ight track!"

Again they measured off the distance with care, and now came to a large
flat rock, behind which was another, unusually sharp.

"The flat rock!" muttered Tom, and his heart began to thump wildly.
"Dick, you're right. We are on the right track. If the treasure isn't
here, it's been taken away."

They had brought along a pick and a crowbar, and now all set to work to
clear away the snow, and then the dirt from around the pointed rock. The
ground was hard, and at first they made but slow progress.

"Perhaps we'll have to build a fire, to thaw out the ground," suggested
John Barrow.

"Oh, that will take too long," said Tom. "I wonder if we can't turn the
rock over?"

With the crowbar and the pick wedged against the flat rock they pushed
upon the pointed rock with all the force at their command. Several times
the tools slipped, but at last they held, and slowly the pointed rock
went up, until with a thud it rolled over and several feet away.

"Hurrah, a hole full of small stones!" cried Dick, and leaped down to
pick the stones out. Tom followed, and so did the guide.

"Dick! Tom! Hullo! hullo!" came the unexpected cry from a short distance
away.

"Who is that calling?" demanded Dick.

"It's Sam," replied the guide, looking up. "He's coming here as fast as
he can track it."

"Then something is wrong," said Dick, and for the moment the treasure
was forgotten.

It did not take Sam long to reach them. He was so out of breath that for
several minutes he was unable to talk connectedly. At last he gasped
out:

"Dan Baxter and that big guide--they attacked me and I ran away.
They--they are in possession of our traps."

"Baxter!" ejaculated Dick. "That's the worst yet. They'll steal all our
things and leave us to starve!"

"We might as well go right after them," put in John Barrow.

"Oh, say, let's unearth this treasure first," pleaded Tom. "If we leave
that, Baxter may follow up our tracks, as Sam did, and take it from
under our very noses."

"Tom is right--get the treasure first," said Dick.

Once more they set to work, Sam watching them while trying to get back
his breath and strength. Soon the last of the loose stones were removed
from the hole, and they came upon a thin metallic slab having in the
center a small ring. They pulled the slab up and disclosed a small
square opening, in the middle of which rested a metallic box, about a
foot and a half square and a foot in depth. The box was so he