[CHAPTER XXV]
THE HIDDEN TREASURE
“Tom! Oh Tom Fairfield!”
“You’ve found us at last!”
“Oh, we thought you would never come!”
Thus Jack, Bert and Dick greeted their chum—clasping Tom by the hands. He held them off and looked closely at them. There were marks of suffering and privation on their faces.
“You’ve had a hard time,” said Tom gently.
“You bet we have!” declared Jack, with conviction. “We are almost starved, and worried to death.”
“And those sneaks, Sam Heller and Nick Johnson, have been standing guard over us, and insulting us,” added Bert. “If ever they come back to Elmwood Hall—”
“Don’t worry. They won’t dare show their faces there after this,” declared Jack.