“The Bridgeboro woodsman, The boy scout explorer, The lonely young camper That hung in the well. I’m glad I brought the clotheslines from our yard; they’ll have to send the stuff to the laundry, but they’ll have their son back.” “Don’t worry,” Tom called; “dig around and see what you can find.” “Here’s my eyeglass case,” Brent announced. “Do you want me to dig in the mud?” “Sure, see what’s what.” “Well,” Brent called, “there’s an old, rotten vine and some stones--and, oh, here’s a tin wagon, a kid’s tin wagon. Or maybe it’s a Ford--no, it’s a toy wagon, all rusty.” I have often thought of that tin wagon eaten and brittle with rust in the bottom of Conner’s well in Rattlesnake Gulch. Did the unknown Conner “fetch” it from “Noo York” to some little Conner, perhaps? At Christmas time? Christmas time in Rattlesnake Gulch! “Strike a light,” Tom called down. “Have you got plenty of matches? Is there anything else down there?” “I think there’s malaria down here,” Brent called. “You go ahead and get the rope and I’ll reconnoiter. I’ve got my flashlight. Don’t worry about me: I may be down but I’ll never get out. Go and get the rope while I’m hunting.” “I’m afraid it’s in the car,” Tom called down. “All right, go and get it--no hurry. I’m going to systematize my search. If you think of a word meaning treasure and ending with qzx jot it down in my cross-word puzzle book. Try the car and see if you can get it started just for fun--it may start, at that.” “I may be an hour,” Tom called. CHAPTER XIV—In the Circle of Light Tom looked in the cabin but, as he had suspected, the coil of rope had not been brought from the car. So he set forth through the woods to their obscure parking place. Meanwhile, Brent proceeded with a systematic exploration of the old well. Directing his flashlight at the crevices in the masonry of the shaft, he scrutinized and removed every removable scrap of stone which might have concealed something. This inspection he carried as high as his arms could reach. He searched, not only for a metal box, but also for any remnants of a smaller and perishable container. Here and there where a stone in the wall looked as if it might easily be dislodged, he worked it out and scrutinized the hollow place it left. He proceeded upon the supposition that, if the money were there at all, it would be secreted in the wall somewhere. It was there, of course, that in all likelihood no absolutely complete search had ever been made.