The Merriweather Girls in Quest of Treasure

Kit learned before long why Mary was so preoccupied with herself. She was in love. In love with a man of her own race.

Old Mary shrugged her shoulders and grunted her disapproval.

But in spite of her shrugs, the older woman was proud. Young Mary was making a good choice. Andreas was a fine young Indian. He had a farm of his own on the San Pablo. They were both young and could work and would have many children to bless them.

As Kit had prophesied, the Indian women were not interested in basket weaving. They shook their heads vehemently. Then at Bet's proposal that they sell her some that were already made, the ones they carried along, their heads shook more than ever and their grunts and frowns were decisive. Kit translated it to the girls as a flat refusal. Flat refusals always spurred Bet on to further efforts.

"I'll get those baskets yet," she declared. "I want them. What's more I've got an idea."

"Go ahead Bet and dream your little dream. You never dealt with an 'injun' before. Now you've met your Waterloo." Kit laughed. At heart she was rather pleased to see Bet go up against a losing proposition for once.

Bet tossed her head impudently at her friend but made no answer. The determination in her glance proved that she had not given up the struggle.

And late in the afternoon when the girls again walked down the canyon, Bet was decked out in such brightly colored beads that she might have been mistaken for an Indian girl herself. Strings of red, blue, amber, green and orange encircled her neck.

"What are you trying to do, Bet?" exclaimed Shirley with a laugh. "Are you trying to show off in front of the squaws to make them jealous?"

Enid laughingly began to count the strings.

"Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like this," Kit interrupted.

"Oh, keep quiet, all of you! I can wear as many strings of beads as I want to. It's the latest style," she retorted with a grimace. "I have an object in wearing them."

"It's a bribe to get those baskets!" cried Kit delightedly. "And maybe you will, at that. Your methods are sound and business-like. I thought you'd met your match, but now I'm inclined to think they have."

They were nearing the Indian camp and Bet noticed with pleasure the surprised glances of the squaws. They did not look at the other girls. Bet was the center of attraction.

Finally one Indian woman drew near and put out a brown finger to touch the bright objects. Bet smiled and waited. "You like beads?" she asked.

The squaw nodded and was joined by another one. Soon Bet was surrounded. "You want them?" There were as many grunts of acceptance as there were women there.

"You sell me some baskets?" asked Bet. "Then you can have the beads."

The squaws looked at each other then back at the bright beads. They sidled away, without a word.

Bet's heart stood still. She had lost! Kit's eyes were shining with triumph.

But only for a moment. The Indian women were busily at work emptying the contents of their baskets into blankets. They were evidently preparing to give her the best they had. Bet got several small jar-like baskets besides two large ones that were used to carry things on their saddles.

They looked on in surprise when Bet paid them a good price for their baskets and passed over the strings of beads as well.

There was a chorus of grunts and Kit again translated. The squaws were congratulating themselves on their bargain. They were more than satisfied. "I've known Indians all my life," Kit whispered to the girls, "but I've never before seen them so pleased about anything! You win, Bet!"

"I certainly do, Kit Patten. Come on, girls, lend a hand and let's get these baskets home before they change their minds."

As they were going up the trail toward the ranch, Young Mary suddenly appeared from a thicket of Palo Verde.

"Kit," she said softly.

Kit turned as if she had been shot. "Mary," she answered uneasily.

"What's the matter?"

Kit ran to the girl who now hesitated as if she were addressing a stranger. Then suddenly, with what appeared to be an effort, she whispered: "Your old man! He's in the hut over in Rattlesnake Creek, and he's being guarded by some bad Indians from down the valley. Be careful!"

And before Kit could stop her to ask any more questions, the Indian girl glided away as softly as she had come.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE OLD CHIEF'S DAUGHTER WALKS

"If the professor is really hidden in that hut, perhaps we can get him tonight," exclaimed Bet Baxter, as she swung up the trail carrying her Indian baskets.

"I wish we could find him before tomorrow afternoon when the boys come," said Enid. "It would be nice to give the boys our full attention."

"You'll spoil them if you do," Shirley responded.

Bet was quiet the rest of the way home. Thoughts of the professor kept crowding into her mind, schemes for his release; these things demanded her attention. Kit spoke to her three times without getting an answer, then with a smile turned to her chums.

