Clarence almost jumped from the ground when he heard this, and, like the quick-witted fellow he was, he comprehended the situation perfectly; but we ought to say that he had something besides the conversation to which he had just listened, to aid him in reaching the conclusions he so suddenly formed. During the day his aunt had shown him several articles of value that had long been heir-looms in the Gordon family, and explained to him how she had managed to keep them secreted during the war. The family silver had been buried again and again--every time, in fact, that there was the least rumor of an advance being made by either army--and the work, for the most part, had been done by some of the negroes on the plantation. “A good many people lost property in that way which they never recovered,” said his aunt. “The negroes, having concealed it, ran away with the Federals without leaving any clue to the hiding-place of the valuables, and so they were never found.” Clarence had not thought much of this at the time, but he thought of it now, and by connecting it with the words that had just been uttered in his hearing, he arrived at a tolerably fair solution of what would otherwise have been a deep mystery to him. His aunt had not said so in so many words, but he inferred that she had lost valuable property in the way she had explained. Clarence was sure of it now, and he was almost overwhelmed by the discovery he had made. “Eighty thousand dollars!” said he, to himself. “It must be in money, and in gold and silver, too, for my aunt says that all the wealthy rebels took the precaution to exchange their bank-notes for specie at the first beginning of the trouble between the North and South. I hope to goodness they will find it. If they do, they can rest assured that they’ll not get away with it all.” The few seconds that Clarence passed in meditating and soliloquizing in this way, were employed by Dan in getting ready for work, and by Godfrey in picking out a comfortable place to sit down, and in filling and lighting his pipe. Having discarded his coat and hat, Dan threw out two or three shovelfuls of earth; but it was heavy work, and Dan, who got tired very easily, could not help asking himself how many such shovelfuls he would have to throw out before the coveted barrel could be brought to light. He told his father that ten acres was a great deal of ground, and Godfrey, to encourage him, reminded him that there were eighty thousand dollars in gold and silver buried somewhere about there, and that they must have it if they were obliged to dig up the whole state of Mississippi.