guilty rock escape."

"You bet we won't!" echoed Bill.

Their excitement chased away from the boys' minds any idea of getting a
regular meal, and they contented themselves with hasty bites of whatever
was found at hand, while they kept their eyes glued to the irregular
coast line.

It was late in the afternoon when a shout came from Bill.

"There's a big rock, the biggest that we've seen," he cried, pointing to
the right.

Both boats turned in the direction indicated. Ross, in his eagerness,
made his engine hum and came first in sight of a cove that opened out
beyond the rock, and a shout went up that thrilled the hearts of those
in the _Ariel_ ploughing on behind.

"Here it is!" yelled Teddy exultingly. "Three trees standing together
and two more a hundred feet away. Now for the chest of gold!"

CHAPTER XXX

A DISCOVERY--CONCLUSION

As the boys were unfamiliar with this part of the coast, and did not
know what depth of water they might expect to find, they had to moderate
their speed, a tantalizing proceeding when every impulse prompted them
to rush ashore.

However, "better to be safe than sorry," was the maxim that had been
dinned into Lester by his father, and despite the urgings of the others,
he felt his way, foot by foot, until he found a good place to drop
anchor a hundred feet from shore. Ross followed suit. Then they packed
the supplies and implements they had brought into the small boat, and
rowed to the beach. Several trips were necessary, but at last everything
was safely landed, just on the verge of dusk.

"Oh, if it were only morning!" groaned Teddy.

"We can't do much more than take a look around to-night, for a fact,"
said Fred. "Perhaps it's just as well, though, that we have time to rest
a little before we tackle the job."

"It'll be a man-sized job, all right," warned Bill.

"But we'll have a week to do it in if necessary," said Lester. "And what
we won't know about this place in a week won't be worth knowing."

"What's the name of this place, anyway?" asked Fred.

"I don't know that it has any name," was the reply.

"Suppose we christen it, then. What's the matter with calling it
Treasure Cove?"

The suggestion met with unanimous approval, and all hoped that what they
should find would justify the name.

In the waning light the boys examined curiously the five trees that had
helped them to locate the place. But there was nothing cut into the bark
that gave them any