“That’s the idea!” cried Hiram. “Wait, I’ll get some shovels. We’ll go to the buttercup lot. Hank always called it that, for it’s fair like a plate of butter in the summer time, with yellow flowers. But he never pastured any cows there. I wondered at him writing about cows.”
“You should worry now!” joked Ned. “You’ll be a rich man in a little while, if things turn out right.”
Then they set out to dig up the treasure.
CHAPTER XXV
THE KEY TRICK
Hank Denby had been a thrifty man after settling down in Cliffside following his life on the sea. Few there were who knew him well—not even his own lawyer, Judge Weston. And perhaps even fewer knew of his early association with Hiram Beegle and that the two had formed a quartette which had dug for treasure on the mystic South Sea isle.
But such was the case, strange as it may seem. The four had found the old pirate’s treasure, they had made an agreement, doubtless influenced by the dominant mind of Hank Denby, and they had done just as he said.
“But you got to give him credit for being honest,” declared Hiram, on their way to the buttercup lot. “Hank did just as he said he would do.”
“I believe that,” stated Bob. “The thing of it was that Jolly Bill and Rod didn’t live up to their agreement, and, in consequence, they forfeited their rights to that share of the treasure which Hank was keeping for them. So much the more for you, Mr. Beegle.”
“Yes, I hope so. But I’m going to pay you boys for your trouble,” he insisted.