With a shout, the two boys were off, leaving the other Cubs to puzzle out their various clues. Clattering down the steps, the pair raced across the smooth sand.

The light of a pale moon plainly silhouetted a stunted oak tree against the dark sky. Making a bee line for it, the boys searched diligently for another clue.

"Here it is!" Dan suddenly shouted.

At the base of the tree he had found a small cardboard box. Inside was another scrambled sentence which directed the boys to search for a large piece of driftwood.

"The beach is littered with washed-up debris," Brad observed. "This game is getting tougher."

Other Cubs now began to appear on the water front. However, as each clue was different, the treasure hunters remained widely separated.

Brad and Dan turned up perhaps twenty pieces of driftwood before they found their third clue. The scrambled message required a long time to decipher. On a ragged piece of cardboard had been printed:

"Kloo denur a toab dna ouy amy dinf a hsoelv."

"Look under a boat and you may find a shovel!" Dan finally figured it out. "A shovel! Yipee! That means we're getting close to the treasure chest. Maybe our next clue will lead us to it."

"And we're miles ahead of the other Cubs," chuckled Brad. "The question is, where's the boat?"

Neither boy could recall having seen one on the beach that day. Because their clue had directed them to search beneath the craft, they were convinced that the boat must be an old one, probably overturned or abandoned somewhere on the sands.

"Let's look on that stretch that extends out toward the lighthouse," Brad proposed. "It's a lonely spot-just the type of place you'd expect the Den Dads to select for the big treasure chest pay-off."

Scanning every inch of the sand, the boys dog-trotted toward the lighthouse. As its bright beam swept across the water, Dan noticed a dark outline on the beach some distance ahead.

"That looks like a boat!" he exclaimed.

Focusing their eyes upon it, the boys plunged on through the loose sand.

In the semi-darkness Dan paid scant heed to his footing. He stumbled, and then suddenly halted, staring ahead.

A dark object lay half hidden behind a little mound of sand.

Unmistakably, the form was human.

"Jeepers!" he whispered. "_Jeepers!_"

Brad too had seen the figure in the sand and had halted with a jerk.

"What's this?" he muttered. "Not a joke the Den Dads are pulling on us?"

The form at their feet was that of a boy no older than Dan. One arm outstretched, he lay in a posture of complete exhaustion. His clothing was water-soaked, his dark hair damp.

"This is no joke," Brad said soberly. "Whoever this youngster is, he's in bad shape."

CHAPTER 2 A Coded Message

The dark, curly-haired boy who lay on the sand stirred slightly as Dan and Brad bent down to shake his arm.

Seeing their faces above him, he pulled himself up on an elbow, staring at them with blank expression.

Fear gleamed momentarily in his steel-gray eyes, and then he seemed to relax. With a tired sigh, he settled back, clutching convulsively at the sand.

Though the Cubs tried twice to arouse him, he did not respond.

"He's completely worn out," Brad said, deeply troubled.

"Obviously he's been in the river," Dan added. "My guess is he's exhausted from a long swim. Ever see him before?"

Brad shook his head. "I'm pretty sure he never went to any of the Webster City schools or I'd remember him. Must be a newcomer."

"Whoever he is, he shouldn't lie here in wet clothes."

"You're right, Dan. He'll catch his death in this night air. And he probably needs medical attention."

"Think we could carry him to the Cave?"

"Not by ourselves, Dan. We need the other Cubs to help."

Wetting his fingers, Brad gave the shrill whistle which had been agreed upon as the signal to mark the end of the treasure hunt.

Immediately the other Cubs began to gather from all sections of the beach.

"Gosh! What fast workers you little guys are!" Mack Tibbets complained goodnaturedly as he hurried up. "It didn't take you long to dig up the chest!"

"We haven't found it yet," Brad replied. "But we have stumbled into something else."

Already Mack's startled gaze had fastened upon the sprawled figure of the boy on the sand. Before he could comment, Mr. Hatfield and the other Cubs arrived.

"What's this?" the Cub leader demanded, stopping short.

Dan explained how he and Brad had found the strange boy lying on the sand, adding: "The kid raised up a second and then lapsed off."

"Unconscious?"

"I don't think so, sir," Brad replied. "He seemed more exhausted than anything else. We haven't touched him."

Mr. Hatfield knelt in the sand, feeling the boy's pulse which was weak and fast. Carefully he turned him over to look directly into his face.

Again the eyelids fluttered open and his lips moved slightly. Mr.

Hatfield bent closer but could not distinguish the words.

"Any idea who he is?" he asked the Cubs.

"We never saw him before," Brad answered. "We were looking for the treasure when Dan noticed him lying here by the boat."

"He must have crawled from the water only a few minutes ago," Mr.