"What's wanted?" he responded, sticking his head out of the window.
Throwing his long legs over the sill, he dropped onto the ground and was at her side in a moment. "What's the matter," he asked; "snake?"
"Something's down there," pointing to the hole.
Jack seized the spade and quickly uncovered an iron box. Desiré was trembling violently, and could only gaze silently at the strange object.
"What have you got?" demanded René, appearing at that moment from the front yard. "Prissy!" he shrieked, without waiting for an answer, "come 'n' see!"
Priscilla appeared, viewed the find calmly, and proposed taking it into the house to see what it contained.
"Do you think we had better take it over to the judge's?" asked Desiré, finally finding her voice. "Perhaps we should not open it by ourselves."
"I'll go right after him," declared Jack. "Just put some papers on the table so I can carry the box in and set it down before I go."
It seemed a long time before they heard the sound of the Ford, but it was in reality only about half an hour; for Jack had covered the ground at his best speed, and the judge lost no time in getting back with him.
"Well," said Judge Herbine, darting into the room and up to the table, "lots of excitement. Got anything to open it with, Jack? It's locked."
With considerable difficulty they managed to force the lock, and pry up the cover. Then everyone crowded around to peer inside. The box was filled with gold and silver pieces.
"Oh," cried Desiré, "it must have been out there ever since the Expulsion. I read in my little blue history that some of the Acadians buried their savings in their gardens before they left the country, because they expected to come back again very soon."
"Then it probably belonged to our ancestors," said Jack slowly.
"Let's tip it out," proposed the judge. "It looks to me like a goodly sum."
Tarnished and dull, it lay in a heap on the table; and as the judge turned the box right side up again, he caught sight of some papers in the bottom.
"Documents of some kind!" he exclaimed, loosening them carefully.
Stiff, yellow with age, the writing was dim but discernible.
"That's a will, isn't it?" asked Jack, catching sight of a few words at the top of the sheet, as the man unfolded it slowly.