led on again, faster than before, and hurrying forward in Indian
file, they reached the cabin without further adventure.

All through the next day they stood watch and watch at the shack, ready
for the attack which they expected to develop sooner or later. But still
it appeared that the pirates preferred to keep out of sight. The boys
had told Amos Swan of the noises they had heard the previous night and
he had listened with a grave countenance. It could hardly have been
other than one of the pirates, he thought, for he was quite certain that
except for a few rabbits, there were no wild animals upon the island.
"Still," he said, "if you were moving quietly, there's small reason to
believe the man knew you were near. If he did know and made such a noise
as that, he must have been a mighty poor woodsman!"

The boys, anxious that nothing should prevent another trip to the
treasure-keg, accepted this logic without demur.

The following night Amos Swan decided to go with the boys himself,
leaving Tom on guard at the cabin. As before, they armed themselves with
guns, pistols and hunting-knives and ascended the hillside in the inky
dark. There were no stars in sight and a faint breeze that came and went
among the trees foreboded rain. This prospect of impending bad weather
made itself felt in the spirits of the three treasure-hunters. Jeremy,
accustomed as he was to the woods, drew a breath of apprehension and
looked scowlingly aloft as he heard the dismal wind in the hemlock tops.
Ugh! He shook himself nervously and plunged forward along the hillcrest.
A few moments later they were gathered about the barrel at the bottom of
the cleft.

It was even darker than they had found it on their previous visit.
Jeremy and his father had to grope in the pitchy blackness for the coins
that Bob held out to them. Their pockets were about half-full when there
came a whispered exclamation from the Delaware boy.

"There's some sort of box in here, buried in the gold!" he said. "It's
too big to pull out through the hole. Where's your dirk, Jeremy?"

The latter knelt astride the keg, and working in the dark, began to
enlarge the opening with the blade of his hunting-knife. After a few
minutes he thrust his hand in and felt the box. It was apparently of
wood, covered with leather and studded over with scores of nails. Its
top was only seven or eight inches wide by less than a foot long,
however, and in thickness it seemed scarcely a hand's