d
reached the bottom, some ten feet below. It was a sloping, uneven floor
of earth, lighted dimly from above and from the south, where the ledge
shelved off down the hillside. The dirt was black and damp, undisturbed
for years save by the feeble pushing of some pale, seedling plant.
Jeremy groped aimlessly at first, then, as his eyes became accustomed to
the half-light, peered closely into the crevices along either side.

Bob leaned over the edge, pointing. "Back and to the left!" he
whispered. Jeremy turned as directed, felt along the earth and finally
clutched at something that seemed to glitter with a yellow light. He
turned his face upward and Bob read utter disappointment in his eyes.

The gleaming something which he held aloft was nothing but a bit of
discolored mica that had reflected the faint light.

Bob almost groaned aloud as he looked at it. Then he took off his belt
and passed an end of it down for Jeremy to climb up by. The latter took
hold half-heartedly, and was commencing the ascent when his moccasined
foot slipped on a low, arching hump in the damp earth. He went down on
one knee and as it struck the ground there was a faint hollow thud.
Astonished, the boy remained in a kneeling posture and felt about
beneath him with his hands.

"What is it?" whispered Bob.

Jeremy stood erect again. "Some kind of old, slippery wet wood," he
answered. "It feels like--like a barrel!"

"I'm coming down!" said the Delaware boy, and casting a cautious look
around, he descended into the depths of the crevice.

With their hands and hunting-knives both boys went to work feverishly to
unearth the wooden object. A few moments of breathless labor laid bare
the side and part of one end of a heavily-built, oaken keg.

"Now maybe we can lift it out," said Jeremy, and taking a strong grip of
the edge, they heaved mightily together. It stirred a bare fraction of
an inch in its bed. "Again!" panted Jeremy, and they made another
desperate try. It was of no avail. The keg seemed to weigh hundreds of
pounds.

Mopping his forehead with his sleeve, Bob stood up and looked his
companion in the face. "Well," he grinned, "the heavier the better!"
"Right!" Jeremy agreed. "But how'll we get it home? We don't dare chop
it open--too much noise--or set fire to it, for they'd see the smoke.
Besides it's too damp to burn. Here--I'll see what's in it, yet!"

He crouched at the end of the barrel, whetted his hunting-knife on his
palm a f