ctures and
such. Fishing his knife from his pocket, Phil proceeded to cut away the
taping, while the others, with bated breath, awaited the result of the
find. It took some minutes to scrape and cut away the hardened tape, but
at last it was accomplished.

Tearing the cover from the can, they found an old envelope, which was
soon opened, disclosing a letter, written in the same cramped hand as
was the note whose directions had guided them there. It said:

"One hundred paces due east from here is a sharp ridge of granite, that
projects above ground for nearly thirty feet. After the granite enters
the ground, there the treasure begins. I know it is there, for I have
been a miner all my life, and know geology as well as though I had
gotten it out of books. The granite ridge is rich in quartz and in
tourmalines. I got some out and had them cut and polished, and they are
the finest ever found in Maine. This secrecy is necessary, due to the
fact that a partner who went back on me has tried to wrest the secret
from me, also the fact that I must wait until I can buy the land the
ridge is on from its owners."

The three boys stared at each other.

"Tourmalines," said Garry. "Why, those are the semi-precious stones
known as the State of Maine gem. They are delicate pink and green, and
when cut make beautiful stones for jewelry. Don't you chaps recollect
the ring my mother wears? Well, that is a pink tourmaline. As far as I
know, they are found in only three other places in the State. If there
is any quantity of them, there is a neat sum of money to be made by
mining them. Let's go and look at the ridge and see if we can see
anything, although I doubt it, since they are under ground and we have
nothing to dig properly with, neither have we geologists' hammers or
blasting powder to shelve off parts of the ledge. Also, we don't own
this land, and would be liable under the law as trespassers."

They paced their way to where the ridge was, and looked at it carefully.
It gave evidence of having been blasted two or three times, but they
could see nothing that looked like the matrices of the tourmaline gems.

"Well, we know all about it, and can find it again, so I move we destroy
all notes about it, and telegraph Dad to see if he can find out who owns
this. He will know, because you see at no little distance from here
begins timberland, and he knows who owns most of the big tracts. Phil,
you are in luck."

"Why me?" asked Phil i