Danny Orlis Goes to School (12 page)

"He tried to kill me. That's what he did. He tried to kill me."

"And if he'd been my dog," Captain Anderson put in, "I believe I'd have let him go. I saw how you kicked him in the face as you went by him."

Danny turned to his cousin, his eyes blazing. Bob took a step or two backwards, his face flushing.

"Don't you ever do that again," Danny said softly. "Don't you ever lay hands on my dog again."

Without saying a word Bob whirled and went back to the top deck. For several minutes he sat there rubbing his hand that Laddie had clamped down on. The dog's teeth hadn't broken the skin, but there were deep tooth marks that would be black and blue the next morning.

The big boat backed slowly away from the docks, turned and began to make her way slowly out of the harbor. There was a brisk wind blowing, and long, deep-troughed waves were rolling across the lake as the boat headed for Buffalo Point.

For a while the boys said nothing. Whenever Danny would look at Bob, the city boy would turn away. There were several other passengers, fishermen or summer residents going out to the resort spots of the Lake of the Woods, but they gathered in the seats at the front of the boat, leaving the boys almost alone.

Finally Mike said, "Now what is that secret you were going to tell us?"

Danny leaned forward and lowered his voice. "On the way out on the boat last night I was almost asleep in the cabin when a couple of men came in and started to talk; I just couldn't help hearing what they said."

"Yes, yes, go on." Mike leaned forward until his head nearly touched Danny's. Even Bob moved in a little.

"The story goes back a long time ago, back to 1735 or so," Danny said softly, "to the time when old Fort Charles was manned by French soldiers, and the Dawson Trail from Angle Inlet to Winnipeg was being used."

"What's all that got to do with it?" Bob asked impatiently.

"Keep your shirt on, will you?" Mike exclaimed. "How do you expect Danny to tell us when you keep interrupting all the time?"

"Well, he starts to tell us what he heard a couple of guys say, and then he switches to a history lesson," Bob replied, scowling darkly. "What I can't figure out is, what's that got to do with it?"

"It has a lot to do with it," Danny went on, his voice in a hoarse whisper. "There was a lot of travel on the Lake of the Woods at that time. Men traveled over the Great Lakes to the northwest corner of Lake Superior, and canoed across to the Lake of the Woods, and then went across country on the old Dawson Trail to Winnipeg. A lot of furs and gold traveled that route, and the Indians used to raid it every so often." He stopped a moment and looked around. "Those fellows said that there was one traveler about that time named Du Bois with an iron chest filled with gold coins—a whole fortune in them!"

Mike sucked in his breath sharply and moved a bit closer to Danny.

"This guy got as far as Fort Charles or Angle Inlet," Dan continued, "when word came of a terrible Indian uprising and massacre on the Dawson Trail. This Monsieur Du Bois got scared and buried his money!"

"On the Angle?" Mike asked excitedly.

"On the Angle or one of the islands, somewhere close by," Danny went on. "It couldn't have been far away because the Indians were so wild and hostile and Du Bois was so scared of them he wouldn't have gone far away, gold or no gold."

"Yes, but why didn't he come back and get it?" Bob asked.

"He was in a party that got ambushed and killed two days out of Winnipeg," Danny replied. "So his gold is still up here waiting for someone to come along and dig it up."

"That's right," Mike agreed, "but there's an awful lot of country it could be in. Finding it would be like finding a dime in a mountain of quarters."

"These fellows talked like they were looking for a map, or part of one. I heard them say that Du Bois had left a map to the treasure."

"Oh, boy," Bob exclaimed, his eyes shining. "Oh, boy! A real honest buried treasure!"

"S-s-sh," Danny put a warning finger to his cousin's lips.

"Do you suppose there's any chance of us f-finding it?" Bob asked.

"We sure can look," Mike said.

Bob sighed deeply. "Boy, what wouldn't I do with my share if we find it? I'd buy me a hundred comic books and drink six dozen sodas and see fifty cowboy shows—" He stopped and turned to Danny, and said sneeringly, "Oh, excuse me. You don't go to movies, do you?"

"That's right," Dan grinned good-naturedly. "I don't go to movies or read comic books, either. Some of them are just about as bad as shows." He started to say more, but stopped abruptly. Two men were coming up the ladder from the lower deck. He grasped Mike's arm with a trembling hand. "It's them!" he said hoarsely. "I sure didn't expect to see them again. It's them!

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