CHAPTER XXIX W-17^55--15x12--6754
It seemed a long time before they heard the sound of the Ford, but it wasin reality only about half an hour; for Jack had covered the ground athis best speed, and the judge lost no time in getting back with him.
"Well," said Judge Herbine, darting into the room and up to the table,"lots of excitement. Got anything to open it with, Jack? It's locked."
With considerable difficulty they managed to force the lock, and pry upthe cover. Then everyone crowded around to peer inside. The box wasfilled with gold and silver pieces.
"Money!" gasped Jack.
"Oh," cried Desire, "it must have been out there ever since theExpulsion. I read in my little blue history that some of the Acadiansburied their savings in their gardens before they left the country,because they expected to come back again very soon."
"Then it probably belonged to our ancestors," said Jack slowly.
"Let's tip it out," proposed the judge. "It looks to me like a goodlysum."
Tarnished and dull, it lay in a heap on the table; and as the judgeturned the box right side up again, he caught sight of some papers in thebottom.
"Documents of some kind!" he exclaimed, loosening them carefully.
Stiff, yellow with age, the writing was dim but discernible.
"That's a will, isn't it?" asked Jack, catching sight of a few words atthe top of the sheet, as the man unfolded it slowly.
"Exactly. 'To my daughter, Desire Godet and her heirs forever--'" heread. "6754-1755."
"What?" gasped Desire, crowding closer to look at the paper.
"This house and money; and here's the missing deed with the will. Icongratulate you--most heartily, children. This is evidently--a perfectlylegal will--and the long lost deed; and since you are Godetsurvivors--the place and the money must belong to you."
"Oh, Jack!" cried Desire, throwing herself into his arms, "now you can goback to college, and nobody can ever take this house away from us. It isreally our _home_, now, just as I always felt it was." Desire was sobbingin her delirium of joy.
"'N' is all that money ours?" demanded Rene, staring at it with wideeyes.
"Guess it is, my boy," replied the judge, adding to Jack, "And some ofthese are doubtless rare pieces--worth much more than their intrinsicvalue."
"Then we can have an automobile," pronounced Rene.
Everybody laughed, and the tension was somewhat relieved.
"Look, Jack," said Desire, "there are two of the numbers from that slipof paper that was in Father's box."
"What's that?" inquired the judge, whirling around like a top.
Desire explained while Jack got the paper and they all examined itcarefully.
"1755 is the year," decided the judge, "and 6754 the number of the deed;but--Wait a minute; I have an idea."
Out into the garden he hurried, followed by the whole family. With thehole as a base, he measured and calculated, while the others watchedsilently.
"I have it!" he exclaimed at last. "_W_ means west of the house; _15_ isthe depth of the hole, and _12_ the distance from the edge of the lot."
"The mystery is solved at last!" exulted Desire.
Several weeks later the ownership of the little cabin was formally handedover to the Wistmores, under the guardianship of Judge Herbine, and theirlittle fortune duly deposited to their credit, ready for the fall whenJack was to go to college, and Desire to high school.
The End
Transcriber's Notes
--Preserved the copyright notice from the printed edition, although this book is in the public domain in the country of publication.
--Silently corrected a few typos (but left nonstandard spelling and dialect as is).
--Rearranged front matter to a more-logical streaming order and added a Table of Contents.
--In the text versions, delimited text in italics by _underscores_.
--In the text versions, preceded subscripted numbers by a ^ caret.
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