Edgar pointed to a spot inside the triangle formed by the three
trees and equally distant from each.

"Put that horse behind the bank," I commanded, "where no one can
see him! And both you and Rupert keep off the sky-line!" From the
north and south we were now all three hidden by the two high banks
of sand; to the east lay the beach and the Atlantic Ocean, and to
the west stretches of marshes that a mile away met a wood of pine
trees and the railroad round- house.

I began to dig. I knew that weary hours lay before me, and I
attacked the sand leisurely and with deliberation. It was at first
no great effort; but as the hole grew in depth, and the roots of
the trees were exposed, the work was sufficient for several men.
Still, as Edgar had said, it is not every day that one can dig for
treasure, and in thinking of what was to come I forgot my hands
that quickly blistered, and my breaking back. After an hour I
insisted that Edgar should take a turn; but he made such poor
headway that my patience could not contain me, and I told him I was
sufficiently rested and would continue. With alacrity he scrambled
out of the hole, and, taking a cigar from my case, seated himself
comfortably in the hack. I took my comfort in anticipating the
thrill that would be mine when the spade would ring on the
ironbound chest; when, with a blow of the axe, I would expose to
view the hidden jewels, the pieces of eight, coated with verdigris,
the string of pearls, the chains of yellow gold. Edgar had said a
million dollars. That must mean there would be diamonds, many
diamonds. I would hold them in my hands, watch them, at the sudden
sunshine, blink their eyes and burst into tiny, burning fires. In
imagination I would replace them in the setting, from which, years