There was a tin dipper in the basket, and Oscar took it, and went down to the pond, to try the water.  He found it clear, and agreeable to the taste, though not very cold.  Filling the dipper, he returned to the fire, where Jerry now had the dinner in readiness.  They found a large flat stone, which answered for a table, and spreading their provisions upon it, they threw themselves upon the grass, and began to eat.  The potatoes were nicely roasted, and, indeed, all the articles that helped to form their rural repast, tasted uncommonly well.  Even the pond water, Oscar confessed, would have been equal to the Cochituate, if they had only had a little ice to put in it.

[Illustration:  The Dinner in the Woods.]

After dinner, Oscar commenced his search for the hidden treasures, and Jerry, impelled by sympathy, joined in the hunt, though with no very sanguine expectations of finding the hermit’s gold.  They examined the hut, and poked over the rubbish, within and about it.  They walked over the ground, around the cabin, turning over stones, looking after holes in the trunks of trees, and peering curiously into every crack and crevice they could find.  They then climbed up the rocks behind the hut, and patiently continued their search, talking earnestly, the meanwhile, about what they should do with the money, if they found it.  Oscar said if he found the money, he should buy the best horse he could find.  He should not go to school any more, but should spend his time in riding, and going to places of amusement.  If his father did not like it, he should leave home, and board at a hotel.  Jerry, on the other hand, wanted to see the world.  If he found the money, he was going to travel all over the country.  After visiting the great Atlantic cities, he should go to California, and stop a few months, just long enough to dig a few thousand dollars out of the mines—­and then he should push on to China, and India, and Europe, and come home in one of the Collins steamers.  It was finally agreed, however, that if either of them found the treasure, it should be equally divided between them, and with this friendly understanding, they renewed their search, with fresh zeal.

“It’s real hot; what do you say about going into water?” inquired Oscar, after they had ransacked the neighborhood pretty thoroughly, and worked themselves into a perspiration.

“I ’ll go in if you will,” said Jerry.  “Father did n’t tell us not to go in to-day—­I was afraid he would; but he did n’t say anything about it.”

“He need n’t know it, if we do go in,” suggested Oscar, who knew very well that his uncle would not approve of his bathing so early in the season, and so soon after his sickness.

“No, he won’t know anything about it,” added Jerry; “and I don’t believe it can do us any hurt, for it is as warm as it is in the middle of summer.  I ’ve been into water many a time, when it was colder than it is now.”