down to Lighthouse Cove, in the Spring, to see about hiring a cottage for the Summer, I met an old sailor who had charge of some of the places that were shut up for the Winter. After looking at several cottages I picked out one named 'Barnacle.' It was a little too large, but it was in an ideal spot, right in the centre of the cove shore. It is lovely there, and near the lighthouse.

"Well, I was talking to this old sailor, whose name is Hamp Salina, and I asked him if Lighthouse Cove was a good place for a lively boy to have fun—I was thinking of you, Bob."

"What did he say?" asked Bob, eagerly.

"Well, he said it was the finest spot a boy could wish for, and if everything else failed to amuse him, he could spend his time digging for the pirate gold. I asked him what he meant,[Pg 19] and he said there was a rumor that one of the old-time freebooters had come ashore at Lighthouse Cove once, and buried part of his ill-gotten treasure there."

[Pg 19]

"Did you ask him where it was buried?" asked Sammy, eagerly.

"Oh, yes, but Hamp said he didn't know, and no one else did, though at different times many persons had dug for the gold."

"Did they find any?" asked Frank.

"Never, so the old sailor said. I'm sorry, now, that I mentioned it, for you boys won't do anything else but look for it, I'm afraid."

"We surely will have a try for it!" declared Sammy, earnestly.

"That's what!" exclaimed Bob.

"We'll have to get on the right side of Hamp Salina," said Frank. "Maybe he knows more than he's told."

"Well, don't count too much on it, and then you won't be disappointed," advised Mrs. Bouncer, with a smile. "You'd best run along now, Frank and Sammy, and see if your parents will let you come with Bob."

"If my folks don't let me go," said Sammy, slowly, as he thought of the chance of the pirate's treasure, "if they won't let me go, I—I won't go with them. I'll stay here in Fairview all Summer."

"And so will I!" cried Frank. "But I'm sure they'll let us."

Frank proved to be a good prophet. When Mrs. Haven and Mrs. Brown had read the notes written by 

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