BILLY'S GREAT DIVE
But both Chet and Laura Belding were thoughtful for the rest of the way to the island. The others seemed to see nothing significant in what Billy had said about the two Italians, or the suggestion the twins had made that the quarreling men were identical with Tony Allegretto, the trained monkey's master, and his fellow countryman, whom the police had driven away from Cavern Island.
"We ought to find some clue to the buried treasure, something like Poe's 'Gold Bug,'" suggested Nellie Agnew.
"Sure!" cried Lance. "So many fathoms from a certain tree with arms like a gibbet, on a line with a stone on which is scratched the outline of a skull. Then dig straight down—so far—till you strike——"
"A lard kettle!" cried Jess. "Sounds just like Poe, doesn't it?"
"Just like Poe's ravin'," chuckled Bobby, the only one who dared make such an atrocious pun.
They piled out of the boats at the usual landing and Billy took them to the several "hide-outs," or camps, he had found while he was living like a castaway on the island.
The twins were as eager to see Billy's camps as anyone; the big boulder before the mouth of the farther cavern, into which they did not dare to venture without a guide, had been the boy's lookout. That was where he was perched in his wig and whiskers when Dora and Dorothy had first seen him and nicknamed him "the lone pirate."
"And how under the sun did you chance to have that Hallow E'en disguise with you, Billy boy?" demanded Dora.
Short and Long grinned. "I didn't know but one of those fresh detectives was hanging around the house when I went off fishing that morning; so I put on the wig and whiskers before I slid down the woodshed roof."
"By jolly!" laughed Lance. "You must have looked like a gnome when you went through the streets."
"Nobody saw me. It was before sun-up," said Billy.
Dorothy had scrambled to the top of the big rock. Suddenly she uttered a loud screech.
"What's bit you now?" demanded Chet, starting up.
"Oh! my trophy pin! It's dropped off my blouse directly into the water. Oh, dear me! I won that in the relay races this spring."
"And the water's deep there," declared Bobby. "It's a regular diving hole."
"Now, you've lost it!" cried Dora, sadly. "But you can wear mine sometimes."
"Don't you fret, Miss—which is it, Dora, or Dorothy?" demanded Billy.
"I'm Dorothy," admitted the twin in question, climbing sadly down to the shore again.
"That's all right, Dorothy," said Short and Long. "Leave it to me. I put my bathing trunks in my pocket and while you girls are spreading the luncheon over yonder I'll dive and see if I can get the pin. It's some muddy down there, I guess; but I can stay under water nearly two minutes—can't I, Chet?"
"So you have, Billy. You try it. And if you can't, maybe Lance or I can get it."
Billy retired into the nearest cave to remove his clothing and the girls returned to the landing. In five minutes Billy made a famous dive into the deep hole under the boulder. He did not stay down two minutes, for Lance timed him. And he came up without the pin, but when he got his breath, he gave voice to a shout that started the echoes.
"What's the matter with you, Billy?" demanded Chet.
"I've found it!" cried the small boy.
"Good! give it to me and I'll run with it to Dorothy," said Lance.
"Oh! I haven't found her old pin," said Billy.
"What's the matter with you, then?" demanded Chet. "You said you'd found it."
"And so I have," proclaimed the diver.
"Then hand it over," said Lance.
"But it's down there—and it's hitched to a chain," gasped Billy.
"What are you talking about?" cried both his boy friends together.
"I've found the lard can!" shrieked Billy, dancing up and down on the rock.
"Great Scott!" spoke Chet, staring at him.
"You don't mean it?" cried Lance.
"The lard can with the money?" demanded Chet, shaking the smaller boy by the arm.
"How do I know whether there is money in it or not?" returned Billy. "Lemme find where the end of that chain is hitched, and we'll drag it out of the mud and see."
"Say! Talk about treasure hunting!" gasped Lance. "This beats 'em all!"
Splash! went Billy again into the water, like a huge frog. In a minute he was at the surface again, with the end of a trace chain in his hand.
"Catch hold here, fellows, and pull!" he gasped.
Chet and Lance obeyed. With a strong heave they brought the weight ashore. It certainly was a lard can; but the cover was soldered on.
"How we going to cut it open?" demanded Lance, eagerly, as Billy crawled out on shore again.
"We're not going to open it," declared Chet, decisively. "This can is going directly to police headquarters. And all of us want to keep our mouths close shut about it until the police have examined the contents."
And this he impressed rigidly upon the rest of the party when Billy had dressed and the three boys went back to the landing. Unfortunately Dorothy's pin was not recovered. But, as she said herself, she didn't mind that, seeing that her loss of the pin brought about the discovery of the buried treasure.
"It beats Captain Kidd, and 'Treasure Island,' and Poe's 'Gold Bug,' all rolled into one!" declared Bobby, as a final comment upon the whole adventure.
The party was eager to get across to the city again and deliver the sealed can to the authorities. So the picnic was considerably shortened. Nevertheless, the Central High Treasure Hunting Company, Limited, was pronounced an overpowering success!