Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-03-17

The treasure aoas there before our greedy
in absolutely blank walls. In the cor
ner some rags and paper lay heaped.
/ pushed them aside, and they crum-
bled at the touch of my foot.
Its not here" said Sheppard
"Throw the light this way. Ah, l
thought sou
Ere he had finished he was halfway
up fight ofsstone steps, and we fol-
lowed pellmell. A door of heavy oak
barred the way at the top.
b 1--WE wanted oil after ALL" said Shep-
& pard ,impatiently. Montgomery flung
his weight against 1t, and with crash
it opened.
Montgomery, overbalanced with his
effort, staggered and fell upon the
threshold, but Sheppard, who was next
to him, paid no attention and, turning,
looked at me. The light made no way
upon the great darkness.
do you know where we are?" whis-
pered Sheppard. This is below the
keep Shall we go in?"
Certainly" l said, "get Montgom-
cry up He pulled the lad to his feet,
and slowly we showed back the huge
creaking door. q
The chamber into which we were
now come was small and square and,
like that below, barred by solid mason
~ and unrelieved by window or graf
ing. I found later by calculation that
this must be in the very heart Of the
keep itself ana so wholly disparted
from the rest Of the castle that the
noise Of ordnance would scarce have
penetrated it's deep and dismal re-
cesses. My eyes were drawn as by
magnet to the farther corner OF the
barren cell, in which l could perceive
some formidable shadows wavering be-
meath the dull, uncertain light OF my
lantern.
Sheppard also had deserted them and,
plunging forward with a cry, lung
himself upon his knees.
"They are here right enough" ne
called. And at his words Montgom-
cry and approached him. held the
light above his head, throwing the
faint beams across his shoulder. There
were three large oaken cases standing
upon legs and simply carved upon the
face The dust lay deep on them, as
upon the floor Of that interior dungeon.
Sheppard brushed the dust away and
seized the lock. The hinge fell back to
his touch, and slowly he lifted the
massive lid.
The light shone still upon dark shad-
ows, but, STOPPING a little lower,
thrust it into the mouth Of the aper-
ture and our noses hung over the sides
Of the box together.
The treasure was there for certain.
There it lay spread before our greedy
faces, the gold and the silver and the
precious stones that had been destined
to save one king from death and an
othe, from exile let the pieces slip
through my fngers-guineas, moldores,
circlets Of gold and silver, amulets
and all the material gems OF the mar
ket.
GLOW much is there?' asked Mont
gomery.
Sheppard seemed to ponder, measur-
ing rudely with his finger and comput-
ing the superficial area of the boxes.
mo one can say offhand,' said he'
"for there are the jewels, for one thlng,
among which are rubies. Now, ruples
of that shetland he pounced upon one
fare worth little short of a thousand
pounds
Montgomery gaped and whistled.
"Let us make rough shot and put the
box at 100000. Come; I'll take bet
that it's under the mark"
"Then there are the other two" said l.
"True,' said Sheppard We all looked
at one another.
"Come, boys" said, rising; ''let us
get out of this. We know our way,