“I—–­I never thought of that,” stammered Chunky.

“We must think of everything.  Our very lives may depend on our doing so.”

“Wha—–­what do you mean, Tad?”

“Don’t you understand yet?”

“I—–­I guess I begin to.  Some—–­somebody’s been here.”

“Yes.  It is my opinion that the very men Captain McKay is looking for have been here.  Come, we must be quick!  We are likely to be interrupted at any time, though I hardly think any of them would come here in the daytime.”

The boys were obliged to stoop in order to continue their explorations further.  After creeping under the low-hanging rock they found that they were able to stand erect once more.  Then they discovered something else.  There were bales piled on top of one another, packs securely tied lying about, guns, rugs, in fact a miscellaneous assortment of goods which the boys believed to be of great value.  In one corner stood a chest securely padlocked.  It was a rough chest, bound with iron bands that looked as if they might have been used on cotton bales.

“Well, we have made a discovery, Stacy Brown!” breathed Tad.

“We have,” agreed the fat boy, his eyes growing large with wonder.  “What do you suppose is in that chest?”

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s open it,” suggested Stacy eagerly.

Tad shook his head.

“In the first place we have no business to do anything of the sort.  In the second place I don’t want to stay here much longer.  We had better be getting back to camp as quickly as we can.  Of course we can’t do anything until Captain McKay returns, but the more quickly we get away from here the better it will be for us.”

“I—–­I’m scared.  Aren’t you?” stammered the fat boy apprehensively.

“No, I am not scared, but I realize that we are in danger every minute we stay here.  Those men wouldn’t trifle with us, were they to catch us.  Do you know what they would do to us if they caught us here, Chunky?”

“Nu—–­nu—–­no.”

“They would fill us full of lead, that’s what they would do.  Light another match while I look into this niche.  Then we will be making tracks for the outside.”

Tad was back by Stacy’s side a moment later.  He motioned that they were to go back.  The boys started briskly for the opening.  The instant they had crawled out into the outer chamber they realized that all was not as it should be.  At first they did not understand what had occurred.

Tad was the first to make the discovery of what had occurred.

“We’re caught!” he cried.

“H—–­ho—–­how?”

“The tree has closed the opening to the cave.  Now we are in a nice pickle.”

Stacy was speechless.  He held a burning match in his hand until the match burned up to his finger, whereat Chunky dropped the match with an exclamation.

“I—–­I’ll tell you what let’s do.  Let’s dig through the roots.  We can do it.  Come on.”