ou think I ought to do with you?"

"You aren't going to tell the governor? Oh, don't say you are. I'll do
anything for you! Say, I like you better than all the rest, Bab. Honest
and true I do. I'll show you how I got out of the hole last night if you
won't give it away. I'll show you everything I know about the old place.
You aren't going to squeal on a fellow, are you?"

"No, Tom, I'm not," answered Bab, laughing heartily. "Nor am I going to
ask you to show me the exit from the secret passage. If I can't find it
out for myself, I don't want to know."

Tommy regarded her admiringly.

"Say, you're a good sport, aren't you? I'll show you anyhow, for that."

About this time the setter dog, General, attracted the attention of the
girls by diving into a hole in the base of a great tree that stood some
little distance from the house. Nothing but his tail was visible. Tom
soon had a firm grip on this and was hauling the angry General out to
the accompaniment of merry shouts from the girls.

Ruth explained that this tree was an old landmark. It had been there
ever since the oldest inhabitant could remember. It was known as "Old
Sentinel," having stood sentinel over Treasureholme for at least a
hundred years.

"What is in that hole?" demanded Bab.

"General's buried treasure," answered Tom carelessly. "He hides his beef
bones there."

Now they moved on together, making an attractive picture as they walked.
Grace and Ruth were the only ones of the party who wore furs. Mollie
wore her heavy dark-blue traveling coat, with a gentian-blue scarf tied
about her throat. Bab, with a scarlet wing perched at a jaunty angle in
her brown cloth hat, reminded one of a robin redbreast.

"You don't think you will catch cold?" asked Ruth solicitiously.

Bab assured her that they would not, to which Ruth made no reply, though
she hugged a dark Christmas secret closer to her heart and chuckled
inwardly.

"There is the old burying ground," she announced finally, pointing to a
succession of hillocks a short distance ahead of them. These were of a
mushroom shape, with the tops sloping gently to the ground. The girls
thought them the most curious-looking graves they ever had seen. They
observed a very large mound in the centre. Ruth explained that this was
supposed to be the grave of an Indian chief.

"If that is true, his weapons and his faithful dog are buried beside
him," continued Ruth. "These graves, I believe, are very old. No one