"Keep quiet, Bet, not another word!" Matt Larkin spoke with decision. And Bet slumped down in the seat, her arms still extended above her head.
Ramon did not wait to untie the rope that held the huge trunk. He slashed the strings with his knife. Then bringing his gun once more toward the car, he ordered:
"Now get along out of here as fast as you can. You are covered until you are out of sight." As Matt started his car the Mexican called. "Kie Wicks sends his compliments!"
As the car got under way, Bet suddenly began to scream. It was something between a laugh and a cry. The girls looked at her in astonishment. Bet hysterical! They could hardly believe it.
When a safe distance was reached Bet tried to speak. "That old trunk!
They think it's the treasure chest! And they've stolen my riding shoes
and my birds nests and some copper ore. Oh, girls, isn't it funny?"
And Bet was once more convulsed with laughter.
"To think of Bet getting hysterical!" exclaimed Enid.
"I wasn't hysterical. I just had to laugh, and I thought they'd catch on so I screamed."
"That explains everything, Bet," came Joy's voice from the floor of the car. "I'll remember that excuse myself and use it sometime."
Bet glared but said nothing. Then she started to laugh once more:
"What wouldn't I give to see Kie Wicks' face when he opens that chest?"