"Bet is trying to solve a problem. She is never this way unless she is making plans of some sort."

By the time they reached the ranch house, Bet's eyes were glowing in an absent-minded way and she passed Ma Patten in the patio without speaking.

She was so intent on the problem that was bothering her that she stood staring at her father a long time before she recognized him, then with a cry she threw herself into his arms.

"Oh Daddy! I've been so lonesome for you! How did you get here and when did you come?"

"Easy, girl, or you'll choke on all those questions," laughed Colonel Baxter. "I just arrived an hour ago, and I would have let you know if I'd been sure that I could come. And then at the end, I decided to surprise you. Are you glad?"

Bet laughed happily, her blue eyes glowing now with a very different light. There was snap and joy in them as she held tightly to her father's hand.

In her joy at seeing her father she had not paid any attention to what the other girls were doing. Now as she heard the sound of happy voices she turned and saw the boys, Phil and Bob and Paul.

"Oh, you boys! Why we didn't expect you until tomorrow afternoon," she said, extending her hand to Phil Gordon.

"If you don't want to see us tonight, perhaps we could go back and sit in the station at Benito."

"Don't be silly, Bob Evans. You're just the same as ever." Bet laughed as she always did at Bob.

"What did you expect me to do in three weeks time? Get grey headed and grow a beard?"

Bob had helped Joy to her feet when they heard the girls arriving and he now stood supporting his sister while he laughed and teased.

"Isn't it good to see them?" cried Joy.

"Does that include me, too?" inquired Colonel Baxter.

"Of course it does! You don't know how often we've talked about you and wished you were here," answered Enid, before Joy could reply.

There was a real change in Paul Breckenridge since the girls had seen him the previous winter. The old brooding, shy look was gone, and now he entered into the pleasures around him as the other boys did. One could see that he liked to be near Enid, teasing her constantly as if he had to make up for those years of separation.

Judge Breckenridge smiled around at his happy family, well pleased with everything.

"The one thing that would make it perfect would be to have the old professor here," he said. "But we'll find him before long."

Kit gave a little cry. "How terrible of me to have forgotten to tell you, Judge! We know where the professor is."

"Where?" asked the Judge eagerly.

"Young Mary says that he is in the shack in Rattlesnake Creek."

"But Kie Wicks took us through that hut this afternoon," replied the Judge. "He isn't there!"

The girls showed their disappointment.

"Maybe they just moved the old man out for an hour until you finished your search," said Bet. "I wouldn't put that past Kie Wicks. Nothing is too bad for him to do."

"We hunted inside and outside of that hut," insisted the Judge. "If he had been there, surely there would have been some sign."

"I have an idea!" cried Bet, jumping to her feet. "I believe he's in that hut, they put him back after you'd been there. I'm going to find him tonight."

"You'll do no such thing, Bet. Chasing around among a lot of bad men is no place for a girl," began her father, but Bet interrupted:

"Just wait until I have worked out my plan and you'll see I'll be as safe as if I were at home. You can come with me, Dad. Will you help me, Judge? I'll need several men."

"Let us in on this," exclaimed Phil and Bob in the same breath. "We'd like to have a hand in solving your latest mystery."

Bet flew to her room and returned in a few minutes in a strange costume, a long dress of buckskin. Dark braids fell over her shoulders and feathers rose from her hair. She had no resemblance to the boyish girl they knew.

The Colonel looked puzzled but Judge Breckenridge caught the idea. "You're a wonder, Bet! And I do believe you are right. You'll be as safe as if you were in your own bed."

An hour later, the watchers by the hut rubbed their eyes and stared about them. A wild, weird cry rang through the canyon, and in the moonlight Kie Wicks and his bad men saw, far above them on the cliff, the figure of an Indian girl.

"She wasn't walking, she was just floating in the air, it seemed, and as she moved, she moaned and shrieked. It was terrible! There was no doubt about it. It was the ghost," Kie Wicks told his wife when he was safely at home.

"What happened?" Maude urged him to continue the story.

"You should have seen those Indians go! 'The Old Chief's daughter walks! It's the ghost girl!' they cried hoarsely. And that's the last I saw of them."

