When the afternoon began to draw to a close, nearly the same scenes which we have already described were enacted at Godfrey’s humble abode. The scattered family began to come in, one after the other, and they found Godfrey sitting on the bench smoking his pipe. Dan had a bunch of squirrels and a fine wild turkey thrown over his shoulder; David brought another dozen of quails which Don Gordon’s pointer had stood for him; and Mrs. Evans carried in her pocket a dollar which she had earned with her needle that day. Fortunately Godfrey did not know of that. If he had he would at once have set his wits at work to conjure up some plan to obtain possession of it. David was again called upon to chop the wood, for Dan had disappeared immediately after skinning the squirrels he brought (he had gone off to hunt up another hiding-place for his valuables), and Godfrey was so wearied with his hard day’s work that he could not have lifted an axe if he had tried. So David cut the wood and kindled the fire, and his mother cooked the supper, and Godfrey ate two men’s share of it, and then once more seated himself on the bench and dozed until dark. He slept two hours or more, and was aroused by Dan, who wanted to know if he was going to make an effort to find the barrel that night. Godfrey replied that he was, and started up with much alacrity; but his enthusiasm seemed to die away utterly when he rubbed his eyes and looked about him. He could see literally nothing. It was as dark as it ever gets to be. The cabin and the clearing seemed to be surrounded by solid walls of ebony. There was not a ray of light to be seen in any direction, nor even a star. “Splendid night,” said Dan. “Nothing can’t see us!” “Yes,” answered his father, “an’ we can’t see nothing, too!” “Wal, I reckon ye know whar that tater-patch was, don’t ye? Ye said ye did.” “Yes, I do; but thar was ten acres into it, Dannie, an’ that’s a power of ground to dig over with one shovel.” “But jest think of the eighty thousand,” said Dan. That was just what Godfrey did think of, and it was the only thing that could have induced him to brave the darkness and the terrors of the general’s lane, and undertake so herculean a task as digging up ten acres of ground with one shovel. Was there not some way in which he could secure the contents of the barrel, or at least a portion of them, without the expenditure of any great amount of energy and strength?