ries to fill the bucket on her arm. When the noon hour came she dispatched her simple luncheon of brown bread and butter and blackberries, then scrutinized the brook for a clear place from which to get a drink. A little farther up, and across the stream, she spied some huge bowlders overhanging the bank; they were partly covered by vines, which were nourished by the abundant spring of water that gushed from their midst. Ann picked her way lightly across a fallen log and quenched her thirst at this natural fountain. Suddenly, her foot slipped, and, to save herself from falling, she caught at the vines, tearing them partly away. Stepping backward to regain her balance she saw something that set her heart to thumping furiously.
"Great hat!" she exclaimed once more.
Roughly scratched on the bowlder was the inevitable Sphinx, similar to the picture on the half-way stone, save that the ribbonlike band was not there and beneath the figure was the word "Finis." She had come by accident upon that for which she might have searched a lifetime without success!
Ann tore away the remaining vines, trod down the undergrowth at the base of the bowlders, and peered beneath them. A small natural shelf of rock projected outward a few inches. She cleared away the stones and dead leaves that clogged the opening and, thrusting in her hand, brought out a rusty tin can. The lid of the can was soldered on, and painted upon it in plain characters was:
"To be opened in the presence of a lawyer by the person finding it."
"Something definite at last!" murmured Ann, dizzily.
Some time afterward Ann entered the kitchen of her home and set the bucket of blackberries down beside her mother. "Here are some berries to make your mouth water, mother," she said.
"Well, get a crock and put them away."
"I'm so tired, mother; you do it."
At the tone of suppressed excitement, Mrs. Seabrook looked up. Ann's eyes were dancing, her cheeks were flushed, her breathing hurried; she looked anything but tired.
"You do act so queerly, Ann. Very well, I'll do it if you won't." She lifted the bucket, then set it down suddenly.
