s disappearance was printed. This forced some
discussion of the matter before the Board of Education, and the minority
which had always been against competitions between the schools gained
some strength.

Above all, it looked bad for the Central High crew. They all knew in
their hearts that with the heavy and lubberly old shell which was left
them, they could not win the race on the Big Day. This thought took the
heart out of them and on Friday afternoon, when they practiced, their
showing was even worse than it had been before.

Saturday the "Treasure Hunters" had their outing at Cavern Island. They
went in several small boats, and the twins, finding Aunt Dora much
improved (or seemingly so) joined the party at the last moment and
paddled their canoe with the rest.

"Oh, my, my!" cackled Lance Darby as he slid into a seat in Chet's boat
that Josephine Morse had been about to take. "Awful accident on the
Lake! Terrible Catastrophe While Boating on Luna! Lady had Her Eye on a
Seat and a Gent Sat on It! My, my!"

"You needn't think you're so smart," returned Jess. "Now you're there,
you can row--both you and Chet. Laura and I will sit here in the stern
and watch you both work. Work is good for boys, anyway."

"Yes," growled Chet. "It's like what they say about the fleas on dogs. A
certain number of fleas are good for a dog; helps him keep his mind off
the fact that he _is_ a dog!"

Short and Long balanced the big boat by sitting in the bow, and the
fleet got under way.

"We're going right to Boulder Head, aren't we?" demanded Short and Long.

"Is that where the treasure is buried?" asked Laura, laughing.

"It's somewhere around there; or in the caves. You folks can laugh,"
said Billy, "but those foreigners talked enough English for me to
understand that the money----"

"In a lard kettle," put in Bobby, chuckling.

"In a lard can," corrected Billy, "was hidden on the island, and was not
far from the caves."

"Maybe when the man you said was hanging around so long disappeared, he
took the treasure with him," laughed Dorothy Lockwood.

"And I bet I know who the two men were whom Billy heard quarreling over
a lard can," cried Dora.

"You know, do you?" demanded Billy. "Well, who were they?"

"Tony Allegretto and the man the police found him fighting with," said
Dora promptly.

"Great Scott!" gasped Chetwood Belding. "Do you hear that, Lance?"

"Never thought of 'em!" answered his chum.

"Buried treasure