Judsonia weekly advance., 1918-09-25

verSadOn was drain upon their pow CTS. and the reaction from the days ex- citement had set in. O'Reilly lurched as he walked, his limbs were heavy. and his liveliest sensation was one of dread at the hard work in store for him. The forcing of that door assumed the proportions of Herculean task.
 But once he was at the bottom of the well and beheld the handiwOrk of Sebastian. the slave, just as he had left It, his sense of reality returned and with 1t certain measure of determina- tion. Inasmuch as he had made no visible impression upon the bulkhead by his direct attack, he changed his tactics now and undertook to loosen one of the jambs where 1t was wedged into the rock at top and bottom. After desperate struggle he succeeded in loosening the entire structure so that he could pry it out far enough to squeeze his body through.
 q have p he cried to Rosa Seizing the candle. he thrust 1t into the open ing. He beheld what he had expected to find, a small cavern or grotto which had evidently been pierced during the digging of the well. He could appAeci- ate now how simple had been the task of sealing 1t up so as to baffle discov- cry. Rosa, poised above him, scarcely breathed until he strengthened himself and turned his face upward once more.
 He tried to speak, but voiced noth- ing more than a hoarse croak; the candle in his hand described cratic fig ures.
 What do you see?" the girl cried in an agony of suspense.
 "I- It's herel B-boxes, chests. casks-everythingis
 God be praisedl My fathers for tune at lasti" :
 Rose forgot her surroundings; she bent her hands together, calling upon O'Reilly to make haste and determine beyond all question that the missing hoard was indeed theirs. She drew perilOusly close to the we'll and knelt over 1t like some priestess at her de- votions; her eyes were brimming with tears and there was a roaring in her ears. It was not strange that she failed to see or to hear the approach of great blurred figure which material ized out of the night and took station scarcely an arms length behind her.
 "He intended it for his children" she sobbed, land providence saved 1t from our wicked enemies. It was the hand of God that led us here, O'Reilly. Tell me, what do you see now?"
 Johnnie had wormed his way into the damp chamber and slim rectangle of light was projected against the op- posite side of the well. Rosa could hear him talking and moving about.
 Don Esteban Varona's subterranean hiding-place was large enough to store a treasure far greater than his it was perhaps ten feet in length, with roof high enough to accommodate a tall man. At the farther end were ranged several small wooden chests bound with iron and fitted with hasps and staples, along one side was a row of diminutive casks, the sort used to con- tain choice wines or liquors; over all was thick covering of slime and mold. The iron was deeply rusted and the place itself smelled abominably stale.
 O'Reilly surveyed this Aladdin's cave in daze. He set his candle down, for his fingers were numb and unsteady. Cautiously, as if fearful of breaking some spell, he stopped and tried to move one of the casks, but found that 1t resisted him as if cemented to the rock. He noted that its head was bulged upward, as If by the dampness, so he took his iron bar and aimed a sharp blow at the chine. A hoop gave way; another blow enabled him to pry out the head of the cask. He stood blinking at the sight exposed, for the little barrel was full of coins-yellow coins, large and small. O'Reilly seized handful and held them close to the candle flame; among the number he noted Spanish doubloon, such as young Esteban had found.
 He tested the weight of the other casks and found them equally heavy. Knowing little about gold, he did not attempt to estimate the value of their contents, but he judged they must rep resent fortune. With throbbing pulses he next lifted the lid of the nearest chest. Within, he discovered several compartments, each stored with neatly wrapped and labeled packages of varying shapes and sizes. The writ ing upon the tags was almost illegible, but the first article which O'Reilly un- wrapped proved to be goblet of most beautiful workmanship. Time had long since blackened 1t to the appearance of