right," said Fred, doing as he had been directed. "I'm looking."

"Don't you see anything?"

"Sure I do. I see the sky."

"Don't be silly, Fred," exclaimed John. "In the opening, I mean."

"I see dirt."

"Is that all?"

"Absolutely. What are you trying to do, anyway?"

"About three feet this side of the other end; don't you see something
sticking out?"

Fred squinted one eye and peered upward critically.

"Don't you see a thing?" demanded John eagerly.

"Maybe I do," replied Fred. "Is something sticking out up there?"

"That's just what I thought. What is it?"

"It looks like the end of a box."

"Just what I thought myself," exclaimed John triumphantly. "Let's get
it."

"We can't reach it from this end."

"I know it. We'll have to climb up on top of the hill."

"Come on," urged Fred, now also keenly excited.

Outside the cave, Grant sat puzzling over the numbers. Most of his time
he now spent in this way, and though he was apparently no nearer a
solution than when he had started, his determination was stronger than
ever.

"Where are you two fellows going?" he demanded as John and Fred rushed
past the spot where he was seated.

"Just up on top of the hill," said John evasively. He and Fred had
decided not to tell any of the others of their discovery until they had
investigated it thoroughly themselves.

"You seem to be in an awful hurry," remarked Grant. "What's up?"

"Tell you later," answered John, and they quickly passed out of Grant's
sight. A moment more and they had arrived at the top of the opening
which led down into the cave.

"I can't see anything from here," exclaimed John, after a hasty
examination. "The shadow of my head gets right in the way and I can't
see a thing."

"Let me look," urged Fred, but he could make out nothing either.

"I tell you what to do," he exclaimed a moment later. "Hang onto my feet
so I won't fall and get wedged in there, and then lower me into the
hole."

"That's a good scheme," said John eagerly. "You're little and skinny and
ought to be able to get in there all right."

"Never mind the 'little and skinny' part," said Fred shortly. "You hold
onto my feet."

Anyone who might have passed by that way and seen John holding fast to a
pair of legs sticking out of a hole in the ground would have been
puzzled as to what was taking place. Grant's curiosity had been aroused
by the strange actions of his two friends and he had followed them.
Imagine his su