A great light suddenly dawned on Doris. "Now I know," she cried, "why you were so crazy over 'Treasure Island.' It was all about pirates, and there was a secret map in it. You thought it might help you to puzzle out this. Was n't that it?"
"Yes," said Sally, "that was it, of course. I was wondering if you 'd guess it. I 've got the book under the bow seat of the boat now. Let 's compare the things." She lifted the seat, found the book, which fell open of its own accord, Doris noticed, at the well-known chart of that well-loved book. They laid their own riddle beside it.
"But this is entirely different," declared Doris. "That one of 'Treasure Island' is a map or chart, with the hills and trees and everything written plainly on it. This is nothing but a jumble of letters and figures in little squares, and does n't make the slightest sense, no matter how you turn or twist it."
"I don't care," insisted Sally. "I suppose all secret charts are n't alike. I believe if we only knew how to work this one, it would certainly direct us straight to the place where that treasure is buried."
So positive was she, that Doris could not help but be impressed. "But pirates lived a long time ago," she objected, "and I don't believe there were ever any pirates around this place, anyway. I thought they were mostly down around Cuba and the southern parts of this country."
"Don't you believe it!" cried Sally. "I 've heard lots of the old fishermen about here tell how there used to be pirates right along this coast, and how they used to come in these little rivers once in a while and bury their stuff and then go out for more. Why there was one famous one they call 'Captain Kidd,' and they say he buried things all about here, but mostly on the ocean beach. My father says there used to be an old man (he 's dead now) right in our village, and he was just sure he could find some buried treasure, and he was always digging around on the beach and in the woods near the ocean. Folks thought he was just kind of crazy. But once he really did find something, way down deep, that looked like it might have been the bones of a skeleton, and a few queer coins and things all mixed up with them. And then every one went wild and began digging for dear life, too, for a while, but they never found anything more, so gradually they left off and forgot it."
Doris was visibly stirred by this curious story. After all, why should it not be so? Why, perhaps could not they be on the right track of the buried treasure of pirate legend? The more she thought it over, the more possible it became. And the fascination of such a possibility held her spellbound.
"Yes," she agreed, "I do believe you 're right, Sally. And now that I look it over, these letters and numbers might easily be the key to it all, if we can only work it out. Oh, I never heard of anything so wonderful happening to two girls like ourselves before! Thank you, a million times, Sally, for sharing this perfectly marvelous secret with me."
"I do believe I 'm enjoying it a great deal better myself, now that I 've told you," answered Sally. "I did n't think it could be so before I did. And if we ever discover what it all means ? "
"Why, precious!" interrupted Doris, turning to Genevieve, who all unnoticed had come to lean disconsolately against the side of the boat, her thumb tucked pathetically in her mouth, her eyes half tearful. "What 's the matter?"
"I 'm hung'y and s'eepy!" moaned Genevieve. With a guilty start, Doris gazed at her wrist watch. It was nearly one o'clock.
"Merciful goodness! Mother will be frantic!" she exclaimed. "It 's lunch-time now, and we 're way up here. And just see the way I look!" She was indeed a scratched, grimy and tattered object. "Whatever will I tell her?" They scrambled to their oars and were out in the river before Sally answered this question.
"Can't you tell her you were exploring up on Slipper Point?"
"Yes," agreed Doris. "That is the real truth. And she never minds if I get mussed and dirty, as long as I 've enjoyed myself in some way that 's all right. But I hope I have n't worried her by being so late."
They rowed on in mad, breathless haste, passed the wagon-bridge, and came at last in sight of the hotel. But as they beached the boat, and Doris scrambled out, she said in parting:
"I 've been thinking, all the way down, about that secret map, or whatever it is, and I have a new idea about it. I 'll tell you tomorrow morning. This afternoon I 've promised to go for a drive with Mother."
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