The Boy Trapper | Page 3

him was hidden in the potato-patch. He
spoke of it while the family were at dinner, and announced that he and
Dan would begin the work of unearthing the BURIED TREASURE
that very night. If they didn't find it the first time they tried, they would
go the next night; and they would keep on digging until they obtained
possession of it, if they had to dig up the whole state of Mississippi.
Dan almost went wild over the news. He and his father spent a few
minutes in building air-castles, and then Godfrey, who felt as rich as
though he already had the money in his possession, hurried down to the
landing, entered the store there and called for a plug of tobacco, which
the merchant refused to give him until he showed that he had
twenty-five cents to pay for it.
Although Dan and his father had great expectations, which they
believed would very soon be realized, they did not neglect to pay

attention to small matters, and to pick up any stray dollars that chanced
to fall in their way. David was a famous dog-breaker, and Don Gordon
had offered him ten dollars to train a pointer for him. The offer was
made in the presence of Dan and his father, and the former at once laid
his plans to obtain possession of a portion of the money. While the two
were on their way to the landing, where a shooting-match was to be
held that afternoon, Dan stopped at General Gordon's barn, and having
borrowed a shovel, with which to dig up the buried treasure, he went to
the house, where he found Bert reading a book. He told him that David
had sent him there after five dollars, as he wished to buy a new dress
for his mother, and Bert, although he was well aware that, according to
the agreement his brother had made with David, the money was not to
be paid until the pointer was thoroughly broken for the field, advanced
him the amount he requested. Arriving at the landing, Dan got the bill
changed for notes of smaller denomination, and, while he was picking
up his money, was surprised by his father, who was greatly amazed to
see his son with such a roll of greenbacks in his hand. Knowing that
Dan was too lazy to work--too much of a gentleman was the way
Godfrey expressed it--he could not imagine where the money came
from, and Dan refused to enlighten him on this point, fearing that if he
did his father would go straight to Don Gordon and ask for the rest of
the ten dollars. Godfrey urged and commanded to no purpose, and was
obliged to be satisfied with the loan of a dollar, which he promised to
return with heavy interest as soon as the barrel was found. He paid
seventy-five cents of it for the privilege of entering as one of the
contestants in the shooting-match, and the rest he used in purchasing
the plug of tobacco for which the grocer had refused to credit him. He
won nothing during the match, while Dan, to his father's great disgust,
came in for one of the first prizes--a fine quarter of beef.
When the shooting-match was over, the father and son returned to the
little hovel they called home. Dan at once put the mule into the cart and
started back to the landing to bring home his quarter of beef; while
Godfrey, by pretending to fall asleep on the bench in front of the cabin,
was able to carry out a little stratagem that suddenly suggested itself to
him. He knew that Dan was a thrifty lad in spite of his laziness, and
that he believed in laying by something for a rainy day. He was never

out of ammunition for his rifle, but he always took care to keep his
little stock hidden away, so that his father could not find it. By
watching him on this particular day, Godfrey was lucky enough to find
out where the boy's hiding-place was. He went to it as soon as Dan
drove away in the cart, and found there a goodly supply of powder, lead
and caps, and also three dollars and twenty-five cents in money; all of
which he put into his pocket.
Dan came back from the landing in due time, and his father, who had
been calculating on having a good supper that night, was astonished to
find that the beef had been sold. He was enraged at first, but when he
learned that Dan had received three dollars and a half for it, he was
quieted at once, and a happy thought came into his mind. He sent Dan
into the woods to shoot some squirrels for