While driving along the road that afternoon, a new idea suddenly flashed into the parson’s mind.  “Can it be possible?” he asked himself.  So foolish did the notion seem that he tried to banish it from his thoughts.  But this he found to be most difficult.  Why should she come all the way to Hillcrest?  And what about her great interest in Rod, and that closing piece which she had sung in such a pathetic manner?  Stranger things had happened before, he mused.  But they generally occurred in stories, and not in real life.  Anyway, it was interesting, though he decided to keep the idea to himself for awhile, to see if anything else would take place.

Captain Josh and the boys had a great time that afternoon.  The island was about one hundred acres in size, and for the most part wooded.  They tramped all over it, and their excitement was intense when they saw the holes which had been dug there by gold-seekers.  The boys longed for picks and shovels, that they, too, might dig.  But the captain laughed at them.

“There’s no gold here, lads,” he told them, “and ye’d be only fooled like others.”

“But did anybody ever find gold here, captain?” Rod enquired.

“Not that I know of.  But there have been some good jokes played upon people here, though,” and the captain chuckled as some funny incident came into his mind.

After supper was over that night, the scouts gathered around the bright camp-fire, and asked Captain Josh to tell them a story about gold-seeking on the island.  The boys were stretched upon the ground, watching the fiery-tongued flames and the countless sparks as they soared up into the darkness.  This was a new experience for them, and they were delighted.

“What kind of a story d’yez want?” the captain asked.

“A funny one,” was the reply from all.

“A funny one, eh?” and the old man scratched his head.

“Yes, the one which made you chuckle this afternoon,” Rod suggested.

“Oh, that one, ha, ha!  Sure I know all about it, fer I was there myself.  I was younger then than I am now, and fond of an occasional joke.  I heard that two men were goin’ to hunt fer gold right over there by the shore near that big rock I showed yez to-day.  They had been stuffed about buried gold, and so they were goin’ to hunt fer it.  I saw Jim Gibson, and asked him to join me in a little fun.  We came over ahead, got things fixed up, and then waited jist behind that rock.  It was dark as pitch when the men came, and from where we were hidden we could see them with their lanterns diggin’ fer all they were worth right near that rock.  We let them work away fer a spell, as we didn’t want to spoil their fun too soon.  But at last we began to groan and make queer noises.  Say, ye should have seen them men.  They were almost scared out of their boots, fer they thought sure that ghosts were around.  Then, when they were shakin’ all over, I pulled a string, and off came a black cloth we had put over a word which we had printed on the face of that rock.”