Doris. "We'll have to give up Captain Kidd, but there were some pirates who did bury somewhere, and one I discovered about did a lot of work right around these shores." "He did?" cried Sally, almost losing her oars in her excitement. "Who was he? Tell me—quick!" "His name was Richard Worley," answered[Pg 72] Doris. "He was a pirate about the year 1718, the same time that Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet were 'pirating' too." [Pg 72] "Yes, I know about them," commented Sally. "I read of them in that book. But it didn't say anything about Worley." "Well, he was only a pirate for six weeks before he was captured," went on Doris, "but in that time he managed to do a lot, and it was all along the coast of New Jersey here. Now why isn't it quite possible that he sailed in here with his loot and made that nice little cave and buried his treasure, intending to come back some time. He was captured finally down off the coast of the Carolinas, but he might easily have disposed of his booty here before that." Sally was filled with elated certainty. "It surely must have been he!" she cried. "For there was some one,—that's certain, or there wouldn't have been so much talk about buried treasure. And he's the likeliest person to have made that cave." "There's just one drawback that I can see," Doris reminded her. "It was an awfully long[Pg 73] time ago,—1718, nearly two hundred years. Do you think it would all have lasted so long? The wood and all, I mean?" [Pg 73] "That cedar wood lasts forever," declared Sally. "He probably wrecked some vessel and then took the wood and built this cave with it. Probably he built it because he thought it would be a good place to hide in some time, if they got to chasing him. No one in all the world would ever find him there." "That's a good idea!" commented Doris. "I'd been wondering why a pirate should take such trouble to fix up a place like that. They usually just dug a hole and put in the treasure and then killed one of their own number and buried his body on top of it. I hope to goodness that Mr. Richard Worley didn't do that pleasant little trick! When we find the treasure, we don't want any skeletons mixed up with it." They both laughed heartily over the conceit, and rowed with increased vigor as Slipper Point
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