go on up. I can come
later."

Bob Stevens merely smiled, then raised his voice in a shout to the men
to pull up. He lifted Bab up with apparent ease, for he was a muscular
young man. The rope began to move up slowly. He helped Barbara until she
had reached the ladder, then after seeing her safely on her way, and
when she was no longer visible, the young man picked up his lantern and
began to look about him.

The chimney reached clear to the bottom of the pit in which he was
standing. A short passage underground led off from the pit. He followed
it for about thirty yards, when it ended abruptly against a solid mound
of earth. Investigation showed that this earth had caved in, thus
blocking what had once been a long passage. Little particles of dirt
showered down on his head as he stepped carefully about, indicating that
the rest of the roof might cave in at any moment.

"The silence of the tomb," muttered Bob. "What a place in which to be
buried alive! I can imagine what that poor little girl must have
suffered in here without a light, not knowing whether she ever would be
found again. There's pluck for you. I know I should have been scared
stiff. What a house of mystery this is! If it were mine I would pull it
to pieces to satisfy my curiosity if for no other reason. But the
treasure? Can it be possible that we have stumbled upon the hiding place
of the real treasure? I'm going to investigate this place later on. Mr.
Presby's ancestors must have been regular woodchucks. At least they were
great burrowers. Hold on; there must have been some sort of stream
through here by the looks of the ground. The tunnel was already made.
All it needed was covering and filling. I begin to see. The families
used it for getting away when the Indians got too busy. But I hear the
rope. I want to examine that attic."

Bob held up his lantern to look for the rope when a ray from the lantern
glinted on something bright in a niche in the chimney near the base,
from where a brick had been pried out. He held the lantern closer, his
eyes grew large, then the young man gave a whoop that was heard far
above him in the attic.

CHAPTER XVI

BOB SOLVES ANOTHER MYSTERY

"I'VE got it!" he cried. "I've found the--but it can't be a very big
treasure done up in so small a package," he added in a disappointed
tone.

That which had attracted his attention was a metal box about six inches
in length which had been set into the chimney so sk