Chapter 22

AROUND THE COUNCIL FIRE

Dale's first impulse was to summon the others with a jubilant shout. His lips parted swiftly, but closed again as he remembered the nearness of Wes Becker's crowd. It would never do to let them suspect.

"Frank!" he called in a low tone. "Come over here--quick!"

Sanson responded instantly "Found anything?" he demanded, as he plunged through the bushes. Then his eyes fell on the line of ruined masonry and he caught his breath. "Gee!" he exclaimed delightedly. "That certainly looks like--"

"Sh-h!" cautioned Tompkins. "Wes and his bunch are not far off--right up the hill: we mustn't put them wise, or they'll all come piling down here. You get Ranny and Court, and I'll tell the others."

They quickly separated, and in less than three minutes the others had hastened to the spot. As he took in the bit of old wall Ranny Phelps' eyes brightened and he looked at Tompkins.

"I guess you've hit it, old man," he said warmly. "There'd hardly be any other foundation in this jungle. Let's scrape away the leaves and mold a little and see if we can't find a corner."

Eagerly they fell to work, and before long had uncovered two sides of a rough stone rectangle, some eighteen by thirty feet, and even unearthed the ends of a couple of tough, hand-hewn oak beams which had fallen in and become covered with dead leaves and other debris. About the middle of one side was a solid, square mass of stone that looked as if it might have been the base of a forge or smelting-furnace. But there was no chance to proceed further, for Ranny suddenly jerked out his watch and gave an exclamation of dismay.

"Gosh! Almost four o'clock. We've got to start back right away."

"Aw--gee! Let's take just a few minutes more," begged several voices at once.

"Nothing doing," returned Ranny, decidedly. "If we're not back at four-thirty, they'll think we've found something, and we don't want that. We've got something definite to start from next time; and if we keep it to ourselves, we'll have a fine and dandy chance of putting it over on the rest of the camp. Everybody get busy and hustle some leaves and stuff over the wall so nobody else'll stumble on it by accident."

In a very short time practically all traces of their explorations had been covered over, and the fellows started back at a brisk pace. They were able to return much more quickly than they had come out, and reached the meeting-place in good season to find, with not a little secret satisfaction, that none of the other parties had met with success.

"But you fellows mustn't let that discourage you," said Mr. Reed, briskly. "As I told you before, you can't expect to locate in an hour or so something that's been lost for nearly a hundred years. We'll try it again about Saturday, and--"

"Aw, Mr. Reed," piped up Bennie, eagerly, "can't we come back to-morrow and--"

He broke off with some abruptness as Ranny's fingers closed over his shoulder in a warning grip. The scoutmaster laughed and shook his head.

"You've got it bad, Bennie," he smiled. "Were you getting warm just when you had to stop? You'll have to practise patience, I'm afraid. To-morrow we're going up the river for crabs, and on Friday afternoon there'll be an athletic meet. Don't worry, though. The mine isn't going to run away."

"You chump!" whispered Phelps in the small boy's ear as they started off downhill in a body. "Do you want to give the whole show away?"

"I didn't mean anything, Ranny--honest. I didn't think--"

"I should say you didn't!" Ranny's tone was severe, but his face relaxed a bit at the other's comical expression of dismay. "Don't let another peep like that out of you or we'll have some of the crowd trailing us next time we come here. I'll be surprised if Wes or somebody hasn't caught on already."

But apparently no one had. Doubtless they laid Bennie's outburst to the irresponsibility of extreme youth and ignored it. On the way back to camp there was a good deal of general discussion and theorizing about the location of the mine, but the members of Tent Three managed their answers well enough, apparently, to prevent suspicion. After supper, too, the interest shifted to the morrow's doings, and by the time the call for council-fire sounded through the dusk Lost Mine had been momentarily forgotten.

Out on the extreme tip of Long Point a great heap of branches and driftwood had been assembled, and around this the scouts gathered in a wide circle. Some sat cross-legged, draped in blankets, for the air was brisk and cool. Others sprawled at length upon the soft sand, shoulder pressing shoulder, arms flung carelessly about one another's neck. Overhead the sky was brilliant with stars. From all about came the soft lapping of water, mingled with the lulling, rhythmic beat of surf upon the distant shore. It was a moment of complete relaxation after a long and strenuous day, and from many lips there breathed sighs of utter contentment.

And then the flames, creeping from a little pile of timber at the bottom of the heap, licked up through the dead branches to flare out at the top--a great yellow beacon that chased away the shadows and brought into clear relief the circle of eager, boyish faces. From where the officers sat came presently the soft chords of Captain Chalmers's guitar mingled with the sweeter, higher tinkle of Mr. Reed's mandolin, feeling their way from simple harmonies into the stirring melody of an old, familiar song. Of course the fellows caught it up, singing lustily to the last note, and their clear young voices, wafting out across the water, reached the ears of a grizzled fisherman coming in with the tide and carried him in a twinkling back fifty years or more into the long-forgotten past.