The Young Treasure Hunter | Page 8

busy thinking of a certain
matter.
You have probably guessed that it was the buried treasure, though Fred
had only the most hazy notion where it was, and he knew that it was
almost entirely out of the question for him to go in search of it.
Nevertheless, as do all lads, he had hopes, and it was these hopes which
made the way seem short to him, so that he did not mind the long
mountain trail.
"Well, Fred, any luck?" asked his father, when he got home, about
dusk.
"No, dad," yet the answer was not given in a despondent tone.
"I was afraid you wouldn't have. A new digging is usually quickly
overrun with miners, and there are two applicants for every place."
Fred described the incidents of the day, and gave his father the message

from Mr. Gardner.
"Yes, I remember him very well," said the miner. "He was a peculiar
man."
"He is yet," and Fred told of the various names applied to the little
donkey.
"That's just like Old Bill Gardner," commented Mr. Stanley.
"You'll not have to go without your supper, Fred," said his mother,
coming in at that moment. "I have a nice meal for you."
"That's good. I have a fine appetite."
"I'm glad of it. Mrs. Robinson paid me more for the sewing than I
expected, and I got a little treat for you. I made some tapioca pudding.
We haven't had any in a long time."
"That's so, mother, but I can get along without it."
"You'll not have to, to-night."
Mr. Stanley's face flushed. He keenly felt the position he was in--that of
a man unable to support himself, much less his family. If only his
lameness would leave him! For there was no work for a lame man in
Piddock.
During the meal Fred was so busy thinking that several times his
mother had to ask him the same question twice. When this occurred,
after she had asked him if he was ready for the pudding, a dish of
which he was very fond, she exclaimed:
"Well, Fred! Something must be the matter. You are not ill; are you?"
"No, mother."
"Then of what are you thinking?"

"I'll tell you," said Fred, with sudden determination. "I am thinking of a
curious story I heard to-day."
"A story? What about?"
"About treasure, buried in the mountains of Alaska."
Then Fred told what Mr. Gardner had related to him about the gold left
by Stults.
"I have heard that story several times," said Mr. Stanley, when Fred had
finished the account, "but it was always from men in whom I could
place no confidence."
"Do you think Mr. Gardner is telling the truth, father?"
"I place more reliance on the story now than I ever did before," replied
the old miner. "You can generally depend on what Old Bill tells you."
"Then you think there might be treasure there?"
"I believe there might have been. Whether it is there still is another
question. Why, Fred, you weren't thinking of going after it; were you?"
"I was, father."
Though the boy spoke quietly the words startled his parents.
"You were!" exclaimed Mr. Stanley.
"What, Fred! Go away off to Alaska, and freeze to death on an
iceberg?" asked his mother.
"Oh, I guess I could stand the cold, mother. I could wear a fur suit, like
the Eskimos. But whether I could find the gold is, as father says,
another question. How much do you think would be there, dad?"
"It is utterly impossible to say. I have heard various amounts mentioned,
from as high as a million to as low as a thousand dollars. But I think,

from the stories current at the time of the death of Stults, that it must be
many thousands of dollars."
"So do I, father, and I would like to go after it."
"You don't appreciate what that means, Fred," said Mr. Stanley. "In the
first place the treasure, if there is any, is in a desolate place, hard to get
at, once you are in Alaska. Then Alaska is no easy place to reach, and it
takes more money to get there than we shall ever have, I'm afraid.
Another thing: you would have no right to go after the treasure. It
belongs to the widow of Stults."
"I would have a right to search for it, if she gave me permission, as she
has others."
"Yes, but you do not know her, and I doubt if any one knows where she
is. No, Fred, it is out of the question."
Fred drew something from his pocket.
"I admit it may be impossible for me to go after the treasure," he said,
"but part of the objections can be overcome. I know where Mrs. Stults