CHAPTER III

THE PINE TREE SHILLING

chet fished in his pocket with a mysterious air. He took out his handkerchief, which was tied in innumerable knots.

'' Do you mean to tell us you Ve found a buried treasure?" exclaimed Joe.

"Part of one. And I'm giving you fellows first chance at helping me locate the rest of it."

The fat boy was diligently untying the knots. Finally he produced a coin.

"Take a look at that!" he said impressively.

Frank and Joe examined the money. It was old and tarnished, a flat piece of silver with a crude picture of a pine tree stamped on the surface. The Hardy boys could distinguish the words "In Masathusetts."

Frank turned the coin over, and read, "New England A. N. Dom.," the date 1681, and the numeral XII."

"Sixteen eighty-one!" exclaimed Frank. "Why, I didn't know they made coins in this country that long ago.''

"That," declared Chet, "is a Pine Tree Shilling. The XII means twelve cents.''

"You sure it isn't some old counterfeit?" asked Joe. He could not take his friend seriously.

17

18 The Melted Coins

Chet looked hurt. "I stopped in the library on my way over here and looked it up in a book. This coin is rare and valuable.''

The Hardy boys regarded their chum with respect. Although they were very fond of him, he was usually a source of amusement because he was seldom serious about anything in life except food. But here was Chet in a new role.

"Where did you get it?" asked Joe eagerly.

Chet tiptoed to the door, looked out to make sure no one was listening, and peeked through the window. Then he returned and whispered hoarsely:

"Digging a ditch on our farm. Found it near the brook. I'm sure there must be more of them."

"A buried treasure, eh?" mused Frank.

"Why don't you two come back home with me and spend the night?" suggested Chet. "Then in the morning we can really hunt for the treasure. I'll bet there's a sackful of coins buried near the brook."

"We're with you!" declared Frank, and Joe nodded.

"We'11 get up bright and early in the morning and dig every inch of that field. But don't tell anyone about that coin,'' begged the fat boy.

'' Didn 't you tell your folks ?'' asked Joe.

Chet shook his head. "I was afraid they'd laugh at me. I'm waiting until we find the treasure. Then I'll surprise them. They'll figure I'm kind of smart after all."

The Pine Tree Shilling 19

Chet took another handful of cookies-such a big handful, in fact, that his fist was trapped in the mouth of the jar. Beluctantly he had to drop several cookies before he could get free. Then, with a finger to his lips in token of silence, he tiptoed out the kitchen door and trudged across the back yard.

"Wonders will never cease," said Frank, after he had gone. '' Chet Morton finding buried treasure. I can't believe it.''

"It's hard to believe Chet was digging a ditch in the first place,'' returned Joe. '' That's Miracle Number One."

The Hardy boys laughed. Chet had never been known to be fond of labor. But the brothers took the buried treasure story seriously enough to make their excuses after dinner and set out for the Morton place with pajamas and toothbrushes. Aunt Gertrude gave them her usual quota of advice against catching cold and getting their feet wet, but agreed that a day at the farm might do them good.

Chet was waiting for the boys on the porch of the roomy old farmhouse. There was still daylight, and he suggested they go down to the brook and have a look at the place where he had found the ancient shilling.

"Let's go before Dad or Mother or lola have a chance to ask what we're doing," the fat boy urged. "If Joe sees lola, we'll never get down there."

Joe's face turned red. He made no secret of

20 The Melted Coins

the fact that he thought Chet's sister a pretty nice girl. But this time he followed his chum's suggestion and set off with the others.

Chet led the way to the field. His father had asked him to dig a drainage ditch to the brook, but apparently the stout youth's discovery of the early American coin had occurred at the first stage of the digging, for the ditch was neither deep nor long. Several spades and shovels lay about.

"Right here is where I found the money," said Chet, indicating with his toe a place near the end of the ditch.

Joe grabbed a spade. "Well, what are we waiting for ?" he said. '' Might as well go after the rest of the treasure right now."

"That's what I say!" agreed the fat boy, seizing a shovel.

Frank also picked up a shovel, and in a few moments all three boys were working diligently. Chet, however, soon developed a kink in his side, or so he said.

'' Guess I 'd better sit down for a minute. The pain'11 pass off in a little while. But the doctor always warned me against violent exercise after eating."

Frank and Joe hardly noticed him. They were too busy digging-each with his eye peeled for the glint of a coin.

But after half an hour, Frank observed that Chet was still amiably inspecting their labors, though giving no indication of actually resumj

The Pine Tree Shilling 21

ing work himself. He straightened up and rubbed his aching back.

'' I Ve got an idea we 're being gypped,'' Frank said quietly to Joe.

