allo, Le! Is that you?" shouted a voice from the water.

It was Stumpy in Leopold's old boat.

CHAPTER X.

DOUBTS AND DEBTS.

Leopold was terribly startled when he heard the voice of Stumpy. He was
the possessor of a mighty secret, and he felt that he had been very
imprudent in exposing it to discovery. It would have been better to dig
up the hidden treasure in the daytime, when the light would have enabled
him to observe the approach of an intruder. But he was glad it was
Stumpy, rather than any other person, who had detected him in his
strange and unseasonable labor. If need be, he could reveal the great
secret to his friend, which he would have been very unwilling to do to
any one else. But he did not wish to say a word about the hidden
treasure even to Stumpy.

He was startled when he heard the voice of his friend, and, without
deciding at that moment upon his future course, he dropped the shot-bag
into the hole from which he had taken it, and hastily covered it with
sand to the depth of a foot, in fact, filling up the smaller hole he had
made. This was the work of a moment; and before Stumpy had time to
approach the spot, Leopold, with the lantern in his hand, walked to the
place where his friend had landed.

"What are you doing here in the dark?" demanded Stumpy, as Leopold
approached him.

"Lighting up the darkness," replied the money-digger, lightly.

"What were you doing with that shovel?" added Stumpy, as his friend
stepped into the old boat, the bow of which rested on the beach.

"Digging, of course," answered the possessor of the mighty secret, not
yet decided whether or not to reveal what he knew, and what he had been
doing.

"I don't think there is much fun in digging down here where it is as
dark as a stack of black cats."

"I was not digging for the fun of it. But what brought you down here in
the darkness, Stumpy?" asked Leopold, willing to change the subject.

"I wanted to see you, and went over to the Sea Cliff House. Your father
told me you had gone out in your boat just at dark; and, as a smart
squall had just stirred up the bay, he was somewhat worried about you."

"Was he? I didn't know that he ever worried about me when I was on the
water. I think I know how to take care of myself."

"No doubt you do; but the smartest boatmen get caught sometimes. I think
we had better hurry back, for the longer you are out, the more anxious
your folks will be about you."

"That's so,"