"And what did you do?" Maude pressed him further.

"I – well, I ran, too. I got out of there in record time, let me tell you. I don't mind shooting it out with a human being, but I don't take no chances with a ghost. I vamoosed."

"And the old man?" she inquired.

"He's there yet. One thing certain, I'll never go into that canyon late at night again."

Bet's ruse had worked better than she had hoped. In less than two minutes after she stepped out on the cliff, the place was deserted, the hut left unguarded and Judge Breckenridge and his men rushed in, broke open the door and found the old man asleep on a sack of straw.

The Judge touched him and the professor tried to shake him off.

"What are you going to do with me now?" he asked peevishly, "I want to go to sleep. Can't you let me be?"

"Ssh! Don't talk! We've come to take you home. This is Judge Breckenridge."

The professor recognized his voice and breathed a sigh of relief. He rose unsteadily and did not speak again until they were a long way up the trail.

Then he suddenly got weak and felt as if he were going to faint.

"Don't worry, I get this way sometimes. I have some medicine over at the tent."

As it was only a short distance to the claim, the Judge decided to get him there as quickly as possible.

The professor was like a child in his eagerness to stay at the camp, and finally toward morning the Judge left him there in charge of the boys and Seedy Saunders.

And when Kie Wicks, deciding that he would have a look at the tunnel which he had left in charge of the two ruffians, climbed the trail to the summit the next morning about dawn, the first person he saw was the old professor, smoking his pipe and gazing far off over the hills with a smile of happiness on his face.

Kie wheeled his horse as if he had been shot at and raced madly away.

He was muttering excitedly:

"The mountains are bewitched! That ghost has spirited the old man out of the hut and back to the tunnel."

When his horse finally stopped before the store in Saugus, he was covered with foam and the man who bestrode him was trembling in every limb.

Yet he said nothing to Maude. What was the use? She would only worry and fret, and besides he had always made light of ghosts and said he didn't believe in them.

"But seein' is believin'," he said to himself as he dismounted. "I'm outdone by a ghost."

And Bet, as she put away the Indian costume the next morning, hugged it to her as if it had been responsible for the whole affair. "Whatever made you think of it, Bet?" asked Enid.

"Thoughts like that just come to her. It's what you might call inspiration, or intuition," laughed Shirley.

"Why give it such a big name," returned Bet. "I simply had a hunch, and it worked out."

"Just like that!" exclaimed Joy, as she tried to dance on the lame foot, snapping her fingers in time to the step.

"What's the next thing on the program, Bet?" asked Bob Evans. "Have you a bulletin board with the adventures scheduled?"

"I wish you'd stop teasing me. It isn't my fault if I'm always getting into the middle of a problem."

"Whose is it, Bet?" laughed her father.

"Yours, I think, Dad. You brought me up." She slid an arm around her father's neck. "And are you very much disappointed in me?"

"Fishing for compliments?" Colonel Baxter pinched her rosy cheek.

"No, I only want a little appreciation," she replied.

At that moment Billy Patten poked his head into the corridor.

"The old man at the tunnel. He says for the girls to come quick."

"Something important has happened!" insisted Kit. "Hurry up, let's go!"

Colonel Baxter hurried to his horse and followed after the girls. His mind was not, for the moment, on possible treasure, he was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the hills, their rugged outlines and the blazing sun that beat down upon them.

When they reached the summit, the girls spurred their horses across the flat.

What they saw was an excited little old man, waving his arms and dancing about a huge box.

As the girls approached, he cried.

"Come quickly. It's a brass-bound chest. It's the treasure!"

Tommy Sharpe pried the rusty lock, and as the cover was swung back, the girls gave a gasp of astonishment and dismay.

The chest was empty!

CHAPTER XIX

A BRASS BOUND CHEST

At the sight of the empty chest, Professor Gillette opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. His face was white and drawn. And the girls were no less moved than he. All their hopes had been dashed to the ground.

Tears came to Bet's eyes. Angry tears! Why was it that they always had so many disappointments? Why couldn't the treasure have reposed in that chest ready for them? Why couldn't things have gone smoothly just for once?

"What a silly thing to do! To bury an empty chest!" Bet said in a protesting voice.

