Page:The Whisper on the Stair by Lyon Mearson (1924).djvu/305



“ treasure!” exclaimed Val.

“The treasure!” exclaimed Jessica.

She clapped her hands in childish glee. He reached up and lifted down the box, which was quite heavy. A rapid glance around the cave convinced him that there was nothing else there. This natural chamber in the hillside was the end of the cave. There was no need to stay there longer.

With scarcely concealed excitement they turned toward the entrance and made their way out. They blinked in the sharp sunlight for a moment, scarcely able to see, so great was the transition from the dense gloom of the cave.

“That’s it!” exclaimed Elizabeth as the box came to view. “I remember that box.”

It was an ordinary tin box, such as is used to hold valuable papers, black, with a band of thin gold drawn about it, and a handle on the top. Val placed the box on the ground in front of the entrance to the cave and tried to open it. It was locked.

“The chisel, Eddie,” he said.

With the chisel he forced the lock quickly, the others gathering close over the box in their eagerness to get a first glimpse of its contents. He threw the cover up. The box was filled almost to the top with banknotes, in denominations of one hundred to one thousand. Under the banknotes were piles of stocks Rh