Part 12 (1/2)

”Toot to this point, he couldn't hold in any longer but asked him point blank where it was that he had buried the treasure chest

”'We didn't bury it,' dick answered 'We hid it in----'

”Just then the skipper called Tom and he had to leave dick, but promised to come back as soon as he could

”But one duty after another kept hio back to dick for soe had taken place dick's fever had gone down, he had a little appetite, and it was clear that he was on theof the criht have been, he was a very different dick froht as an oyster, and Toet another word out of him When he reht before, dick stared at hi about Tom told him, and dick said that was the first he had heard of anything of the kind Said he otten off any nonsense like that And he gave Tom a hint that it wouldn't be healthy for hi the rest of the crew

”He didn't need to do that, for To He knew that if he did, it would be a very easy thing for one of the half dozen confederates to knock hiht So he kept a quiet tongue in his head, and neither he nor dick ever referred to theas Tom was on board

”As luck would have it, they soon after fell in with another shi+p of the same line that was on its way back home Some of her crew had been swept overboard in a cyclone, and she was short-handed Her skipper asked the captain of Tom's craft to let him have a couple of men and he consented

Tom and one other sailor volunteered, and they were transferred to the other shi+p It was a lucky thing for Tom, because his old shi+p went down in a hurricane off Cape Horn and every soul on board was lost”

”Is that certain?” asked Bill

”As certain as those things can ever be,” was the answer ”That was as le man of her crew has ever turned up anywhere If any one of them had been picked up by another shi+p, the matter would have been reported as soon as the shi+p reached port Of course, there's a bare chance that soht have reached a desert island and still be alive But that's so unlikely that it ht as well be put out of mind”

”What's become of Tom Bixby?” asked Teddy

”He shi+pped on a Canadian sealer soon after he was here, and I haven't seen or heard of hione on a still hunt for the treasure?”

”Not Too on But he certainly was sore at the skipper for having called him away from dick just when he did Another minute--yes, another ten seconds--and dick would have blurted out just where the treasure was hidden”

”Itout and yet just tofor Ross that he didn't find out,” interjected Fred ”Tohtful oas, and if he'd found it he would have kept the gold”

”I'm afraid that he wouldn't have tried to find out very hard,” laughed their host ”Sailor eneral rule they go by is that 'findings is keepings'”

”I guess there are a good o by the same rule,” said Teddy

”Hu is,”

assented Mr Lee ”But you lads have kept ot to look after oether and make the most of it”

CHAPTER XII

UNCLE AARON REJOICES

”Well,” said Fred, drawing a long breath and looking around at his coot more than we expected from this after-dinner talk”

”And we didn't know at the start that we'd get a thing,” exulted Teddy