emarked Lester. "You'd think that burying would
have been the first thing they thought of. In all the stories one reads
of pirate hoards, the treasure is buried deep down in the earth."

"And the pirate usually shot the man who dug the hole and left his
skeleton to guard the treasure," said Bill.

"Perhaps Manuel might have done something of the kind, if there hadn't
been so many in the crew," said Fred. "He seems from all accounts to
have been more desperate and bloody-minded than the rest."

"We needn't worry our brains as to why it wasn't done," remarked Teddy.
"The only thing that concerns us is that it was hidden instead of
buried."

"Hidden is a pretty big word," put in skeptical Bill. "It might be
hidden on a mountain top or in a thicket or in a hollow tree or under
water or in a cave or any other old place. Instead of making the problem
easier, it seems to me it makes it harder."

"I can see Bill getting cross-eyed trying to keep one eye on the
mountains and the other on the sea," jibed Teddy.

"Bill's all right," assented Fred. "He acts as a brake to hold us in
check and keep us from going ahead too fast."

"I guess we can cut out the mountain top idea," put in Lester, "as there
aren't any mountains of any size close to the coast."

"And you must remember, too," chimed in Fred, "that they were in a hurry
to get away. Mr. Montgomery was adrift, and they didn't know at just
what moment he might be picked up. Of course, he was unconscious, but he
might come to his senses at any time and tell his rescuers just what had
happened. In that case, the fat would be in the fire right away."

"No," said Lester thoughtfully, "whatever was done had to be done in a
hurry. It's a dead sure thing that they didn't go far in from the
coast."

"For the same reason, we can dismiss the hollow tree idea," said Teddy.
"Those things can't be found just when you want them, and they didn't
have time to hunt around for one. Besides it would take a mighty big
hollow to hold a chest as big as that."

"We'll consider the other possibilities later," summed up Fred. "For the
present, the one thing on which I guess we're all agreed is that the
chest was hidden somewhere close to the coast."

"There's one thing we fellows must do above everything else,"
recommended Lester, "and that is to keep the whole thing absolutely
secret. Even when we go to see Mark, we must put our questions in such a
way that he'll not have the slightest su