was going to be a long winded job," was Sam's
comment, and he heaved a sigh. "I thought we'd come here, march into
the cave, and put our hands right on the gold and diamonds!"

Dick was a short distance away, poking into a hole with a stick. The
stick was over eight feet long, but the end did not appear to touch
anything.

"There is some kind of a hollow below here," he said to the others. "I
think we ought to investigate and see how large it is."

The others agreed with him, and all set to work to pull aside half a
dozen rocks which were in the way. They had to use all their strength
and even then the largest of the stones refused to budge.

"Let us get a small tree and use it for a pry," suggested Mr. Rover.

They had an ax with them, and Tom cut down the tree and trimmed it.
Then, resting the log on one stone, they inserted the end under the
big rock and pressed down with all their might.

"She's coming!" shouted Sam, as the big stone commenced to move.

"Yes, and look at the opening underneath," added Dick. "It must surely
be part of the cave!"

The sight of the big hole made all eager to know if it was really a
portion of the shattered cave and they worked on the big rock with
renewed energy. Twice it slipped back on them, but then they got a new
purchase and over it went and rolled out of the way. Then all of the
treasure hunters got on their hands and knees to gaze down into the
hole.

"It must be part of the cave," said Mr. Rover.

"I'll climb down on the rope," said Tom. "Hurry up, I can't wait!"

"You be careful, Tom, or you'll get hurt," warned his father. But it
must be confessed he was as eager as his son to learn whether or not
they had discovered the treasure cave.

Tom went down, and Dick and Sam came after him. The bottom of the hole
was rough. On one side was another opening, leading to what certainly
looked like a cave of considerable extent.

"Drop down the lantern," called Dick, and Captain Barforth did so.
With the lantern lit Dick crawled into the side opening and his
brothers followed.

"This is certainly a cave," said Tom. "But whether it is the right one
or not remains to be seen."

"It must be a part of the original cave, Tom," answered Dick. "Because
it is in the spot covered by the other. But it may not be the part
that contained the treasure."

They crawled around, over the rough rocks and fallen dirt. It was a
dangerous proceeding, for they did not know but what some st