"But that's the trouble. Maybe it wasn't always empty. Maybe it was once full of gold and jewels," sighed the professor wearily. He had planned on this treasure more than he realized at first. He thought of Alicia, his patient daughter, whose hope of recovery depended on his summer's work.

"Then what happened to it?" demanded Bet.

"Someone has been ahead of us, that's all. There must have been treasure in that chest," repeated the old man.

"I think you are right," interrupted Colonel Baxter. "But don't be discouraged! Unless I'm very badly mistaken, that chest will be worth a small fortune in itself. Look at those brass straps across the corners. The carving is unusual and beautiful."

"I don't see anything beautiful about it, at all," snapped Bet. "If it had been filled with treasure, then I could admire it."

Colonel Baxter laughed. But the girls at that moment could see nothing to be happy about. Their faces were serious and troubled. It was not alone for themselves that they had wanted the treasure. They had planned on being able to help the professor, to make it possible for Alicia to go to the famous specialist and be cured.

"Guard the chest well," continued Colonel Baxter. "It's valuable!"

"But there is no bullion or jewels!" Enid expressed her disappointment with a frown.

"And no doubloons or louis d'or!" said Kit. "And I did want to see one."

But Shirley laughed. "Come on, girls, what's the use of fretting over a treasure that didn't exist. Let's be satisfied with the old chest and call it a summer. For the rest of the time we'll complete our study of rope throwing and bronco busting."

"Yes, we can do that – but where's the romance?" sighed Bet. "The treasure had all the romance of the old days in the west. I did want it to come true."

"Why, Bet Baxter!" exclaimed Kit Patten. "You say you've had no romance! What do you call it when you stand off a couple of western bad men, and recapture the tunnel all by yourself?"

"Did you do that, Bet?" asked her father, turning on his daughter with a frown.

"Please don't think I intended to keep it from you, Dad. I was waiting until we went back to Lynnwood," Bet answered penitently.

Her father laughed. "Oh, Bet, girl, when will you learn to be cautious? And when are you going to grow up and be ladylike?"

"Not yet, Dad. There will be time enough to grow up when I get to be thirty. Until then, I want to be just a girl and have lots of fun and adventure."

"You seem to be getting your wish, as you always do," Enid said as she tried to pat Bet's tousled locks into place.

"I didn't get my wish this time. Far from it. I wished for heaps of treasure, and I get nothing but a brass-bound chest."

Tommy Sharpe was gazing at the mud-crusted box with interest and suddenly burst out; "Say, Judge, if Kie Wicks gets an idea that the chest is worth more than a dollar and a half, he'll try to take it away from the girls. Don't you think we'd better take it back to the ranch?"

"You're right, Tommy. It may not be what we planned for, but just the same, the professor and the girls put up a fight for it and it belongs to them."

"And I love it, Dad!" exclaimed Enid, examining the carving on the box.

"Well, what are we going to do now?" asked the business-like Shirley.

"Will we abandon the tunnel and claims and let Kie Wicks have them?"

"No!" cried Bet decidedly. "I won't let him have anything! Not even the worthless old tunnel."

"That's the way I feel about it," said the professor. "Kie didn't treat me fairly and I don't wish him to be near my camp. On the other hand, we shouldn't be a burden to Judge Breckenridge, who has supplied men to guard the tunnel and help do the digging."

Bob interrupted with a shout. "Let us live here and guard the tunnel part of the time. What about it, Paul, can you think of any more interesting way to spend a vacation? To cook and live out like this?"

"I'm with you, Bob, if Dad says it's O. K." answered Paul Breckenridge.

"It's all right if you want to," agreed the Judge. "You could change your camp down to the creek-bed if you wish."

"I'd rather stay on top of the mountain," answered Phil. "This just suits me."

So it was agreed that the boys would camp with the professor and keep Kie Wicks at a safe distance.

But Kie had had enough. Word leaked out that they had not found any treasure. Kie did not want the claims. He was not a mining man by temperament and hated the toil and privation that went into the working of claims in the hills.

Day after day now Professor Gillette went in search of the Indian ruins, hoping to find something that would give him credit in his college. A few bits of broken pottery, some arrowheads and a foot of crumbling wall were not the things that would bring him fame as an explorer.

