Sanson responded instantly "Found anything?" he demanded, as he plunged through the bushes. Then his eyes fell on the line of ruined masonry and he caught his breath. "Gee!" he exclaimed delightedly. "That certainly looks like--" "Sh-h!" cautioned Tompkins. "Wes and his bunch are not far off--right up the hill: we mustn't put them wise, or they'll all come piling down here. You get Ranny and Court, and I'll tell the others." They quickly separated, and in less than three minutes the others had hastened to the spot. As he took in the bit of old wall Ranny Phelps' eyes brightened and he looked at Tompkins. "I guess you've hit it, old man," he said warmly. "There'd hardly be any other foundation in this jungle. Let's scrape away the leaves and mold a little and see if we can't find a corner." Eagerly they fell to work, and before long had uncovered two sides of a rough stone rectangle, some eighteen by thirty feet, and even unearthed the ends of a couple of tough, hand-hewn oak beams which had fallen in and become covered with dead leaves and other debris. About the middle of one side was a solid, square mass of stone that looked as if it might have been the base of a forge or smelting-furnace. But there was no chance to proceed further, for Ranny suddenly jerked out his watch and gave an exclamation of dismay. "Gosh! Almost four o'clock. We've got to start back right away." "Aw--gee! Let's take just a few minutes more," begged several voices at once. "Nothing doing," returned Ranny, decidedly. "If we're not back at four-thirty, they'll think we've found something, and we don't want that. We've got something definite to start from next time; and if we keep it to ourselves, we'll have a fine and dandy chance of putting it over on the rest of the camp. Everybody get busy and hustle some leaves and stuff over the wall so nobody else'll stumble on it by accident." In a very short time practically all traces of their explorations had been covered over, and the fellows started back at a brisk pace. They were able to return much more quickly than they had come out, and reached the meeting-place in good season to find, with not a little secret satisfaction, that none of the other parties had met with success. "But you fellows mustn't let that discourage you," said Mr. Reed, briskly. "As I told you before, you can't expect to locate in an hour or so something that's been lost for nearly a hundred years. We'll try it again about Saturday, and--" "Aw, Mr. Reed," piped up Bennie, eagerly, "can't we come back to-morrow and--" He broke off with some abruptness as Ranny's fingers closed over his shoulder in a warning grip. The scoutmaster laughed and shook his head.