CHAPTER XXV
THE TREASURE
Indian Chasm!
Betty stared at Bob in dismay. Afterward she confessed that her firstthought was of Indians who might capture them.
"Indian Chasm," repeated Bob firmly. "Come on, Betty, we mustn't standhere. If you once get cold, there's no way to warm you up. We must walk,and try to find a way out."
Betty stumbled after him, her mind a bewildered maze. She could not yetgrasp the explanation that Bob, turned about by their spill in thehollow, had followed an old trail instead of the hill road. The trail hadled straight to the border of the chasm.
Bob ploughed along, head bent, a heavy sense of responsibility keepinghim silent. He knew better than Betty the difficulties that in allprobability lay before them.
He glanced back at Betty, wearily toiling after him.
"Want to rest a moment?" he suggested. "Sit on that rock till you beginto feel chilly."
Betty accepted the suggestion gratefully. She was very tired and she washungry. Her rubbers had been torn on the stones she had encountered inher fall and her shoes were damp.
"What a funny rock," she said idly.
It was a huge slab that had once been a part of another huge rockwhich still stood upright. Some force of nature had slit the two likea piece of paper--from the looks of it, the break was a recentone--and had forced a section outward, making it look like a wallabout to topple over.
Rested a little, Betty rose and walked around to the other side of therock on which she sat, moved by an impulse of curiosity. She went closeto the rock that stood upright like a sentinel.
"What's the matter?" called Bob as she started back.
"I--I thought I kicked against something," answered Betty. "There, didyou hear that?"
"Something clinked," admitted Bob. "Wait, I'll help you look."
He ran around to her and together they began to dig in the snow anddead leaves.
"Bob! Bob!" Betty's voice rose in delight. "Look!"
She held up a small rusty iron box that, as she tilted it, yawned todisgorge a shower of gold coins.
"The Macklin treasure! We've found it!" cried Betty, beginning to diglike an excited terrier. "Help me hunt, Bob! It must be Mrs. Macklin'streasure, mustn't it?"
"Looks that way," admitted Bob.
As he spoke he drew something from under the shadow of the rock thatsettled the question immediately. Something that sparkled and glitteredand slipped through his cold red fingers like glass.
"The emeralds!" breathed Betty. "Oh, Bob, aren't they beautiful!"
"Look, Betty! That slab was forced outward not long ago. Before that thistreasure was concealed in a narrow crack between the two rocks. That'swhy no one was able to find it when the search was made soon after theloss! Isn't it great that we have found it?"
In a frenzy now, they dug, and when there seemed to be nothing morehidden under the accumulation of dirt and leaves, the two stared at eachother in delighted amazement. At their feet lay little jewel bagscontaining the pearls of which Norma had talked, the rose topazes, thedozen cameos. Magnificent diamonds sparkled in a rusty case, ear-ringsand rings lay in a little heap, and a handful of uncut stones was wrappedin a bit of chamois skin. Solid silver pitchers and goblets and trays,sadly battered by being flung against the rocks, lay just as they hadfallen until Bob and Betty had uncovered the leaves which, had so longcovered them.
"How are we going to get it out of here?" asked Betty, when they hadsatisfied themselves there was nothing left undiscovered.
"That's the pressing question," confessed Bob. "Incidentally, we have toget ourselves out, too. I think we'd better walk on a bit, and look forsome trail out. One lucky thing, no one will take the treasure whilewe're scouting."
"Where do you suppose that goes to?" said Betty, when they had beentramping about five minutes.
She pointed to a rocky formation that led off into the side of the chasm.It was evidently the mouth of a cave.
"I don't know, of course," admitted Bob. "But I think we had better takea chance and follow it. It will be dark, but so will the chasm in anotherhalf hour. I'll go first and you come after me."
It was inky black in the cave, and there was no assurance that it wouldlead them anywhere and every prospect that they would have to retracetheir steps. He was careful to hint nothing of this to Betty, however,and she, on her part, determinedly stifled any complaint of wearinessthat rose to her lips.
It was an experience they both remembered all their lives--that slow,halting groping through the winding cavern, where the rocky wallsnarrowed or widened without warning and the roof rose to great heights ordropped so low they must crawl on hands and knees. The thought of thefound treasure sustained them and gave them courage to keep on.
"I see a light!" cried Bob after what seemed to Betty hours of this."Betty, I do believe we've come to an opening!"
