“Oh, the cruel boy!” gasped Ruth. “And Sandyface with a new batch of kittens!”
“But Tess never stood for that, did she, Mrs. Mac?” asked Agnes.
“Oh, she and Dot did their best to stop him, but they couldn’t. So I boxed his ears well and sent him hame!” declared Mrs. MacCall. “He’ll not come near me for a day or two, I wager!”
“Do tell us all that happened to you,” begged Nalbro. “You look so excited about something!”
“We are,” whispered Agnes. “It’s—the fortune!”
And later, when Mrs. MacCall and Linda had retired, the story of the day’s outing was repeated with many exclamations of wonder.
“This settles it!” declared Hal firmly. “Not a step do I stir in the direction of Boston until we have a search for the buried treasure! Crackie! To think that Dot and Tess weren’t so far out after all. Ho, for the buried gold!”
“Under the mystic white star!” declaimed Nalbro.
“Hush!” begged Ruth, with an uneasy glance at the doors and windows. “Do you want those ruffians breaking in on us?”
“What ruffians?” demanded Nalbro.