Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-09-27

except to grow more beautiful. Evan
gelina is right; you are too beautiful
to look at. But wait" He drew her
aside and whispered, i've been down
In the WELL" Some tremor In his
voice, some CLINT In his eyes, caused
the girl to seize him eagerly. fercely.
II mny be wrong" he said hurriedly
"there mny be nothing In it~-and yet
l saw something"
"What?"
"Wooden beams, timbers Of some
sort, behind the stone curbing." II
wns plain Rosa did not comprehend.
so he hurried on. "At first I noticed
nothing uausual, except that the bot
tom Of the well Is nearly dry-hlled
up, you know, with debris and stuff
that has fallen In from the curbing
above, then I saw that although the
well Is dug through rock, nevertheless
1t Is entirely curbed up with stones
lnid in mortar. That struck me as
queer"
"Yesr
:" noticed, too, In one place that
there was wood behlnd-as II timbers
had been placed there to cover the
entrance to a cave. You know this
Cuban rock is full Of caverns."
Rosa clasped her hands, she began
to tremble. "You have found 1t,
O'Reilly. You have!" she whispered.
"No, no, I've found nothing yet. But
I've sent Jacket for a pick or a bar
and tonight I'm going to pull down
those stones and see what is behind
them"
ITO night1 You must let me go.
too. I want to help"
every well. But meanwhile you
mustn't let your hopes rise too high,
for there is every chance that you will
be disappointed. And don't mention
It TO Evangelina. Now. then, I've a
few pennies left and I'm going to buy
some candles"
Rosa embraced her lover impulslve-
ly. Something tells me 1t is true
Something tells me you are going to
save us all"
Evnngelina in the far corner Of the
hut muttered to her husband: "Such
%love-birds! They are like parrnkeets,
forever kissing and cooingl"
Jacket returned at dusk, and with
him he brought a rusty three-foot iron
bar, evidently part Of a window graf
Ing. The boy was tired, disguised, and
in a vile temper. "A pickaxl A crow
bar !" he cursed e%loquently. "One might
as well try to steal a cannon out Of
San Severino. I'm ready to do any.
thing within reason, but"
"Why this will do nicely; 1t is just
whit I want" O'Reilly told him.
"Humphl I'm glad to hear 1t, fol
that rod was nearly the death Of me-
I broke my back wrenching at 1t and
the villain who owned the house
may q bad lightning split him The
ran after me until I nearly expired
If my new knife had been sharp
would have turned and sent him home
with 1t between his ribs. Tomorrow
/ shall put an edge on 1t. Believe me
I ran until my lungs burst"
! Little food remained in the hut
barely enough Tor Asensio and tn,
women, and inasmuch as O'Reilly hat
spent his last centavo for candles h,
and jacket were forced to 60 hungr.
again. Late that evening, after tn
wretched prison quarters had grow
quiet, the three treasure hunters stol
4 out Of their howell and wound up tn
hill. In spite Of their excitement the,
! went slowly, for none Of them had tn
strength to hurry. Fortunately Their
were few providers within the lines
hunger having robbed the reconcentr1
\ dos Of the spirit to venture forth, an
\ In consequence Spanish vigilance ha
relaxed; it was now confined to tn
f~ar-lung girdle Of intrcnchments whic
encircled the city. The trio encour
tered no one.
Leaving Jacket on guard at the crei
Of the hill, O'Reilly stationed Rosa
the mouth Of the well, then lowere
himself once more into 1t. Lightin
his candle, he made q careful exam
!, nation Of the place, with the resu,
that Esteban's theory Of the missin
riches seemed even less improbabl
than 1t had earlier In the day. III
masonry work. he discovered, had bee
done with 4 palnstaking thoroughnes
which spoke Of the abundance Of slav
larNr. and time had barely begun
affect II. Here and there a piece
the mortar had loosened and con
away, but for the most part 1t stoc
as solid as the stones between while
10 1t was laid. Shoulder-high to O'ReIN
there appeared to be a section Of Il
curbing less smoothly fitted than Il
. rest, and through an interstice In III
v he detected what seemed to be a dan
Z wooden beam. At this point ]
brought his iron bar into play.
1t was not long before he discover,
!" that his work was cut out for hil
e Tho cement was like flint and bis blu
makeshlft implement was almost as
. less against II. Ankle-deep in Il
Is muddy water, he patiently pecked al
y pounded and Clipped. e~ndeavoring
enlarge the crevice so as to use b
10 bar as a lever. The sweat stream,
from him and he became dlsmayed