The five girls had started walking slowly back toward the orchard. “She will probably refer the matter to Virginia,” Margaret said, to tease.
Eleanor looked up from the bench, where she was seated, when she heard merry voices nearing. Her eyes were aglow with happiness. “Girls,” she cried. “Think of it! Mother-mine is now so well and strong that she can walk miles and feel no especial fatigue.” Then, she added, as she joined them, “Poor little mother has had one real disappointment. She was so in hopes that when she reached the land across the sea, she might hear something of her sister Dorinda, or of her son. She did learn that my aunt’s husband died many years ago, but that was merely from a report about foreign missionaries. It made no mention of the wife or son. Of course mother is the guest of Mrs. Warren and so she cannot visit the places where her sister’s husband had lived. If only we could find the fortune which my grandfather Burgess hid, then mother would never have to work any more and she could search the world over for her lost sister.”
“What?” Betsy leaped forward, her very expression an interrogation. “Is there a fortune hidden around here somewhere? Lead me to the place and I’ll dig it up.”
The others laughed. “So would we all, if we knew the place.”
“Say, that would be a spiffy way to spend this two weeks’ vacation. Let’s hunt for Captain Burgess’ buried treasure.”
“It would be a waste of time,” Eleanor said. “Mother, of course, has had experts search for it, and the final decision was that Grandfather was wandering in his mind when he wrote that and that he had hidden nothing at all.”
“Another fond hope blasted,” Betsy, the would-be detective said with so comically dismal an expression that the others laughed.
Then, just as they were about to enter the basement door, she whirled to announce: “Well, upon this much I am determined. Since we are members of The Adventure Club, we are going to start out this afternoon in search of an adventure.” They were all amused by Betsy’s nonsense, though they little dreamed that a real adventure awaited them that very afternoon.
CHAPTER XX
RED FEATHER GUIDE
Luckily Mrs. Martin had told Mrs. Dorsey, the housekeeper, to give the six girls who were to remain in the seminary during the short vacation, all the liberty they wished, permitting them to go on long hikes on condition that they would return in time for the evening meal.