It may be nothin' more than a dead rabbit, and it may be what ye think.

I'll stay here an' dig my pertaters, fer my rheumatiz is powerful bad today." "Very well, captain.

We shan't be long," rejoined Rob, calling to the dog.

"Hey, Skipper, hey, old boy! After 'em, Skipper--after 'em!" The dog bounded on ahead of the three boys, occasionally looking back to see if they were following and then plunging on again.
"As the Captain said, he 'sure has got suthin' on his mind'!" laughed Merritt.
After traversing about a mile of beach, the dog suddenly bounded into a thicket overhanging the shore and began barking furiously.
"He's treed something, all right," remarked Rob, pushing the branches aside.
The next minute he gave a loud shout of triumph.
"Look there, boys! Old Skipper sure did 'have suthin' on his mind'!" Peering over Rob's shoulder, the other two were able to make out two hidden sacks, the mouth of one of which had been torn open, evidently by the investigating Skipper.
From the aperture appeared the torn sleeve of a Boy Scout's uniform, and a brief searching of the sacks after they had been lugged out on the beach revealed the entire stolen equipment.
"Bones for you, Skipper, for the rest of your life!" promised Tubby, as the dog, evidently well pleased with the petting he received and the admiration showered upon him, pranced about on the beach and indulged in a hundred antics.
The only one of the uniforms damaged was the one that Skipper had torn.
The others were all intact, but badly crumpled, having been hastily thrust into the sacks, and, as it appeared, tamped down to make them fit more compactly.
"Well, what do you know about that ?" was Merritt's astonished exclamation, as one by one Rob drew forth the regimentals and laid them on the beach.
"You mean what does Jack Curtiss and Company know about that," seriously returned Rob.
"However, we found them--that's one thing to be enthusiastic over," observed Tubby sagely.
"I'd like just as well almost to find out exactly who hid them there," was Merritt's reply.
"The same folks that stole the old captain's seventy-five dollars, I guess," returned Rob, thrusting the garments back into the sacks preparatory to carrying them to the boat.

"Here, Tubby, you carry this one--it'll take some of that fat off you to do a hike along the beach with it.