The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1895-03-22

care OF lne mouse. showed them tho
document that gave me the right to
rent or buy My wife brought with her
half a pint of the best gin and littld
packet of tobacco for the caretakers,
and the man and woman went off de-
lighted.
When they had been gone about ten
minutes we locked the outer gate, un.
packed our rick-ax and prepared for
business.
Ruth suggested that 1t would be best
to wait u little while longer They
might return for something. l couldn't
wait.
Go you. dear, and stand by the
door, and if they come say | have
thought better of that burying busi-
ness. and resolved to let the man place
the poor eat where he wished"
"Oh, that would be nonsense" said
Ruth, land why tell a fib about it?
One can offer plenty of excuses without
exactly telling an untruth."
"All right, l leave it 10 you" l said
and I begun to clear away the earth
/ just above where the man had been
/ digging. and I felt as if l could see the
treasure already, my mind was SO dead
on 1t, my imagination so quickened.
y
! spade | set to work with he pick.
dug until the persplration poured down
my face. Presently Ruth left her post
of observation and came up to me-
Found anything?" she asked,
The question irrltated me for a mo,
ment, as if l should go on sweating and
digging if 1 had found anything. l
suppose 1 had been working half an
hour. The excavation was quite extern
sive. thought, but Ruth in her sensl-
BILE and sympathetic way said l had
not gone down far enough: he would
have been sure to bury the treasure
deep down I slaved at 1t again.
widened the hole. broadened the exca-
walton generally
You needn't hurry. you know" said
Ruth; we have all day 10 work in
Let me help you"
She took the spade and cleared away
some of the earth. | worked on for a t
least an hour, until | was thoroughly
exhausted. | flung the pick down dis
-heartened, with the remark: It's only
dream. Ruth; only a dream"
Take rest" she said; "I have
brought some ginger wine"
She ran into the house and returned
Don't be down hearted" she said,
drink this, it viii do you good, but
don't you think you are a little too
near the poplers? Let US try further
to the right"
The ginger wine and the bun revived
me and a pipe OF tobacco steadied my
nerves. BY and by l went at it again.
For two mortal hours. off and on 7
shaved al the hole until it was as big
as a grave, and left off. feeling that 1t
was the grave OF all our hopes.
That's all it Is, Ruth. dream; why
should we think Providence or good
fortune is going to interpose for us In
a miraculous way?"
'Why, indeed" she said; "but don't
think l would give 1t up"
With that she got down into the hole
and asked me for the spade. I gave it
to her with dIsheartened smile, and
sat down upon the earth, worn out.
She began to thrust the spade at
right angles into the sides of the pit.
II feel sure you have kept too near
the poplars" she said, because, you
see. he would be likely to keep free of
the roots az far as possible, In case the
trees were blown down"
How do you mean?" asked. willing
to snatch in my despair at the smallest
vestige of hope.
''rhe roots you see. are deeper down
than this. Here is one OF the branches.
They say q tree is the same almost in
its roots below ground as it is in It's
branches above. No. it is notr
She had stopped over the shovel as
she was fiddlng with 1t against the
side OF the pit
mot what?" asked.
mot root! No; 1t is something!
Oh what is it? I thought it was a tree
root. But"
But what?" I said, dropping down
by her side.
See, it's the end of box!"
"It is, by heaven" I exclaimed.
And by Jove 1t was-the head or top
or side of an oak chest.
GIVE me room, Ruth, my darling;
give me room
BY Jupiter. how I did go for that
chest! l felt a new man. I could have
hewn down the biggest oak, removed
mountains. The earth flew before my
shovel. 7 eXcavated for that chest like
the brawniest NAVY. | nearly tainted
when l had uncovered 1t and dug the
pick into it and burst out its treasure
of gold, not that living gold that Ruth
had found in the daffodils, but mans
gold, the gold that is power the gold
that Is life, the gold that is blessing
if you know how to use 1t. Yes, there
1t was: heaps of it, Guineas, golden
guineas; yellow, bright, beautiful i'm
ages of the king.
whats to be done?" | asked. as soon
as we had sufficiently recovered from
our joy to be able to look our fortune
fairly in the face.
I'VE must not leave the place." said
Ruth.
mo-" said 1--WE will fill our pock-
cts, and carry as much as we can in
your basket; then we will fill the hole
up. and go and buy the house"
But someone may have bought II
to-day" said Ruth. more anxious and
excited now than l had been from the
first.
That's impossible" I said; 1.-THE
treasure-trove is the only thing to fear:
1 mean that the king or the state, or
something or somebody has some kind
of claim, l believe. over some kinds of
buried treasure. But this is fairly
ours: 1t belongs to you. 1t should have
been your mother's.'
Eyes, how?" said Ruth.
"Oh, don't quite know what I am
saying" was all l could reply. 'T will
tell you all some day, but not at the
moment" for I remembered my prom
ise to her grandfather. It flashed
through my mind just then that after
all Ruth had better know. There was
no harm in It that could see, besides
IL would chow her that nothing would