Two Little Women Part 22

But it was my left one, you know, so I can play croquet and tennis and do most everything."

"You had a gay old mixup, didn't you?" said Jack Norris, smiling at Dolly. "You broke yourself, too, didn't you?"

"Oh, yes; you know Dotty and I are next-door neighbours this year, and whatever one of us does the other has to. But we're both mended now and ready for any sort of fun."

Then Mr. Rose came along, bringing about a dozen spades. They were small ones, such as come with children's gardening tools, and he gave one to each of the young people present.

"What for?" asked Elmer Holmes, as he looked at the s.h.i.+ning new tool.

"I told my girls that this was to be a Kidd party," said Mr. Rose, "but they didn't quite understand what I meant. Now I'll explain. Has each one a spade?"

"Yes," and the nine boys and girls held them up.

"All right then. Now, what you want to do is to dig for Captain Kidd's buried treasure. You have all heard that old Captain Kidd buried a lot of treasure somewhere, but I doubt if you were aware that he buried it in Crosstrees Camp. However, there is a tradition to that effect and so I would like you to do your best to find it. Tradition says that the treasure was buried somewhere near the spot where we are now. It is hidden, I believe, not farther than fifty feet away in any direction from this open tent, so everybody may dig wherever he chooses within that radius, and see if he can unearth the treasure."

"But, Daddy," said Genie, "how do we know where to dig?"

"That you must decide for yourselves. Dig any place you like; turn up the whole area if you choose; or, if you see a place that seems especially hopeful, dig there. I feel sure the treasure is really buried somewhere around and it's up to you young people to discover where it may be."

"We'll find it!" and Jack Norris brandished his spade in the air. "Come on, girls and boys; let's dig down to China if necessary, but let's get Kidd's old treasure chest."

The young people scattered, looking about for probable places to dig.

Dolly, a little unused to digging, began rather aimlessly to toss up the soil near by where she stood.

"Oh, I say," said Jack Norris, "don't start in that way. Come along with me and let's find a place that looks promising."

They walked away, looking eagerly at the ground about them, when Dolly spied something white under the leaves of a vine.

"Oh, look here!" she cried, and Jack stooped down to see what it was.

They saw a grinning skull and cross bones made of white plaster and partly sunken in the earth.

"Geewhillikens! we've struck it!" cried Jack, "or rather you have! I felt sure from that twinkle in Mr. Rose's eye that there was some way of knowing where to dig. This is it, of course. The treasure is buried here! Let's dig for it!"

Carefully setting aside the little skull, which was only a papier-mache toy, they both began to dig desperately.

"The ground is soft! It has lately been dug, you see, to plant the box here. How lucky you saw that white thing under the leaves."

"You would have seen it if I hadn't," said Dolly, not wanting to take all the credit to herself. "It's buried pretty deep, isn't it?"

"Yes, sort of. Don't you dig any more, if you're tired; I'll dig the rest of the way."

Dolly paused a few moments, and Jack went on digging. At last he said, as he straightened himself up and wiped his brow with his handkerchief, "Do you know, I believe we're hoaxed! I believe that skull was there to fool us!"

"Oh, I'll bet it was!" and Dolly's eyes danced as she realised the situation. "Maybe there are other skulls in other places!"

"I shouldn't wonder. Let's go and see."

"Let's fill up this hole first and put the skull back to fool somebody else."

"All right," and Jack hastily tossed the dirt back into the hole, and replaced the little white skull.

"Somebody is coming this way! Let's hide," and Dolly and Jack quickly whisked themselves behind a clump of trees.

Guy Holmes and Maisie Norris came along and they spied the white skull which Jack had left placed rather more conspicuously than he had found it.

"Oh, look at that!" cried Guy, and Maisie exclaimed, "This is the right place, of course! We've struck it at last! That pirate flag was just to fool us. Hooray! let's dig!"

Dolly and Jack could scarcely keep from laughing aloud as they saw the newcomers digging desperately in the very spot they had dug themselves.

At last Jack beckoned to Dolly and they softly glided away without letting the others know of their presence.

"Now we want to find where it really is," whispered Jack as soon as they were out of hearing of the others. "I say, this is a great game! and we've learned something from those people. The spot marked with a pirate flag is not the right one! When we find that, there is no use of digging."

The pair went on, prospecting for a likely place to dig. There were so many trees and shrubs, that often there would be no view of any of the other seekers. And then again they would come across groups of two or three, or perhaps one alone digging desperately or looking disappointed at a failure.

Gay greetings were exchanged or words of sympathy and commiseration and each went on his chosen way.

"Do you know," said Jack at last, "I shouldn't be surprised if the real place isn't marked at all. Hullo, what's this?" Right at his feet lay a toy bowie-knife. Though made of pasteboard, it was a ferocious-looking affair and the spot where it was had not been disturbed.

"I don't believe that's the right place," said Jack, who had grown suspicious of misleading clues. "Anyway, Dolly, let's leave that, and come back to it if we don't find anything more hopeful."

So they wandered on and next they came to the pirate flag. This black and white emblem was planted above a much dug up s.p.a.ce and they laughed as they concluded that several trials had been made there.

Soon they came upon Dotty and Josie Holmes who were hastily digging at a spot which had been marked by two stakes. They had pulled up the stakes, but as yet had not found any treasure.

"Bet it isn't there," said Jack, looking closely at the two stakes.

"Why?" demanded Dotty.

"Dunno. Somehow it doesn't seem 'sif it is. Come on, Dolly, let's try again."

"Go on," said Dotty; "I think this is the place. Josie and I feel certain of it. Go on, you two, and good luck to you."

Shouldering their spades, Jack and Dolly trudged on.

"Let's think it out," said Jack, seating himself on a flat rock, while Dolly did likewise. "I believe we can think out where Mr. Rose would have been likely to put the thing. Now I don't believe it would be very close to where he started us. These nearby digging places are all frauds. Let's go to the limit of the s.p.a.ce he said, and try all 'round the edge."

"How can you tell?" And Dolly looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Why, he said fifty feet, you know, and I can pace off what ought to be about fifty feet and then we'll walk all the way round."

They did this, and as they walked round the circle which Jack declared was about the boundary of the fifty-foot radius, they soon came upon a good-sized iron key.

"This is it!" cried Jack; "we've struck it! This is the key to the chest, and the chest is buried here!"

"Good work!" and Guy Holmes and Maisie Norris appeared just in time to hear Jack's exclamation. "Come on, let's all dig!"

"No," said Dolly, sitting down on the ground; "I can't dig any more; I'm too tired. Maisie and I will sit here while you boys do the digging."