e 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 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.

Had he chanced to glance at the little window, his labors might have
come to a premature conclusion. Grouped outside were Morton and his
friends, almost bursting with smothered laughter. The sight of Andy,
whose antipathy to work was well known, sweating away over the hardest
kind of labor, amused them immensely.

Wholly unconscious of the amusement he was providing, Andy resumed his
task and worked with such good will that it was not long before his
spade struck on the edge of the buried trunk. He uttered a shout of
delight and scattered the remaining sand in every direction. Before long
he had uncovered the top of the trunk. This he tried to lift out of the
hole. Finding it too heavy for this, however, and not able to restrain
his impatience to see what it contained, he seized the pickax and
smashed in the top.

His chagrin may be imagined when instead of the treasure he expected he
found that the trunk was filled with sand. On top of this was a sheet of
paper which Morton had placed there the previous evening. It contained
one word done in heavy capitals:

_STUNG!_

For a few moments Andy gazed stupidly, unable for the time to understand
that he had been made the victim of a hoax. While this was slowly
dawning upon him, the door burst open and, with a yell of laughter, the
crowd rushed into the hut.

Andy jum