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They eak, sick, deadly tired; they could barely shuffle a few yards at a time when they finally reached Asensio's hut; nevertheless there was hope in their hearts, for O'Reilly's ragged clothes sagged with the weight of gold pieces and the little reatly concerned about the safety of the treasure they had left behind, for the entrance to the cavern lay deeply buried, and Cobo, the guerrilla, stood guard over the chests of plate and the casks of coin

Evangelina, vastly bewildered at the sight of the coin which was forced into her pal it The treasure-hunters alternately slept and ate It was not until well along toward evening that Rosa and O'Reilly felt any desire to take stock of the contents of that jewel-box, but finally, with heads together and with backs to the door of the bohio, they made a furtive examination It was a task that held theems of many varieties, some well, some badly cut; there were pieces of antique Spanish jewelry, valuable s of silver and gold containing dead, uninteresting stones; others of the finest and littering cobwebs en sparks of fire and drops of blood They found emeralds and sapphires the value of which they did not attempt to estimate; and, besides these, a miscellaneous assortment of semiprecious stones There was a fine collection of opals of every size and color, ae flat black ones, indescribably gorgeous with their ever-changing peacock hues But finest of all the lot were the pearls Where old Don Esteban had secured these latter was a mystery, for he had not been a widely traveled man They were splendid, unrivaled in size and luster Soed from pink to deepest chocolate in color To touch theuely that he held in his lap a fortune greater than his wildest dreams had ever compassed These were the jewels of a rajah It seeal heiress, the possessor of a treasure such as kings ht envy After a tiehe and Rosa cowered in the darkness, whispering furtively, their nerves on edge, their senses strained It seemed to theh the night