ned to the stake which he had set up, and then walked from
it to the cliff. When he stopped, the projecting rock was directly over
his head. He knew the spot very well. He had baked clams there for
Rosabel Hamilton during one of his visits to High Rock with her; and he
had dug over every foot of sand beneath it, in search of the hidden
treasure, without finding it. But Harvey Barth was so correct in regard
to his description of the locality that the boatman was more disposed to
rely upon his statements in other matters than he had ever been before.
He gathered a pile of stones to mark the place, and then gave himself up
to a careful consideration of the circumstances of the case. He could
not now escape the conclusion that the money was actually buried beneath
the projecting rock--"Coffin Rock" he had already named in his own mind;
and he proceeded to inquire why he had not found it, when he dug the
ground all over.

"Miss Liverage told me the hole which Wallbridge dug was not more than a
foot deep; and Harvey Barth's diary contained the same statement," said
the boatman to himself. "I dug a foot down, and the money was not there.
I remember I found a piece of boat-hook, with the iron on it about that
distance below the surface. What does that prove? How happened that
piece of a boat-hook, to be a foot under ground? On the top of the
cliffs the sand and gravel, with a little soil on top, is six feet
deep, and this beach is formed by the caving down of the earth. There is
no beach beyond the Hole, because the rocks are all bare on the top of
the cliff. I suppose the sand keeps dropping down, and the roll of the
sea has spread it out as it fell. I have no doubt that the hurricane
piled the sand up a foot or more next to the cliff. That's the reason I
didn't find the money. I will dig deeper now."

Satisfied with this reasoning, Leopold waded off to the Rosabel which
the tide had swung in towards the beach again. In the cuddy he had a
lantern,--for use when he was out after dark,--which he lighted. As he
was obliged to supply bait for parties who went out fishing with him, he
kept under the seat in the standing-room a boy's shovel, which his
father had given him years before, with which he dug clams on the
beaches. Letting out the cable, the boat drifted still nearer to the
beach, and the skipper landed, with his lantern and shovel. Throwing off
his wet coat, he began to dig under Coffin Rock. He allowed considerable
lati