“Ditto myself,” came from Sam.  “We could have a boss good time, eh?”

“How about it if Nellie and Grace weren’t here?” came from Dick, and then dodged a shoe thrown at him by Tom and a pillow sent forth by Sam.  “No, boys, it won’t do—­we must leave for the hunt to-day.  Why, there may be a million in it.”

“That’s right, Dick; when you fly, fly high,” said Tom.  “That Frenchman never had a million.  If he had a couple of thousand he’d be lucky.”

“And of course, a couple of thousand is of no importance to us,” put in Sam grandiloquently.

“All right; I’ll go on the hunt alone.”

“No, Dick, of course we’ll go,” said Tom hastily.  “When do you want to start?”

“As soon as Mr. Barrow can get off.”

But, in spite of Dick’s anxiety to get off, the start was delayed for a whole day, much to Tom and Sam’s secret joy.  John Barrow had to go to Timber Run for things needed in the house by his wife and daughter.

When he returned there was a broad grin on his face.

“I’ve got news for you,” he said to Dick, who had followed him down to the barn.  “There’s another party arrived at Timber Run on the hunt fer that treasure of old Goupert’s.”

“Another party.  Who is it?”

“Didn’t hear their names.  There are two men and a young fellow o’ nineteen or twenty.  They have hired Bill Harney fer a guide, and are goin’ to strike out fer the Pond to-morrow.”

“Two men and a young fellow,” mused Dick.  “I’d like to know who they are.”

“One o’ the men looked like a preacher or schoolmaster.  He called the young feller Thacher, or something like that.”

“It wasn’t Baxter?” queried Dick, struck by a sudden idea.

“That’s the name—­now I remember.”

“And the man, did they call him Grinder—­Jasper Grinder?” went on Dick excitedly.

“If it wasn’t Grinder, it was something like it.  The party came east from Ithaca.”

“It’s Dan Baxter and Jasper Grinder sure!” burst out Dick.  “Well, this beats the nation.”

“Then you know the crowd?”

“I do—­to my sorrow, Mr. Barrow.  That Dan Baxter is the good-for-nothing young fellow I told you of this morning, and Jasper Grinder was a teacher at the Hall.  We had a big row with him and he was kicked out in a hurry by Captain Putnam.  They are our enemies.”

“Humph!  That promises to make it interesting for you.  But it’s queer they should come up at the same time you’re here,” went on the lumberman thoughtfully.

“I might as well let you into a secret, Mr. Barrow.  Will you promise to keep it entirely to yourself?”

“Certainly, lad, if it’s an honest secret.”

“It is honest,” answered Dick, and thereupon told of the adventure on Needle Point Island and of the map on the table, and how it had disappeared, and of the finding of the second map in the brass-lined money casket later on.