TREASURE--AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT WE
DISCOVERED.

By noon we had a well-like hole about seven feet deep, and found as we
dug that the soil became drier the lower we went, which was unusual, as
generally it gets more moist, so that digging at length becomes very
arduous.

Although not more than seven feet deep, the earth we had piled all round
made the hole look at least ten feet to the bottom, and it had now
become very difficult to throw the earth over the edge of the opening
above.

It was a hot August day, and the sun poured its almost vertical rays
upon us, so that the perspiration broke out at every pore, and bathed us
in moisture; but still we toiled on, till, as I say, noon arrived,
without our finding any token of treasure trove.

Then said Monday, "What say you now of your quest, Crusoe? Don't you
think it's all moonshine, or rather (wiping the perspiration from his
brow) sunshine and shadow?"

I was fain to confess that it did seem like it, but asked,

"Will you help me dig to a depth of ten feet from the surface? and if
nothing gives indication of what we are in search, I will then give up."

"What, dig down ten feet, and be buried alive in this crumbling grave?
Just look at it, it is ready even now to tumble its sides in upon us."

"Well, but," persisted I, "let us shore it up as we go down."

"Very well then," he rejoined, "but I bargain for one hour's rest before
we delve further, and here goes for a swim."

Then climbing up our improvised ladder away he went to the beach,
whither "Begum" and I quickly followed, and in five minutes we, who had
been so lately in a grave, were swimming about in the deliriously cool
water, dog and men thoroughly enjoying the exhilarating reaction.

Our bathe being over, we strolled up to the house, and made another
attack upon Adam and Eve, and this time finished them; they were
delicious. As Monday would have his full sixty minutes' cessation, just
as Shylock would have his pound of flesh, we smoked the rest of the time
away, and then resumed our labours.

We first took the precaution to shore up the sides of our pit with stout
pieces of wreckage and any other wood we could find, for fear of a
landslip, which might have resulted in serious if not fatal consequences
to us.

Before we had dug ten minutes my spade struck on something hard and
hollow, which quite startled us; but clearing the mould away from the
spot, I soon discovered the impediment to be a ki