“You surely have a loyal champion, Miss Burrell,” called one of the guardians from the far end of the table.  “Still, we have not heard what you are going to do to-day.  I am quite sure it will be something worth while?”

“I have about made up my mind to go out in search of buried treasure,” answered Harriet, with mock gravity.  They laughed heartily at this.  Jane regarded her narrowly.

“I wonder what Harriet has in her little head now?” she said under her breath.

“Why, what do you mean?” asked the Chief Guardian.  “Buried treasure along this little strip of coast?  Perhaps, however, you may mean out on the Shoal Islands.”

“No, Mrs. Livingston.  Right here in Camp Wau-Wau there is buried treasure.  I don’t know whether it is worth anything or not, but there is a buried treasure here.”

The girls uttered exclamations of amazement, for they saw that their new Torch Bearer was in earnest, that she meant every word she had uttered about the treasure.

“Now, isn’t that perfectly remarkable?” breathed Margery.

“Oh, do tell us about it?” cried the girls.

“Not a word more,” answered Harriet.  “I give you leave to find it, though, if you can.  Some of you clever trailers see if you can pick up the trail and follow it to its end.  At the end you will find the buried treasure, unless it has been taken away within a few hours, which I very much doubt.  Now, that is all I am going to tell you about it.”

“Do you really mean that, Harriet?” questioned Grace.

Harriet nodded.

“Why don’t you get it yourthelf, then?”

“I may one of these days if the girls fail to find it.  I wish to see if they are good trailers.  But we are forgetting to eat breakfast.  Just now I am more in need of breakfast than of buried treasure.”

“Yes, girls, please eat your breakfast.  We must put the camp to rights as soon as we finish, for I have an idea that we may have visitors before the day is done,” urged Mrs. Livingston.

The Wau-Wau girls were too much excited over Harriet’s words to be particularly interested in the subject of visitors just then, so they hurried their breakfast, discussing the new Torch Bearer’s veiled suggestions, eager to have done with the morning meal and the morning work that they might try to solve this delightful mystery.  Harriet was well satisfied with the excitement she had stirred, though having done so would rather bar her from carrying out certain plans that she had had in mind ever since the previous night.

Later in the morning, however, under pretext of wishing to get pine boughs for her bed, she, with Tommy, strolled off into the woods, but beyond locating the spot where she had lain when the man stumbled over her in the darkness she made no progress toward solving the mystery.  Not the slightest trace of the box did she discover.  Of course, Harriet did not hope to find the mysterious box standing in plain sight, but she could not imagine what they had done with it in so brief a time.  She did not dare make much of a point of searching about, observing that Tommy was regarding her keenly during the morning stroll.