"How?"

"Chet had a job to do, digging this ditch. And now we're doing it for him."

"I thought we were digging for coins," said Joe, surprised.

"That's what we both thought."

Chet, sprawled leisurely beneath a near-by tree, called out, "What's the matter-getting tired already?"

"Seems to me you tired pretty quickly," grinned Frank.

"You forget, I've been digging all afternoon. And besides, I got a kink in my side. I'll take over in a minute. No coins yet, huh ?''

The Hardys resumed their digging. The more Frank thought about it, the more he was convinced that the fat boy had invented the whole story as a means of gaining a little assistance with the job his father had assigned.

"I 1;hink we'd better quit," he whispered to Joe. "If we fall for this, Chet will think it's a great joke. He'll tell the story all over the city of Bayport."

"That's what I'm thinking. Let him dig his own ditch.''

'' One more shovelful and I 'm through.''

Frank thrust the spade into the ground, and turned the earth over. Then he uttered a cry of

22 The Melted Coins

surprise. Something struck against the edge of the spade with a dull clinic and tumbled off to one side.

"Found something?" asked Joe.

Frank dropped the spade and picked up the object he had unearthed. It was round and metallic, covered with grime. When he brushed it off, he saw that it was a coin.

"Don't tell me you've found one!" yelped Chet, scrambling up from his resting place beneath the tree. He hurried over, displaying more energy than he had shown all evening.

He and Joe crowded around Frank as he examined the coin in the twilight. He could discern a ship on one side, and on the back of the blackened piece a figure that looked like a pig.

"Let me see it. Let me see it," babbled Chet excitedly. '' Jeepers, it is another. I was right. There's probably a fortune buried here somewhere if we can only find it. Let's keep digging!"

Frank eyed him suspiciously.

"Let who keep digging?"

"Why-all of us, of course."

"Haven't noticed you doing much digging tonight. Are you sure this coin isn't just bait, like the other one?"

"What do you mean?" asked Chet blankly.

"I wouldn't put it past you, Chet Morton, to plant a couple of old coins around here just to promote this ditch-digging job. I'll bet I could

The Pine Tree Shilling 23

dig here for a month before I'd find another. But your ditch would be finished.''

"Why, Frank Hardy!" exclaimed Chet in an aggrieved voice. "Do you mean to say you think I would do a trick like that to my best friends f''

"I'm positive you would," declared Joe cheerfully.

"On my word of honor as a gentleman," fervently cried the stout youth, "I didn't have a thing to do with putting either of those coins there! For all I know, they might have been buried in this field a hundred years ago. And I'm sure there must be more of them.

"Gee whiz," he continued, shaking his head sadly, "it sure shakes my faith in human nature. To think my very best friends believe I'd do a thing like that. Although,'' he added thoughtfully, "it would be a smart way to get a ditch dug, come to think of it."

"It's too late to work any more tonight," Joe said. '' Let's go up to the house.''

"You'll help me again in the morning?" asked Chet anxiously. "Don't walk out on me now, fellows. I '11 dig just the same as you. Because now I do believe there's a treasure. I wasn't so sure when I found just one coin," he grinned.

The boys went up to the house where Mrs. Morton and lola provided a late snack, consisting of sandwiches and a pitcher of ice-cold milk.

24 The Melted Coins

"Hard work makes boys hungry," smiled Chet's mother.

"I've never noticed that it made much difference to my hard-working brother,'' teased lola.

For an hour there was joking and singing among the young people. Then the boys trooped up to bed. Tired from their exertions, they soon fell asleep.

They were up early the next morning, eager to get back to the treasure hunt. Frank had been dreaming of mountainous heaps of silver coins. Joe said he had imagined seeing a forest of pine trees with dollar bills growing from every branch. Chet said he had dreamed of fifty thousand dollars' worth of ice cream. After breakfast he said they must hurry down to the brook.

"I never saw you so eager to work," said lola. '' What's going on ! "

The boys looked a little guilty. Chet told his sister that they wanted to get the ditch dug before the sun became too hot. With that explanation, they ran off.

"We must have done a lot more digging than we thought!" exclaimed Frank, when they reached the field. "Why, the ditch is nearly finished.''

"I don't remember digging any of those holes over near the tree!" declared Chet, puzzled. "And I'm sure you fellows didn't dig at that spot."

The boys stared. The spades were not where

The Pine Tree Shilling 25

they had left them. Frank and Joe had stacked the tools neatly beside the ditch. Now they were scattered carelessly in the upturned earth.

"Someone has been here!" cried Joe. "He was digging during the night!''

"And probably found the treasure!'' groaned Chet in dismay.