"Oh, I say," said Jack Norris, "don't start in that way. Come along with me and let's find a place that looks promising."
They walked away, looking eagerly at the ground about them, when Dolly spied something white under the leaves of a vine.
"Oh, look here!" she cried, and Jack stooped down to see what it was. They saw a grinning skull and cross bones made of white plaster and partly sunken in the earth.
"Geewhillikens! we've struck it!" cried Jack, "or rather you have! I felt sure from that twinkle in Mr. Rose's eye that there was some way of knowing where to dig. This is it, of course. The treasure is buried here! Let's dig for it!"
Carefully setting aside the little skull, which was only a papier-maché toy, they both began to dig desperately.
"The ground is soft! It has lately been dug, you see, to plant the box here. How lucky you saw that white thing under the leaves."
"You would have seen it if I hadn't," said Dolly, not wanting to take all the credit to herself. "It's buried pretty deep, isn't it?"
"Yes, sort of. Don't you dig any more, if you're tired; I'll dig the rest of the way."
Dolly paused a few moments, and Jack went on digging. At last he said, as he straightened himself up and wiped his brow with his handkerchief, "Do you know, I believe we're hoaxed! I believe that skull was there to fool us!"
"Oh, I'll bet it was!" and Dolly's eyes danced as she realised the situation. "Maybe there are other skulls in other places!"