Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1919-02-06


laughed with delight. do hurry, dear
I'm dying of suspense"
O'Reilly groaned: "That fellow, Sc
,bastian, knew his business. This ce
ment is like steel. and I'm afraid OF
breaking my crowbar"
Rosa found a leaf, folded kiss into
It, and dropped 1t to him. "That will
give you strength" she declared.
O'Reilly lost all count of time after
while and he was incredulous when
jacket came to warn him that daylight
was less than an hour away. "Why,
haven't started" he protested. He
discovered. much to his surprise, that
he was ready to drop from fatigue
and that his hands were torn and bis
tered; when he had climbed the rope
to the upper air he fell exhausted in
the deep grass. Tin not myself at
ALL" he apologized; nothing to eat,
you know. But the work will go faster
now, for I've made beginning"
do you still think-"Rosa hesitated
to voice the question which trembled
on her lips.
"In know for sure tonight" He
directed jacket to replace the planks
over the we'll; then the three of them
stole away.
O'Reilly spent most of that day In
a profound stupor of exhaustion.
while Rosa watched anxiously over
him. Jacket, 1t seemed, had peacefully
slumbered on picket duty, so he occu-
pied himself by grinding away at his
knife. The last scraps Of food dis
appeared that evening.
When night fell and 1t came time to
return to the top of La Cumbre
O'Reilly asked himself if his strength
would prove sufficient for the task in
hand. He was spiritless, sore, weak !;
he ached In every bone and muscle,
and it required all his determination
to propel himself up the hill. He won
dered if he were wise thus to sacrifice
his waning energies on a hope so for
lorn as this, but by now he had begun
to more than half believe In the exist
ence of the Varona treasure and he felt
an almost irresistible curiosity to learn
what secret, If any, was concealed be-
hind those water-soaked timbers at the
bottom Of the well. He realized. of
course, that every hour he remained
here, now that food and money were
gone, lessened the chances of escape:
but, on the other hand, he reasoned.
with equal force, that If he had indeed
stumbled upon the missing hoard sal
walton for all of them was assured.
The stake, 1t seemed to him, was worth
the hazard.
Given tempered tools to work with.
II would have been no great undertat-
ing to tear down that cemented wall of
stones, but armed with nothing except
his bare hands and that soft iron
bar, O'Reilly spent nearly the whole
night at his task. Long before the
last rock had yielded, however. he be-
held that which caused him to turn a
strained face upward to Rosa.
There's little door, as sure as Won
live" he told her.
The girl was beside herself with ex-
element. Eyes? What else? What
more do you seer
Nothing. 1t appears to be made of
solid timbers, and has two huge hand
locks"
Locks Then we have found #"
Rosa closed her eyes; she swayed mo-
nentariiy. "Esteban was right. Locks.
That means something to
hide. Oh. if l could only help you'll"
Heavens! If l only had some
-hing-anything, to work With" NUT
erred the American as he fell to with
energy. He no longer tried
o conserve his strength, for the
reasure seekers lust beset him. Rosa
ooked on, wringIng her hands and urg-
ng him to greater haste.
But the low, thick door was built of
'ome hard, native wood: it was wet
md tough and slippery. O'Reilly's
Flows made no impression upon 1t, nor
lpon the heavy hasps and staples with
Which 1t was secured in place. The
after were deeply rusted. to be sure,
tut they withstood his efforts. and he
vas finally forced to rest, baffled, en-
aged, half hysterical from weakness
md fatigue.
Daylight was at hand once more, but
lie refused to give up, and worked on
furiously, until Rosa, in
IN agony, besought him to desIst.
Johnnie again collapsed on the grass
and lay painting while the other two
replaced the planks.
Another hour and I'd have been into
t." he declared, huskily.
you will skill yourself" Jacket told
him.
Rosa bent over him with shining
eyes and parted lips. EYES," said she
BE patient. We will come back
O'Reilly, and tonight we shall be rich
Colonel Cobo lit black cigarette.
leaned back in his chair, and exhaled
TWO fierce Jets OF smoke through his
nostrils. For full moment he scowled
forbiddingly at the sergeant who had
asked to see him.
What's this you are telling meYr
ne inquired finally.