d sealed up for twenty
years, and was supposed to contain all kinds of precious things, it was
found to have nothing at all in it but a cork (which doesn't count); and
now, when every one declares it was put away empty, there's something
inside."

No further discovery was likely to be made by simply lingering about
staring at the outside of the chest, so, having recovered the air-pistol
dart with the aid of a pair of steps, the trio dispersed, and went their
several ways.

Brian strolled off down the garden, but had not gone far when he heard
some one running after him, and turning round saw Elsie.

"O Bri!" she cried, "is it true that there's something in Uncle Roger's
box?"

"It seems so," was the answer.

"Well, _how_ can it have got there?" cried the child, her eyes growing
rounder with excitement. "Isn't it wonderful? D'you think it's anything
valuable?"

"I think we'd better not make any more guesses about that box until
we see it opened," answered the boy, laughing; "though if you like to
come and listen I'll turn the chest over. You'll then hear the hidden
treasure moving inside, and can decide whether it sounds like a bundle
of bank-notes, silver-plate, or bags of money."

If he had proposed a visit to the dentist, Elsie could not have shown
greater reluctance to accept the invitation.

"I shan't go near that old tool-house again," she said slowly.

"Why not?"

"Will you promise you won't say anything? I wouldn't tell any one else
but you, because I know they would only laugh at me, and say I was a
coward."

"I won't say anything," answered the boy, smiling. "Come on--out with
it! What's been the matter with you the last few days?"

Brian never broke his promises; his word was always to be trusted. It
was with almost a sigh of relief that Elsie prepared to unburden herself
of a secret which she had hitherto been keeping locked within her own
bosom.

"I had an awful fright," she began. "You know when we were playing 'I
spy' I went into the tool-house, and I--I saw something."

"Well, what did you see?"

"O Bri!" continued the girl, lowering her voice, and the startled look
appearing once more on her face, "_I saw William Cole!_"

"Saw William Cole!" repeated Brian in astonishment. "What on earth d'you
mean? Why, William, poor fellow, is drowned, and at the bottom of the
sea, hundreds of miles from here."

"I know," gasped Elsie breathlessly. "But I saw him, all the same.
The light of the