The pin-spot of light grew and broadened, and, as they approached it,they saw it was the winter sky. The sun was setting, for the clouds hadcleared, and never was a sight half so beautiful to the anxious eyes thatrested on it. What did it matter that they were miles from the school, orthat both were wet and cold and tired to the point of collapse? Just toget out of that awful chasm was enough.
"I'll go get your sled and pack the stuff on that," proposed Bob, "Idon't suppose it would hurt to leave it there all night, but somehow Ican't. Will you go on ahead, Betty? You're so tired."
"I'm going back with you," said Betty firmly. "I couldn't rest oneminute, knowing you were crawling through that awful cave again. Oh, yes,I'm coming with you, Bob--you needn't shake your head like that."
Bob realized that it was useless to try to persuade her to go on to theschool alone. His common sense told him that it would be wiser to leavethe treasure where it was and come after it the next day, but commonsense does not always win out. It was actually impossible for Bob orBetty to abandon the Macklin fortune now that they had found it.
Bob found Betty's sled, after some search, where they had left itbetween two trees, and together they began to thread the tortuous mazeof the cave again, Bob going ahead and dragging the sled after him.Betty thought despairingly that she had never known what it meant to betired before.
"I'll wrap the little things in my middy tie," she said when they cameout in the chasm at last and found the heap of treasure where they hadpiled it, "and we can fasten down the rest of the stuff with the beltfrom my coat."
Their fingers were stiff with cold, but they managed to get everything onthe sled and lash it securely with a rope and the leather belt fromBetty's coat. Then, once more, they started back through the cave.
The sled was heavy and the way seemed twice as long as the first timethey had followed it, but they kept doggedly on. It was dark when theyemerged on the familiar hillside.
"Sit on the sled, and I'll pull you, Betty," offered Bob, looking alittle anxiously at his companion's white face.
But Betty resolutely refused, and she trotted beside him all the way,helping to pull the sled, till the gray buildings of Shadyside loomed upbefore them.
She insisted that Bob must come in with her, and they told their story toMrs. Eustice, breathlessly and disconnectedly, to be sure, but the ropeof emeralds and the gleaming diamonds filled in all gaps in thenarrative. Before she went to sleep Betty had the satisfaction of knowingthat Norma and Alice had been told the good news and that a telegram wasspeeding off to the home folks.
The discovery and recovery of the missing treasure created a wave ofexcitement when it became generally known. A few girls, who valuedworldly possessions above everything else, made overtures of friendshipto the sisters whom previously they had ignored. Their old friendsheartily rejoiced with them and Norma and Alice went about in a dream ofbliss compounded of joy for their grandmother and parents, plans for newfrocks and the proposed holiday trip to Washington.
"It's the nicest thing that ever happened," Betty wrote her uncle. "NowNorma and Alice can graduate from Shadyside
, and Grandma Macklin canspend the rest of the winter in Florida and dear Doctor and Mrs. Guerincan doctor and nurse half the county for nothing, if they please."
* * * * *
Doctor Guerin and his wife wrote that Norma and Alice should go happilywith the Littell girls for a visit and forget the "no longer depressingquestion of finances." Both Doctor and Mrs. Guerin were enthusiastic intheir praise of Betty and Bob, who began to feel that too much was madeof their lucky discovery, especially when, at the direction of Mrs.Macklin, the Macklin family's old lawyer (who had taken charge of therecovered treasure and appraised it at nearly twice its value when lost)sent Betty a pair of the diamond earrings and Bob one of the pricelessold silver platters.
"But you not only found it, you went through a lot to bring it to us,"said Norma affectionately. "No, Betty, you and Bob can't wriggle out ofbeing thanked."
The finding of the treasure was not the last of Betty's adventures. Whathappened to her and her chums the following summer will be related in thenext volume of this series.
The remaining days of the term fairly flew, and almost before theyrealized it, school closed for the Christmas holidays. A merry partyboarded the train for the Junction, where they could make connections forWashington, one crisp, sunny December morning.
"Every one here?" demanded Bobby Littell. "I don't want to run the riskof arriving home short a guest or two."
"I'm willing to be kidnapped," suggested Tommy Tucker, who knew the storyof Betty's first meeting with Bobby.
Both girls laughed, and Betty was still smiling as she held out herticket to the conductor.
"Have a good time, young 'uns," chirped the grizzled little man cheerily."Only one thing's more fun than goin' to school, and that's goin' homefrom school for a spell of play."
And with this happy prospect before her, let us leave Betty Gordon.
THE END
Betty Gordon at Boarding School; Or, The Treasure of Indian Chasm Page 25
