"You may be right, Walter," said Rhoda.

"It sounds very reasonable," agreed Nan.

"You are a very smart boy, Walter," said Bess. "I don't see how you
do it."

Walter gave the last saucy Miss a grin as he pursued the topic:
"That fellow who scared you girls out of your seven wits at the
bears' den did not belong to the gang of horse thieves. That's a
cinch. They were a hundred miles to the southwest of that place,
for sure, and heading back to Mexico."

"Reckon you are right, Walter," again agreed Rhoda.

"Why, if that Mexican we saw--the man who lisped--was looking for
the buried treasure, perhaps it is right around that den. Maybe
Lobarto hid it in that hole."

"I told you that cave was haunted!" Grace cried.

"They say when the old pirates buried their loot they used to leave
a dead pirate to watch it," chuckled Bess.

"Believe me!" said Nan, with emphasis, "if that was a dead bandit
we heard shrieking in that cave, he must still be suffering a great
deal. But I scorn such superstitions. And I should like to go back
there with torches or lanterns and look for the treasure-trove
myself."