that morning the grove was over-run with treasure hunters. fuller and ray had every lady in the house searching. they were a queer looking group of adventurers, but they seemed to enjoy it immensely. it was well on toward dinnertime when dear old mrs. alison called for pee-wee to come over and inspect a discovery she had made on a large poplar. she was beaming delightedly through her gold specks at a steel knitting needle which she had stuck into a little point where the bark curved in. “oh, i’m afraid it’s too good to be true,” she said sweetly.

as fuller moved the needle in and out there was a slight metallic sound. “it’s hitting something,” he said. “yop, sure enough, there’s a nail or something in there. get a crowbar, scout, and we’ll jab around here a little. i think we’re on the track of something. bring a chair for mrs. alison to sit on, too.”

the old lady seemed as proud and delighted as a child, while she waited. the others were all expectancy. as for hope, she danced up and down impatiently. it was the only kind of dancing she thought of now. pee-wee returned, laboring under a big armchair and wrestling with a crowbar. following him came mrs. skimper, drying her arms on a towel and calling to mr. skimper who was in the woodshed. an excited little group stood about while fuller jabbed with the crowbar, and thrills went through poor old mrs. alison when he struck a rock.

“guess we’ll have to dig,” he said.

“oh, i can’t wait,” she said.

“oh, please do hurry,” said hope; “here, let me dig. you’re just as slow as you can be!”

“it would be really quite thrilling,” said old mrs. wade.

“it is really something that i never dreamed of,” said mrs. stillmore.

“i’ve read of such things,” said miss gaunt, an elderly spinster; “i believe stevenson wrote of them, but i have never attended a treasure hunt. really my nerves are on edge.”

she did not have to suffer long from this racking suspense. in a very few minutes, if you will believe it, a tin box stood upon the edge of the excavation the boys had made.

“there you are, mr. skimper,” said fuller; “all things come round to him that waits—and digs. mrs. alison, you and i will have to fit up a schooner and take a flyer down to the spanish main. they used to plant gold down there like farmer goodale plants crops. what do you say, mrs. stillmore? are you willing for hope to be kidnapped by pirates? then scout harris will come and save her life.”

“he saved my life already,” said hope soberly.

“i tell you what we’ll do!” pee-wee shouted. “it’s an inspiration, because buried treasure and kidnapping go together, you can ask anybody—”

“positively,” said fuller.

“we’ll—we’ll—kidnap you and take you back to the farm just like a real adventure as long as they’re going to close up here anyway, and i tell you how we’ll do. (he paused for breath.) your mother will be playing cards in the parlor and you’ll be on the lawn or maybe you’ll be in the window, hey? and we’ll sneak up and get you and make you go back to the farm with us and you’ll make believe you don’t want to go—”

“i do want to go,” she said; “and mother and i are going, so there. and i don’t care anything about the people there at all. i just want to have adventures with you and go tramping in the woods.”

“would it—would it be all right if we kidnapped you to-morrow morning?” pee-wee asked, greatly enthused.

“don’t you think the afternoon would be better?” hope said excitedly.

“oh, i just long to be kidnapped,” said poor old mrs. alison.

“don’t you care,” pee-wee said consolingly. “and we’ll hike to the farm,” hope said, “and then mr. goodale can come afterward and get mother and our trunk. will that be all right? oh, please say it will.”

“i don’t think we have any other kidnappings on hand for to-morrow,” said ray. “do you think it would be all right, fuller? it means having a destination.”

“that’s the trouble,” said fuller.

“you’re crazy!” pee-wee shouted. “because anyway, hope is my pal and i liked her a lot before i ever knew you, and i say let’s kidnap her to-morrow. don’t you know that treasure hunting and kidnapping go together?”

“oh absolutely,” said fuller.

“let’s settle it by saying eenie, meenie, minee, mo,” said ray.

“don’t you mind them, they’re crazy,” pee-wee said to hope.

“oh, are you?” hope asked.

“absolutely,” said fuller.