The Voyage of the Hoppergrass Part 8

"He thinks we're a gang of bunco men," Mr. Daddles reflected. "I wonder why he trusts us with his boat."

"He knows that no one would be foolish enough to steal it," said Jimmy; "look at it!"

It was a shabby and ill-kept dory, dirty, and with half an inch of dirty water was.h.i.+ng about in it. But we didn't care. Almost any boat is good enough when you are looking for buried treasure. We set out, with Mr. Daddles and Jimmy rowing. A breeze had sprung up and the bay was a little choppy, so we splashed and b.u.mped along at no great speed. Mr. Daddles did not pay much attention to the management of his long oar, but got into a discussion with Jimmy about what they would buy with their share of the treasure. Jimmy said his first choice would be a sailing yacht. Next, after that, he thought he should buy a steam-yacht. Mr. Daddles said he should buy a piano.

"A piano! That's funny. What would you buy next?"

"A stick of dynamite."

"Dynamite! What for?"

"To blow up the piano."

"Why do you want to do that?"

"Well, you see the piano I'm going to buy belongs to a girl who lives next door to me at home. She practises on it all day long.

Sometimes I get so I almost wish that she didn't have a piano at all."

Ed Mason voted for a horse, and I for a bicycle.

"I don't see how we can dig up much treasure, anyway," was Ed Mason's comment, "not even if we find where it's buried."

"Why not?"

"What have we got to dig with?"

That was true,--we had forgotten to bring shovels.

"Never mind, this is only prospecting," Mr. Daddles reminded us.

"We'll look around, and if we see any place that looks treasury, we'll come back another time."

We rowed around to the westerly side of Fishback Island, as the car-driver had suggested, and landed in a little pebbly cove.

Mr. Daddles was delighted with the appearance of the island. "I don't wonder they came here for treasure," said he. "It's the most likely looking place for a pirate's lair I ever saw in my life.

Look at that tree on the hill,--a regular landmark. And look at the smuggler's cave!"

He pointed to a rocky cave on the sh.o.r.e, just above our landing- place. We walked over to examine it, but we couldn't find anything there except some egg-sh.e.l.ls and paper boxes, where someone had eaten luncheon. Then we started on an exploring trip around the island. It was almost bare of trees, rocky in many places, and partly covered with scrubby gra.s.s. We found half a dozen pits and shafts where the treasure-seekers had been at work. We climbed the little hill where the tree stood,--it was gnarled and broken, "a blasted tree" declared Mr. Daddles in rapture.

"Here's where the treasure chest ought to be buried," he remarked, "with the skeleton of a pirate or two on top of it."

"This is where the old dead horse was buried," Ed Mason observed, digging into some loose earth with his foot.

"That must have meant something," I said. "Why should they bring a horse way up here to bury him?"

"Perhaps they didn't," Ed replied, "perhaps the horse lived up here."

"I'm afraid you were never made for a treasure-seeker," said Mr.

Daddles.

Jimmy Toppan pointed to the beach on the other side of the hill.

There was a smooth, sandy sh.o.r.e.

"Why not go in swimming down there?" he suggested.

The idea was a good one; we were not making much progress toward finding any treasure, and the beach certainly looked like a good place for a swim. The three of us ran down the hill, pulling off our clothes as we ran. Mr. Daddles lingered for a while, but presently joined us, and we all had a swim.

After we had dressed we walked around the island, keeping near the water. Everywhere there were signs of digging, but no signs of treasure. We were in no hurry, so we strolled along, on the watch for anything we might discover. The sh.o.r.e of the cove where we landed was covered with flat stones, and we spent some time skipping them on the water, and a still longer time throwing stones at an empty bottle which we found and set afloat. After a while Jimmy Toppan thought we ought to be going.

"There's a fog-bank out there," said he, "and it will be awful thick if it comes in."

We all looked out to sea, where a gray ma.s.s hung over the water.

"Let's have one more look on the hill," said Mr. Daddles, "remember how sorry we'd be if someone else came here after us, and found a chest of golden guineas."

So up to the hill we went again, and prowled around, kicking at loose rocks, and stamping wherever the earth sounded hollow.

"Under the tree is a more likely place," Mr. Daddles reminded us, "they always bury it under a tree."

"We ought to start," said Jimmy, "the wind has come out east, and that fog will be here before long."

"Just a minute--look around here, boys,--we'll find it, if you'll only look around."

And he scrabbled around at a great rate.

"Leave no stone unturned," said he, turning over two of them.

But we found nothing at all. Nothing, that is, except dirt, gra.s.s, mullein-stalks, and beetles or crickets under the stones. Mr.

Daddles hunted energetically, pulling up gra.s.s by the roots, digging in the soil with his fingers, and kicking at stones with the toes of his tennis-shoes, until he shouted "Ouch!" and jumped about holding his foot in his hand. Then he set to again, so excitedly that we looked at him in astonishment.

"P'r'aps we'd better start," said Jimmy again.

"In a minute, in a minute," exclaimed Mr. Daddles, poking about.

"Hunt, boys, hunt,--I feel sure we'll find something if we only hunt."

We hunted, sc.r.a.ped over the earth and sand around that tree, and moved every stone and pebble.

"I tell you we must find some treasure here,--we MUST!"

"How can we?" asked Ed, "if there isn't any to find."

"But there is. I know there is!"

We stared at him.

"I know there is, because I buried it myself."

"You did? When? How? Where? What for?"

"When you all went down to swim. I thought you would feel disappointed not to find any treasure, so I buried all I had,--a dollar and a quarter,--two halves, two dimes, and a nickel. And now we've got to find it, or we can't get back on that horse-car.