fit to bring a curse upon anybody who finds it!"

"'Tis more like to bring a curse upon the soul who buried it," said
Parson Jones, "and it may be a blessing to him who finds it. But tell
me, Tom, do you think you could find the place again where 'twas hid?"

"I can't tell that," said Tom, "'twas all in among the sand humps,
d'ye see, and it was at night into the bargain. Maybe we could find
the marks of their feet in the sand," he added.

"'Tis not likely," said the reverend gentleman, "for the storm last
night would have washed all that away."

"I could find the place," said Tom, "where the boat was drawn up on
the beach."

"Why, then, that's something to start from, Tom," said his friend. "If
we can find that, then maybe we can find whither they went from
there."

"If I was certain it was a treasure box," cried out Tom Chist, "I
would rake over every foot of sand betwixt here and Henlopen to find
it."

"'Twould be like hunting for a pin in a haystack," said the Rev.
Hilary Jones.

As Tom walked away home, it seemed as though a ton's weight of gloom
had been rolled away from his soul. The next day he and Parson Jones
were to go treasure-hunting together; it seemed to Tom as though he
could hardly wait for the time to come.

V

The next afternoon Parson Jones and Tom Chist started off together
upon the expedition that made Tom's fortune forever. Tom carried a
spade over his shoulder and the reverend gentleman walked along beside
him with his cane.

As they jogged along up the beach they talked together about the only
thing they could talk about--the treasure box. "And how big did you
say 'twas?" quoth the good gentleman.

"About so long," said Tom Chist, measuring off upon the spade, "and
about so wide, and this deep."

"And what if it should be full of money, Tom?" said the reverend
gentleman, swinging his cane around and around in wide circles in the
excitement of the thought, as he strode along briskly. "Suppose it
should be full of money, what then?"

"By Moses!" said Tom Chist, hurrying to keep up with his friend, "I'd
buy a ship for myself, I would, and I'd trade to Injy and to Chiny to
my own boot, I would. Suppose the chist was all full of money, sir,
and suppose we should find it; would there be enough in it, d'ye
suppose, to buy a ship?"

"To be sure there would be enough, Tom; enough and to spare, and a
good big lump over."

"And if I find it 'tis mine to keep, is it, and no mistake?