CHAPTER X
MEETING A TREASURE HUNTER
GENERAL made a leap over the high mound. There came a growl, then asharp bark.
"Down, General!" commanded a manly voice.
A young man wearing rough clothes and a broad-brimmed soft hat, fromunder which looked out a pleasant face, appeared, facing the girls.
"I beg your pardon," he said. "I thought perhaps you might not see me.You are from the house yonder. I know Miss Stuart by sight and theGeneral and myself are old friends."
The young man stuffed some papers into his pockets. As yet none of theparty had spoken.
"Hello, Bob. Is that you?" greeted Tommy.
"Yes. You caught me this time."
"You bet I did!"
"Won't you introduce me to your friends, so I may apologize to them formy peculiar actions?"
"Oh, they're only girls," answered Tom airily. "What are you doinghere?"
"I am Robert Stevens, young ladies. I live near by. The Presbys arefriends of mine."
The girls were beginning to feel more at ease. He was not a desperatecharacter, after all. Their adventure had ended in nothing more thanmeeting a friendly neighbor. Ruth stepped forward at this juncture.
"I am on a treasure hunt," said Stevens, smiling sheepishly.
The girls were on the alert on the instant.
"Treasure hunting!" exclaimed Barbara. "Where are your pick and shovel?"
"Oh, I haven't gotten that far yet," laughed Bob.
The girls decided that they liked Mr. Bob Stevens, and what was more,they were keenly interested in his statement that he was hunting for thelost treasure.
"I may as well be frank with you," he said, flushing. "Ever since I wasTommy's age I have hoped to find some day the fabled pot of gold, orwhatever the treasure may be. My grandfather before he died gave me mapsand diagrams that he had made. He was as mad on the subject of theburied treasure as the rest of us," explained Stevens. "It was his ideathat it would be found not far from the lake. He thought the Presbys hadnaturally planned to return by water for the treasure in case they hadto flee from the fort. I have worked the ground near the lakethoroughly. Now I am trying this strip of woods, working out from theseIndian mounds."
"Is the trail hot or cold?" questioned Bab.
"Very cold. Almost colder than the atmosphere to-day. Still, I havehopes."
"If you were to find the treasure what would you do with it?" demandedRuth severely.
"Do with it? Why, I should turn it over to its rightful owner," answeredStevens. "It's the sport of the search that interests me. You did notthink I would keep what doesn't belong to me, did you?"
The girls murmured their apologies.
"Please tell Mr. Presby that you found me here. Perhaps I had better goback with you. May I?"
"Come along, Bob. Father will be glad to see you," said Tom, answeringfor them. The girls offered no objections, so the young man accompaniedthem, walking beside Tommy and General.
"You young ladies might be interested in looking over those old maps anddiagrams," suggested their new acquaintance.
"Indeed we would," agreed Barbara enthusiastically.
"Another thing I'd like to say, if you will permit me. Were I in yourplace, I wouldn't go into the woods back there alone. There are peoplehanging about this estate who are little better than tramps."
"What do you mean?" asked Grace.
"The news has been circulated that the Presbys are going to lose the oldplace. There are a choice lot of gentlemen nosing about here hoping toget a clue to the treasure before another owner takes charge. I heardyesterday that some fellow from the city is planning to put men to workhere systematically. I don't know how true it is."
"They wouldn't dare to dig for treasure on another man's property,"retorted Ruth indignantly.
"They wouldn't have to dig until they had located the treasure. Thenthey might dig it up in the night and be off before anyone else was thewiser."
"I don't believe there is any danger in our going where we please aboutthese grounds. I have been here a good many times, Mr. Stevens, and youare the first stranger I have ever met on the grounds," declared Ruth.
"There are two men back there in the woods now," answered Bobcarelessly.
The girls stopped short and stood gazing at the forest that lay beyondthe Indian burying ground.
"Are you sure of that?"
Stevens nodded.
"I saw them," he replied, "watching you all the time you were comingtoward the mounds. I was watching them, though they didn't know that."
"Why don't you speak to Mr. Presby and have him put them off thepremises?" demanded Barbara.
"It wouldn't do any good. The fellows would take good care to keep offthe place while a search was being made for them. There's Miss Olivewaiting for you."
"Oh, how do you do, Mr. Stevens? I am glad you are with the girls," saidOlive. "Father was disturbed when he found they had gone over to theIndian mounds alone. He said it wasn't safe to do that. Have you met myfriends, Mr. Stevens?"
"In a somewhat unceremonious fashion," laughed Stevens.
"Father wants to see you. I'll venture that I can guess how you chancedto meet the girls," smiled Olive. "Now confess that you were treasurehunting."
"I confess. Where may I find your father?"
"In the library. Go right in."
