the stopper out of one bottle and stopped eagerly, the seven staring in horror.