you about the hermit. But you didn't believe me."

"Oh, but we do now!" said Frank, quickly.

"And is he hunting after a buried treasure?" asked Bob. He began to think there might be more, after all, to Sammy's story than he had at first thought.

"I don't know, for sure, anything about a treasure there," said Sammy, remembering how he had once started on a treasure hunt, which had ended in the finding of only a pocketbook with memorandum papers in it. And this belonged to Miser Dolby. But there was something else of value in the wallet, so, after all, Sammy's hunt amounted to something.

[Pg 34]

[Pg 34]

"Well, we might go up to the island, and see the wild hermit, anyhow," suggested Frank. "That would give us something to do when we get a day or so of vacation."

"The only trouble is that the lake will soon be frozen over," put in Bob.

"We could skate over," suggested Sammy.

"That's right, we could!" cried Frank. "We'll do it!"

"What do you s'pose the hermit lives on the island for?" asked Bob. "And why didn't we see him when we were wrecked there?"

"I don't know," replied Sammy. "Maybe he likes to be lonesome, or else maybe no one wants him to live near them. He may be sort of wild."

"I should think he was, if he drove Benny's uncle away," came from Frank. "We'll have to be careful if we meet him."

"That's right," agreed Sammy Brown.

The boys kept on toward their homes, meeting with many of their friends on the way. There were several snowballs thrown, all in good fun, and some of the boys proposed to make a snow fort, and have a regular snowball fight.

The next day, after school, the fort was built in a vacant lot. Then the boys divided into sides, one party getting inside the fort, and the other, outside, trying to capture it.

The three chums decided it would be more fun to storm the fort, so they joined the outside forces. The battle lasted 

 Prev. P 23/86 next