“What are you looking for?” asked Rose.

“I was just wondering if there was any gold here,” said her brother.  “Sammie Brown said there was gold in sand, and there’s lots of sand here; isn’t there, Rose?”

“Yes, but Laddie and Violet dug in a lot of places to-day, and so did Margy and Mun Bun, and they didn’t find any gold.”

“They didn’t know how to look for it,” declared Russ.  “You have to dig deep for gold.”

“I’ll help,” offered Rose.  “I like to dig in the sand.”

She found a clam shell, as large as the one Russ had, and with those for shovels, the children began digging on the beach in the moonlight.  They could look back and see the bungalow, and Mr. and Mrs. Bunker could see the children from where they sat.

The ocean surf made a loud noise.

“Doesn’t it sound nice and scary-like?” asked Rose, as she reached her arm down into the hole she was digging, and scooped up some damp sand.

“Yes.  It’s like the desert island Sammie told about,” agreed Russ, listening to the boom and hiss of the waves as they broke on the beach.  “Have you found any gold yet, Rose?”

“No.  Have you?”

Russ shook his head.

“I guess we’ve got to go deeper,” he said.

It grew later.  The moon rose higher, and it became a little more “scary-like.”  Presently Mrs. Bunker called: 

“Come, Rose!  Russ!  Time to go to bed!”

“All right!” they answered.  They were tired enough to want to go to sleep.

They dropped their clam shells near the holes they had dug, and started up the beach.  Suddenly Rose gave a cry.

“What’s the matter?” asked Russ.

“My locket!  My gold locket that Grandma gave me!  It’s gone!  Oh, I have lost my lovely gold locket!”

CHAPTER IX

THE SAND HOUSE

“What’s the matter?” called Mr. Bunker from the bungalow porch.  He had heard the sobbing voice of Rose.  “Has anything happened?” he went on.  “Tell Daddy what it is.”

“I have lost my lovely gold locket!” sobbed Rose.  “The one Grandma gave me!  I dropped it in the sand, I guess, when I was digging the holes for gold.  I wish I hadn’t dug!”

“Stand right where you are!” called Daddy Bunker.  “I’ll bring my electric flashlight and look around for your locket.  It may have dropped on the sand right where you are.  So don’t move until I get there and can see the place.  I’ll find your gold locket, Rose.”

The moon was bright, and, shining on the ocean and on the white sand, made the beach very light.  But still, as Rose looked about her and over to where Russ stood, she could not see her gold locket.  And she wanted very much to get it back, as it was a present from Grandma Bell, and Rose liked it more than any of her other gifts.  She did not often wear it, but on this occasion, coming on the trip from Aunt Jo’s, Rose had begged to be allowed to hang the ornament on its gold chain about her neck, and her mother had allowed her to do so.