The vacation was almost over.

Only once did the girls get the old man away from his search. Before returning home they wanted to visit the summer range where the large herd of cattle grazed, that belonged to Judge Breckenridge. It was five miles over the Cayuga Range.

It was Joy's first outing after her accident and she mounted the broad back of Dolly with the same fear that she always felt with a horse.

"I'll never get used to it," she sighed, as the other girls leaped gaily into their saddles.

But Paul Breckenridge was at her side encouraging her. Joy's sweet helplessness appealed to the boy. The other girls often annoyed him by their self confidence and efficiency. The gay but child-like Joy amused and pleased him.

He liked the way Joy looked to him for protection when they rode out on the broad flat where the cattle were grazing. There were hundreds of cattle on that range. Joy shivered. There was no pretense in her terror. She did not like cattle.

"Oh, look at Tommy Sharpe. He'll be killed," she cried.

"He's all right, Joy. He understands the game. Just watch and you'll see what he is going to do," returned Paul.

Tommy had spurred his horse forward and was now riding straight toward the herd. It seemed to the girls that he was right in the midst of that stamping, struggling mass.

The boy was after a certain cow with her calf and as he kept his eye on the animal he wanted, he untied the rope fastened about the saddle horn, and held the other end ready to throw when he had a chance.

The girls watched proudly as the boy rode confidently into the herd, divided it and then singling out the animal he was after, threw the loop.

No sooner did the loop twirl through the air than the trained cowpony braced itself backward. There was a swirl of dust in the air. The herd raced madly across the flat to the safety of the canyon beyond and the girls saw that Tommy had succeeded. A cow was scrambling to her feet, bellowing with rage.

Twice the animal was thrown down before she gave up the struggle, and the reason for that was the appearance of a calf that answered her hoarse call.

Tommy led the animal toward the trail and the calf followed. Tommy had won.

"Do you like being a cowboy, Tommy?" asked Enid as she spurred her horse to have a word with the boy.

"It's the best sport in the world, Enid. I wouldn't ask for nothing better."

Whether it was the long ride over the mountain, or something that the professor had eaten; that night he was a sick man.

"Go for Mrs. Patten," he gasped. "She knows what to do."

And the girls, hearing about it from Kit, soon followed her to the camp. They found the professor tossing uneasily on his cot, holding his head to try and stop the pain. Even after Ma Patten's treatment it was an hour before he quieted down.

The girls had been wandering about the camp and Bet suddenly exclaimed, "Come on girls, let's be sports and visit the site of our fondest hopes, and of our bitter disappointment."

"Aw, why rub it in?" said Kit with a shrug, as she followed Bet into the tunnel.

"I never even looked to see where that old chest came from, and I want to see," Bet let herself down into the hole. "I can't believe that anyone found the treasure, stole it, then sealed the tunnel up again. That doesn't spell sense, at all."

"I think those old Spaniards showed very little sense anyway," remarked Kit. "Why didn't they hide their treasure in some easier place?"

Bet laughed. But at that moment her foot scraped against something hard. There was a metallic ring. Stooping she dug away the dirt and crumbled rock with her hands.

"Kit!" she gasped. "It's the treasure! Call the professor! Hurry!"

Bet's voice rang out.

There was no need to call the professor. Forgetting his weariness and headache, he leaped from the cot at Bet's cry, and ran to the tunnel.

Bet appeared, carrying a small metal box, held tightly in her arms.

"Call the girls!" she said, and disappeared into the shelter of the professor's tent.

When the box was pried open, the girls had all the thrill they had ever planned. Old coins, nuggets and jewels were scrambled together in the casket. Enid's fingers closed about a long gold chain, tarnished and stained with the years.

"That's what I've dreamed about!" she said with a gasp. "Isn't it wonderful!"

A loud "Hullo" came to them from the hill above. Bet shut the box with a snap and placing it on the cot, sat down upon it.

"Anyone who gets this box, has to take me along!" she said in a tense voice. "No one shall have it! No one!"

A moment later there was a scramble from the trail and Bob, Phil and Paul rushed into the tent. They started back as they saw the frightened faces of the girls.

Then Bet laughed.

"We thought it was robbers! After the treasure!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet and displaying the precious box.