We were still arguing when the faint rattle of a wagon fell on our ears and a moment later, Michael's blue shirt and brown head appeared above the brow of the hill. "Hello," he called as he drew alongside of us, "waiting for some one?"
"Just resting," Eve told him with a twinkle.
"Well perhaps we might--what d'you think, girls?"
But Hattie May was already in the front seat and Eve and I climbed into the rear as we had done that first day when we had fairly to beg for a ride.
"Anything new in the mystery line?" Michael inquired with a slap of the reins.
"Well," said Eve between jolts, "your friend Captain Trout has been harboring a visitor--a kind of cooking recluse, if you know what I mean. But he left in the dead of night arrayed in white trousers and a visored cap."
Michael did not seem greatly impressed by these revelations. "The Captain knows a lot of seafaring birds," he said. "Very likely the fellow blew in between sailings."
"Then you don't think it was Bangs?" I asked.
"How should I know. But there's something else you might be interested in--somebody's been digging up that old garden again."
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AT these words my heart sank. "There goes all our good resolutions and promises!" I thought. For of course I knew that we'd never go straight home now!
"Digging up the garden!" cried Eve. "How d'you know?"
"I saw it this morning when I stopped to have a look for my flashlight which I mislaid the night I was--ah--pinched! The door was locked, and I couldn't get into the house. On my way out I noticed that somebody'd been at work in the garden in a new place."
"Then that creature hasn't left the country at all," Hattie May cried. "It's just as I suspected, he's still after the treasure!"
We were approaching the house. "Want to stop and have a look?" Michael inquired teasingly. "Might pick up a clue--collar button or whatnot! Don't you think?"
"Oh, no, I don't think we'd better," I began hurriedly, though I knew as I said it that it was useless.
"Of course we must stop," Hattie May declared. "Hamish would never forgive me if I neglected a single clue!"
"We-ll," said Eve doubtfully, "I don't suppose it would really do any harm just to run in for a minute. So long as we don't have to catch the bus," she glanced doubtfully at me.