“Where were you last night, Carrots?” inquired Frank.
“Hunding puried dreasures mit Pallard,” beamed Fritz. “I haf a tream mit meinselluf dot I findt more goldt as I can tell a shtone under mit a gross on. Pallard goes mit me, last nighdt, to get der dreasure. Ve go down der gulch, und ven ve vas a leetle vays from der camp, along comes a feller pehind us alretty. Ve hite, und dot feller hites der money under a rock. Ve get him oudt, und Pallard takes him, und ve keep it on der q. ts., excepting dot it vas toldt to Merrivell. Dot’s all aboudt it.”
“What foolishness is this?” demanded the colonel.
Merry smilingly explained Fritz’s delusion about buried treasure, and how a joke had been played upon him and Silva, in the cañon. Then Ballard, dipping into the details, recited his midnight adventure with Fritz. Ballard threw so much fun into his account that more than one laugh went up from the bystanders. A little merriment, dropped into a serious situation, is an excellent thing occasionally.
“Merriwell,” said the colonel, “you could not be the son of your father and be anything else but trustworthy. I do not know your father personally, but I have seen him pitch many a game of ball, and I honor him as a man, and as one of the greatest wizards of the national game that ever lived. All this nonsense about the German youth and his buried treasure makes not the least impression on me; but, if you say that this money came into Ballard’s hands in the manner just described to me, I will believe it.”
“You have heard the exact truth, colonel,” answered Frank, thrilled at this expression of the colonel’s confidence in him.
“Very good,” went on Hawtrey. “Now, Ballard,” he continued, facing Pink, “who was the man you and the German youth saw hiding the money in the cañon?”
“Neither of us was able to recognize him, colonel,” Ballard answered.
“What?” cried the colonel. “You could not recognize the fellow when you, by your own statement, were close enough to reach out and touch him?”
“Remember, sir, that it was midnight, and that the walls of the cañon make the trail pretty dark. I couldn’t tell who the fellow was from Adam, and that’s the truth.”