usually smoked a pipe. Ernest lifted the lid, and saw a small roll
inclosed in brown wrapping paper, which on being removed revealed twenty
five-dollar gold pieces. He regarded them with satisfaction, for they
afforded him the means of leaving Oak Forks and going into the great world
which he had such a curiosity to enter.

Hidden behind a tree only a few feet away was Tom Burns, the tramp and
vagabond.

He had come from Daneboro, and was prowling round the neighborhood
searching for old Peter's hidden treasure. He had deliberated as to
whether the cabin or the fields was the more likely place to have been
selected. He had nothing in particular to guide him. He did not, however,
venture to approach the house just yet, as it would probably be occupied
by Ernest.

"I wish I knowed where the old man hid his boodle," muttered Tom. "I can't
dig all over."

In fact, digging was not in Tom's line. It was too much like work, and if
there was anything to which Tom was bitterly opposed it was work of any
kind.

"The boy must know. Likely the old man told him," he finally concluded.
"I'll watch the boy."

He therefore lost no time in prowling around the cabin, with the especial
object of watching Ernest's movements. He was especially favored, as he
thought, when from a distance he saw Ernest leaving the cabin with the
spade in his hand.

The tramp's heart was filled with joy.

"He is going to dig for the treasure," he said. "I'll keep him in sight."

Tom Burns had no difficulty in doing this, for Ernest bent his steps in
his direction.

"I hope he won't discover me," thought Burns; "at any rate not till I find
out where he's going to dig."

All things seemed to favor the tramp. Ernest stopped when he came to the
oak tree, and it was evident that this was the spot of which he was in
search.

"Why, that's where I was lyin' the other night!" thought Burns. "If I had
only knowed! Why, the gold was right under me all the time."

He watched with eagerness while Ernest was digging. He no longer doubted
that this was the place where the gold was hidden. Ernest could have no
other object in digging in this place.

"I wonder how much there is," thought Burns. "There ought to be as much as
a thousand dollars. Perhaps there's two or three. But even if there is
only a thousand it will set me on my feet. I'll soon get out of this
neighborhood. I'll go to Chicago or New York, and I'll live in clover.
I'll make up for lost time