Year: 1878

frequented region. TO all appearances
they were unarmed, but each carried a
brace of trusty revolvers in his belt,
these being entirely hidden from view
by their coats.


{" 1t looks more and more like n Wild
goose chase, Jack, observed one of the
youths, gazing thoughtlessly out at sea.
"We have been here just week, al
most forgetting to eat in our eagerness
to find the buried gold and yet we are
as much mystifed as ever"


hope you are not ready to give up
the search ?" returned his companion,
with merry twinkle in his eye.


N-no," was the hesitating rejoinder.
I" But isn't it like hunting for needle
in haystaclx ?"


1T is, 1 confess" laughed good
natured Jack ; but it won't do to give
it up on that account, you know. We
calculated the chances before starting,
and even if we fail, there is no use in
being respondent. The prizes, Harry
remember the prizes ~


" do remember 'em, "growled Harry.
That's what makes me feel so con-
founded blue. If we fail to find the
treasure, we fail to win the prizes. The
prospect is anything but pleasant"


Cheer up, old fellow Our failureis
anything but a settled fact. We must
sharpen our wits - that's all. Let us
look at the map again"


HRah IL telIs nothing -


The clue is vague enough, the Lord
knows"


He drew from his pocket folded pa
per, and spread it out on his knees.


1t is evident" said Jack scanning
the map closely, " that the gold is buried
in cave. That is too plain to be doubted,
for this spot is marked entrance to the
cave This long line leading to it, in
dicates that it is seventy-two yards from
some particular point, though what that
point is, deponent sayeth not"


1 have already given you my theory
said Harry, "and don't feel disposed to
abandon it. am still of the opinion
that the crooked mark is intended to
represent the sea-shore, and that the cave
is seventy-two yards from the water"


Very good; but we have searched
diligently for whole week, and have
discovered no place where we can go
that distance from the waters edge,
without climbing straight up the
rocks"


Then think we had better climb
Hello what the deuce is that 2"


GA shadow fitted across patch of
sunlight in front of the recess. Both
boys started forward just in time to
catch glimpse of some dark object, as
it whisked out of sight round the corner
of an adjacent rock.


"A wild animal, suppose" said
Jack. Let us give chase and pop the
thing over. If he is worth eating, we
will have fresh meat for dinner"


The map was put up and the young
adventures started in pursuit of the
shadow = or whatever it might prove
to be = their course being along the
waters edge, at the base of the Cliffs
And while they were picking their way
over rough places, where few human
feet ever trod, we will seize the opportu-
nifty to introduce them more explicitly.


Their names were, respectively, Jack
Sedley and Harry Chester, and their
homes were in San Francisco. They
were the sons of honorable and well-to-
do parents, and had been close friends
from their earliest childhood. Though
only twenty years of age, both were
deeply in love. The objects of their
youthful passions were twin sisters -
bright, sparkling girls, with the roses of
seventeen summers blooming on their
pathway. These girls, though enjoying
the universal esteem and admiration
which their excellent qualities and per-
sonal beauty justly won for them, were
the daughters of very eccentric and
unpopular man-an old miser, whose
chief ambition in life was to accumulate
and hoard up money. Being an inva-
lid, however, confined to the house by
an incurable case of rheumatism, he had
small chance to indulge his passion
through his own individual efforts in
consequence whereof he was perpetually
growing.


His name was Caspar Wolfe. He had
been sailorin his younger days, and
there were those who strongly suspected
him of having been pirate ON the
high seas. Whether the suspicion was
10.