Bob Stevens promised the girls that he would show them his diagramsafter he had finished his conference with Mr. Presby. Then, raising hishat to them, he set off toward the house. Mr. and Mrs. Presby were fondof Robert Stevens. He was of good family, and well educated for acountry boy. His people were comfortably situated and Robert's ambitionwas to help his friends, the Presbys, find the treasure that he neverhad doubted was hidden somewhere on the estate.
But the girls did not see him again that day. Ruth's motor car hadarrived by the time they reached the house. The girls ate a hurriedluncheon and set off for a long ride before the two men had finishedtheir conference. It was almost dinner time when they returned with rosycheeks and sparkling eyes, greatly invigorated after their drive. A.Bubble had behaved himself splendidly. Ruth said he worked much betterthan before the accident. Bab suggested that it might be an excellentidea to have him collide with a pair of stout iron gates at regularintervals.
Bob Stevens had left his maps and diagrams for the girls to look over,which they did after dinner. They were unable to make anything out ofthe lines and figures of the treasure hunter. Mollie declared that theman who made them must surely have been insane.
For an hour after dinner the Presbys and their guests chatted in whatwas called the drawing room, a long, low, barn-like apartment, almostrustic in its fittings and furnishings. The dining room being cleared,Olive called the girls there. They found the room in darkness save forthe light shed by the fire in the fireplace and five candles arranged onthe sideboard.
"One for each girl present," explained Olive.
"To light us to bed?" questioned Mollie.
"No, indeed," smiled Olive. "Bedtime is still a long way off. We aregoing to have a feast by candle light."
"I couldn't eat another mouthful after the dinner we had to-night. Itwould be a physical impossibility," declared Bab.
"Don't make any rash assertions until you see what I have provided foryou in the way of a feast," replied Olive, as she took a large, flat tinbox from the lower compartment of the old-fashioned sideboard. "Ruth,"she continued, "if you will draw the rugs up close to the fireplace wewill lose no time in beginning the festivities."
Ruth Stuart did so, arranging the rugs in a semi-circle. But theinterest of the girls was centred on the tin box, not on the rugs, justat that time. Then Olive brought out five long, slender white sticks,which she distributed among the girls.
"Aren't you going to open the box?" begged Grace anxiously. "Can't yousee we are dying with curiosity to know what is inside?"
"Bab, you may open the box."
The cover was off almost before the
words had left Olive's lips.
"Marshmallows!" cried the girls in chorus. "Oh, isn't that simplyglorious?"
"And such a lot of them, too," added Grace Carter.
"Five pounds," Olive informed them. "We are about to sit down to amarshmallow toast. Eat all you wish, but for goodness sake do not makeyourselves sick."
"She means you, Mollie," teased Ruth.
"The coat doesn't fit me, however," retorted Mollie. "But I do lovemarshmallows. Do we toast them over the flames of the candles?"
"No," replied Olive, as she placed the five-pound box of sweets on therug between them and the fire. The girls sat down on the rug, with theirfeet curled under them. Each speared a marshmallow and thrust it closeto the fire. Little blue flames rose from the white cubes and atantalizing odor filled the air.
"Oh, dear me. Mine's gone into the fire," cried Mollie in distress. "Itjust melted away."
"So did mine," answered Barbara, "but it melted in my mouth."
"How nice of you to think of this, Olive. Thank you ever so much,"glowed Grace Carter.
"This isn't my treat. My part is to carry out the little surprise. Mr.Stuart sent out the marshmallows to me, asking me to give you girls atoast. It is a real treat, isn't it?"
"Glorious!" breathed the girls.
"Did you children ever do fire-gazing?" asked Olive after a moment ofsilence as the girls helped themselves to the sweets.
The "Automobile Girls" confessed their ignorance of the game. Oliveexplained that each girl was to gaze into the fire then describe whatforms or figures appeared to grow out of the flames or coals.
"I see a red automobile," cried Mollie, almost as soon as she had fixedher gaze on the fire. "And, oh, look at the man driving it! He is all inred, wears a pointed beard and has a cloven foot. Isn't he a frightfullooking creature?"
"Your imagination needs no encouragement," declared Olive. "Let us hopethat the gentleman with the cloven foot may drive his car up the chimneyflue and fly away. What do you see, Ruth?"
"I see a fiery pit with a lot of imps dancing about, hurling balls offire at each other."
"Your turn, Barbara."
Bab was gazing at the fire in wrapt attention.
"I see a black chest, but I can't see what it holds, for the cover isdown. There goes the cover! Oh, look, girls! See the gold and thesparkling jewels! See the golden coins glitter in the light of the fire!Oh, oh, oh!"
"Money? Money? Where?" cried Mollie. "I want some of that money."
The spell was broken in a merry laugh. Mollie laughed, too, then turnedher gaze toward the window, for her eyes were smarting from the heat.Suddenly her face took on a frightened expression, the color fading fromit.
"Look! Oh, look!" she gasped, scarcely above a whisper.
What they saw made the "Automobile Girls'" faces turn white with fear.