“But how far down you’ll have to go to reach it I can’t tell,” he added.  “It’s like them ile well diggers—­sometimes they strike ile near the top o’ the ground, an’ then ag’in they have to bore putty deep down.  It’s my hope ye won’t have to roll away more’n two or three rocks to git into the hole an’ put your hands on the boxes with the gold and jewels.”

“If we only had to roll away two or three rocks I’d be for doing the rolling right now!” cried Tom.

“I’d like to see you roll a rock weighing ten or fifteen tons,” observed Songbird.  “You’d want about twenty horses to even start it.”

Now that the first disappointment was over, the Rovers began to consider getting down into the cave from a purely practical point.  They looked over all the big rocks with care, making a note of such as ought to be blasted away and of others that could be removed with the aid of a rope and pulleys.

“Let us see if we cannot gain the shore of the bay in a straight line from here,” said Mr. Rover, after the examination of the ground had come to an end.  “If we can it will make it so much easier to go back and forth from the steam yacht.”

They had a compass with them, and leaving the vicinity of the shattered cave, struck out in a direct line for Horseshoe Bay.  Much to their surprise they found an easy path, and came out on the sandy beach almost before they knew it.

“Well, I never!” cried Dick.  “If we had known of this before, what a lot of trouble we might have saved ourselves.”

“Well, we know it now,” answered Tom.  “And as we marked the path it will be an easy matter in the future to go back and forth from the cave to the bay.”

It took them some time to get their boat, and it was almost nightfall before they reached the steam yacht.  It can readily be imagined that the Stanhopes and Lanings awaited their coming with interest.

“What success, Dick?” cried Dora eagerly.

“Not so very much as yet,” he answered, soberly, for he hated to disappoint the girl who was so dear to him.  And then he told her of all that had happened.  She shuddered when she found he had been a prisoner of Sid Merrick and his followers.

“Oh, Dick, I am so thankful you escaped,” she cried, with tears in her eyes.  “You must not get into such a situation again!  Why, the whole treasure isn’t worth it.”

“But I want to get that money and the jewels for you, Dora.”

“Yes, but I don’t want money and jewels if—­if you are—­are going to get hurt,” she answered, and her deep eyes looked him through and through.

“I’ll be careful after this—­but we are going to get the treasure, sure thing,” he added, stoutly.

“I was afraid an earthquake might have played pranks with that cave,” was Captain Barforth’s comment.  “An earthquake can shake down the top of a cave quicker than it can shake down anything else.  It doesn’t take much to do it.”