. But so are you men. And it's
all over now. If Allen really saw something that looked like a box or
a chest thrown out of that opening, I'm going to----"

She left the rest unspoken, but started boldly for the barren patch
where they had dug the day before. It looked now like a piece of
plowed ground over which were scattered blocks of lava of all sizes and
shapes.

Captain Hamilton hesitated, but Drew ran ahead, reaching the spot
first. Anxious and frightened as he had been at the moment of the
phenomenon, the young man had noted exactly the spot where the strange
object had fallen. Half buried in a heap of earth was a discolored,
splintered chest. Its ancient appearance led Drew to utter a shout of
satisfaction.

"I guess we've got it," he remarked in a tone that he tried to keep
calm, but which trembled in spite of himself.

A cry of delight rose from all. The men joined Drew, and helped him
clear away the earth. The chest soon stood revealed. Then by using
their spades as levers, they pried it loose and by their united efforts
dragged it over to the shade at the jungle's edge. They sat beside it
there, panting, almost too exhausted from the excitement and their
tremendous efforts to move or speak.

Ruth fluttered about like a humming bird, excited and eager. She
looked somewhat less disheveled and begrimed than the men. But if they
looked like trench diggers, they felt like plutocrats, and their hearts
were swelling with jubilation.

The map had not lied! The paper had not lied! That old pirate, Ramon
Alvarez, who had probably told a thousand lies, had told the truth at
last in his ardent desire for the shriving of Holy Church. The
treasure lay before them!

And how wonderfully the chest had been revealed to them! Not by their
own exertions had the pirate hoard been uncovered!

A moment more and they were on their feet, Tyke panting:

"Now, if I was superstitious----"

They would have plenty of time for resting later on. Now a fierce
impatience consumed them. They must see the contents of the box!

The chest was about five feet long, two feet wide and three feet deep.
It was made of thick oak, and was bound by heavy bands of iron. A huge
padlock held it closed.

The box had originally been of enormous strength, but time and nature
and the earthquake had done their work. The wood was swollen and
warped, the iron bands were eaten with rust. But the lock resisted
their efforts whe