The Putnam Hall Rivals

“That is true. But we can come here some other day.”

The trail left the brook a little further on, and then they came to a point where the way was uncertain.

“Go slow now,” cautioned the young major. “We don’t want to become tangled up if we can possibly avoid it.”

“Here seems to be a cleared spot,” said Pepper, gazing around. “I wonder if there was once a farm here?”

“If there was it must have been abandoned years ago,” answered Andy. “To me it’s a perfect wilderness.”

They started to go on, when suddenly Andy sank down in the soil a distance of about two feet.

“Help!” he yelled, and scrambled out of the hole as quickly as he could.

“Humph! I wonder if that is another cave?” muttered Jack.

“I didn’t seem to touch bottom,” answered the acrobatic youth.

“Let us examine it, just for fun,” said Pepper, and walked back before the others could stop him. He picked up a dead tree-branch and poked it into the hole.

“I can’t touch bottom,” he declared.

“You had better come away before you fall in,” said Jack.

“Do you know what I think?” went on the Imp. “I think it is an old well.”

“A well? out here?” came from Andy, with a skeptical look.

“Look for yourself.”

Both of the others were now interested, and made an examination.

“It certainly is a well, and the top had been choked up most likely for years,” declared the young major.

“I’ll stick a tree-limb in the hole,” said Pepper. “That will prevent somebody else from going down into it.”

This was done, and they started to go ahead once more. They had covered only fifty feet when Jack suddenly came to a halt as if electrified.

“Well, I never!” he gasped, after a look ahead and then a look behind.

“What’s up now?” asked Andy and Pepper, in a breath.

“Do you remember Mr. Strong’s story about that hidden pot of gold?”

“Certainly,” said Andy.

“You don’t mean – ” began Pepper.

“Don’t you remember that his great-grandfather left a letter, stating the pot of gold was hidden under the tree that had the stone in its roots, – the tree that stood twenty paces north cf the old well?”

“Yes.”

“Well, yonder is the old well, and here is the stone, about twenty paces north of it. The tree blew down years ago, but here is a part of the stump.”

“And do you think the pot of gold is there?” almost shouted Pepper.

“That remains to be found out,” answered Jack.

CHAPTER XXX

SOMETHING OF A FIND – CONCLUSION

The discovery which Jack had made filled all three of the cadets with excitement, and they gazed at the rock and tree-root in wonder and expectation.

“Oh, I hope the pot of gold is really there!” cried Andy.

“We’ll have to dig for it,” returned Pepper. “Come on! I wish I had a spade.”

“So do I.”

“We’ll have to use our knives and some sticks,” put in the young major. “And our hands too.”

They were soon digging away at the foot of the rock. Then they pulled away some of the rotten tree-roots that were near.

“Look out, there is a snake!” ejaculated Andy, a moment later. But the reptile was small and harmless, and quickly got out of sight in the bushes.

“I wonder if there are any more around,” ventured Jack. He did not like snakes in the least.

“We’ll have to keep our eyes open,” answered Pepper.

Once more they made the dirt fly, loosening it with their knives and some sharp-pointed sticks, and scooping it away with their hands. They did not mind getting dirty – all their thoughts were on uncovering the pot of gold, if it was really there.

“This doesn’t look like anything,” grumbled Andy, after they had been digging the best part of half an hour.

“Do you want to give up?” questioned Jack, quickly.

“Not yet.”

“Here is a flat stone,” said Pepper. “It is quite large, too. We will have some trouble getting it up.”

“Perhaps it is placed directly over the pot of gold,” said Andy.

They worked all around the flat stone and then pried up one end with a heavy stick. Pepper placed his hand beneath.

“There is something under it,” he announced. “Feels like an iron pot!”

“Let us get that stone up!” cried Jack.

They tugged and strained with might and main, and at last the flat rock came up out of the hole. Beneath was the cover to an old rusty pot and beneath this the pot itself, resting in a bed of dirt and small stones.