, if
they had only had a little ice to put in it.

[Illustration: The Dinner in the Woods.]

After dinner, Oscar commenced his search for the hidden treasures, and
Jerry, impelled by sympathy, joined in the hunt, though with no very
sanguine expectations of finding the hermit's gold. They examined the
hut, and poked over the rubbish, within and about it. They walked over
the ground, around the cabin, turning over stones, looking after holes
in the trunks of trees, and peering curiously into every crack and
crevice they could find. They then climbed up the rocks behind the
hut, and patiently continued their search, talking earnestly, the
meanwhile, about what they should do with the money, if they found it.
Oscar said if he found the money, he should buy the best horse he could
find. He should not go to school any more, but should spend his time
in riding, and going to places of amusement. If his father did not
like it, he should leave home, and board at a hotel. Jerry, on the
other hand, wanted to see the world. If _he_ found the money, he was
going to travel all over the country. After visiting the great
Atlantic cities, he should go to California, and stop a few months,
just long enough to dig a few thousand dollars out of the mines--and
then he should push on to China, and India, and Europe, and come home
in one of the Collins steamers. It was finally agreed, however, that
if either of them found the treasure, it should be equally divided
between them, and with this friendly understanding, they renewed their
search, with fresh zeal.

"It's real hot; what do you say about going into water?" inquired
Oscar, after they had ransacked the neighborhood pretty thoroughly, and
worked themselves into a perspiration.

"I 'll go in if you will," said Jerry. "Father did n't tell us not to
go in to-day--I was afraid he would; but he did n't say anything about
it."

"He need n't know it, if we do go in," suggested Oscar, who knew very
well that his uncle would not approve of his bathing so early in the
season, and so soon after his sickness.

"No, he won't know anything about it," added Jerry; "and I don't
believe it can do us any hurt, for it is as warm as it is in the middle
of summer. I 've been into water many a time, when it was colder than
it is now."

They did not debate the question long, but throwing off their clothes,
they soon plunged into the clear lake. The water did not feel quite so
warm to the