of it again. If you don't sleep all right to-night and if you want to go home to-morrow, I'll take you down myself, right straight to where your mother is. Now put it all out of your mind and scamper back to Dotty. The party will be coming pretty soon now."
"Run along," and Mr. Rose patted the golden head. "You wouldn't have been the right kind of a guest at all if you hadn't been homesick the first night. But I'll bet you a ripe red apple that you won't want to go home to-morrow, but if you do want to you shall. Now skip along, for if I'm not mistaken I hear a motor boat and like as not it's that bunch from the Holmes'."
Dolly ran away, her heart greatly lightened by the kind attitude of her hosts, and though she felt sorry she had run away the night before, she did not feel so ashamed since they had so pleasantly made light of it.
Sure enough, the party of young people were just coming along the pier, and Edith Holmes, a bright girl of about Dolly's age, was introducing herself and her friends.
"I'm Edith Holmes," she said, laughing, "and these are my cousins, Guy and Elmer. They're nice enough boys, but here's their sister Josie who is nicer yet."
Josie was a shy little thing, who blushed and cast down her eyes at Edith's praise.
"I thought the Norrises would be here," went on Edith, "and as they know us and know you they could introduce us better. But we'll just scrape acquaintance."
"Oh, that's all right," said Dotty. "I'm Dotty Rose and this is my chum, Dolly Fayre, and my little sister, Genie. I have a brother but he isn't here." She smiled at the boys as she said this and Elmer Holmes said, "That doesn't matter; we just love to play with girls. And anyhow here comes Jack Norris to keep us in countenance."
Jack and Maisie Norris came along, having walked over from the next camp. They were acquainted with the Holmes' young people as both families had been there all summer.
Introductions over, they all sat along the edge of the open tent. The floor of this, being only about a foot above ground, made a convenient seat and those who wished had cushions to sit on or lean against.
"Awful glad you people got up here at last," said Maisie Norris as she twisted one of Dotty's curls round her finger. "Is your arm all well, Dot?"
"Yes, though it isn't awfully strong yet. I have to be a little careful. But it was my left one, you know, so I can play croquet and tennis and do most everything."
"You had a gay old mixup, didn't you?" said Jack Norris, smiling at Dolly. "You broke yourself, too, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes; you know Dotty and I are next-door neighbours this year, and whatever one of us does the other has to. But we're both mended now and ready for any sort of fun."
Then Mr. Rose came along, bringing about a dozen spades. They were small ones, such as come with children's gardening tools, and he gave one to each of the young people present.
"What for?" asked Elmer Holmes, as he looked at the shining new tool.
"I told my girls that this was to be a Kidd party," said Mr. Rose, "but they didn't quite understand what I meant. Now I'll explain. Has each one a spade?"
"Yes," and the nine boys and girls held them up.
"All right then. Now, what you want to do is to dig for Captain Kidd's buried treasure. You have all heard that old Captain Kidd buried a lot of treasure somewhere, but I doubt if you were aware that he buried it in Crosstrees Camp. However, there is a tradition to that effect and so I would like you to do your best to find it. Tradition says that the treasure was buried somewhere near the spot where we are now. It is hidden, I believe, not farther than fifty feet away in any direction from this open tent, so everybody may dig wherever he chooses within that radius, and see if he can unearth the treasure."
"But, Daddy," said Genie, "how do we know where to dig?"
"That you must decide for yourselves. Dig any place you like; turn up the whole area if you choose; or, if you see a place that seems especially hopeful, dig there. I feel sure the treasure is really buried somewhere around and it's up to you young people to discover where it may be."
"We'll find it!" and Jack Norris brandished his spade in the air. "Come on, girls and boys; let's dig down to China if necessary, but let's get Kidd's old treasure chest."
The young people scattered, looking about for probable places to dig.
Dolly, a little unused to digging, began rather aimlessly to toss up the soil near by where she stood.
"Oh, I say," said Jack Norris, "don't start in that way. Come along with me and let's find a place that looks promising."
They walked away, looking eagerly at the ground about them, when Dolly spied something white under the leaves of a vine.
"Oh, look here!" she cried, and Jack stooped down to see what it was. They saw a grinning skull and cross bones made of white plaster and partly sunken in the earth.
"Geewhillikens! we've struck it!" cried Jack, "or rather you have! I felt sure from that twinkle in Mr. Rose's eye that there was some way of knowing where to dig. This is it, of course. The treasure is buried here! Let's dig for it!"
Carefully setting aside the little skull, which was only a papier-maché toy, they both began to dig desperately.
"The ground is soft! It has lately been dug, you see, to plant the box here. How lucky you saw that white thing under the leaves."
"You would have seen it if I hadn't," said Dolly, not wanting to take all the credit to herself. "It's buried pretty deep, isn't it?"
"Yes, sort of. Don't you dig any more, if you're tired; I'll dig the rest of the way."
Dolly paused a few moments, and Jack went on digging. At last he said, as he straightened himself up and wiped his brow with his handkerchief, "Do you know, I believe we're hoaxed! I believe that skull was there to fool us!"
"Oh, I'll bet it was!" and Dolly's eyes danced as she realised the situation. "Maybe there are other skulls in other places!"
"I shouldn't wonder. Let's go and see."
"Let's fill up this hole first and put the skull back to fool somebody else."
"All right," and Jack hastily tossed the dirt back into the hole, and replaced the little white skull.
"Somebody is coming this way! Let's hide," and Dolly and Jack quickly whisked themselves behind a clump of trees.
Guy Holmes and Maisie Norris came along and they spied the white skull which Jack had left placed rather more conspicuously than he had found it.
"Oh, look at that!" cried Guy, and Maisie exclaimed, "This is the right place, of course! We've struck it at last! That pirate flag was just to fool us. Hooray! let's dig!"
Dolly and Jack could scarcely keep from laughing aloud as they saw the newcomers digging desperately in the very spot they had dug themselves.
At last Jack beckoned to Dolly and they softly glided away without letting the others know of their presence.
"Now we want to find where it really is," whispered Jack as soon as they were out of hearing
