The Washington herald., 1912-04-21

while beneath, and cut into the rock,
was the outline of an elk
The Wyandotte sign" muttered the
colonel. Their totem is an elk, with
twelve points to his antlers Now, look
TO where this stone is pointing and !
think that my eyes do not deceive me
when ] tell you that / see dark hole
in the side of the gorge
Yes, yesw shouted Jack There is
surely a, hole behind those briars' And
scrambling up the rough ascent, he soon
was parting the dense weeds which grew
profusely around a dark cavity in the
earth.
.Hurrayp It's a great. big cavern
and as dark as pitch" he called. 'We'll
have to strike light in order to see
anything at all, because it is deep and
very shelving"
"All rightr' answered Tommy. I'll
cut some pine knots with my knife and
pretty soon we'll have them alight, and
this be able TO penetrate into the cave,
My but hope that we find the treas
ureP
Col Washington, meanwhile, was busy
rubbing dry stick in a circular motion
in hole in a shriYeled-up piece of bark,
around which he had placed small bits
OF leaves. In a few moments a FIRE
sprang up from the smoldering timber,
and, after lighting the torches which
Tommy brought to him, he pushed
through the underbrush into the en-
trance of the cave. A gallery ran along
for some distance, the sides Of which
bore evident traces of being the home
of some. wild beast Suddenly the gal
lery ceased and the Pickering glimmer
from the torches disclosed large cham
Der, from the ceiling of which the drip
ping of limewater had formed long,
tapering pieces of rock, called stalsctites
Other branching portions rose from the
floor, and, as Jack struck his foot
against an upright piece of limestone,
noise, like the note of an organ,
sounded loud upon the still air.
By jimmy! believe that we've found
the treasure" cried Tommy, as his eyes
fell upon large barrel in front The
water, by its continuous dripping, had
formed limy deposit about the sides,
top, and bottom of this, but il, never
theless, presented a pretty respectable
appearance. In moment Col. WASH
ington had walked up to it, and kick
ing II with all his might loosened the
grip which the limestone deposits had
made upon the curving sides.
why here's an old cutlass!" shouted
Jack, as he picked up a rusty sword
from the floor. "And here's a dirk and
Spanish musket"
Now, boys" said Washington, as he
bent over the barrel, Tets roll this to
the doorway and open IT in the day.
light, for | feel sure that we can do
better work with il than in the cave"
And so saying, he put his broad back
against It and showed with all his
might. Sambo, too. assisted in the work,
and while Jack held the torches in both
his hands, the heavy object was rolled
to the mouth of the cave and there de-
posted upon fiat piece of ground al
the entrance.
well, Sambo, bring me the axe" said
the colonel, smiling, "and we'll soon see
what IS in this heavy case and whether
these fool yarns of the Indian are true
or no" And when the eager negro had
brought this tool, with one great blow
the top of the barrel was knocked in
and pile of rusty musket barrels was
exposed to view.
well, well, nothing here but old
junk" remarked Washington with
good humor, as he tossed about a dozen
guns of ancient design upon the ground.
And here are some old cuirasSes-the
kind that the pirates used to play around
with when they were buccaneering on
the Spanish Mainland here are pistols,
too, a score of them All ha! here is
something more Important And so say
ing, he lifted out a copper box, the i'd of
which was held in place by a stout wire
cord, well rusted but still able to hold