rally occurred in stories, and not in real life. Anyway, it was
interesting, though he decided to keep the idea to himself for awhile,
to see if anything else would take place.

Captain Josh and the boys had a great time that afternoon. The island
was about one hundred acres in size, and for the most part wooded.
They tramped all over it, and their excitement was intense when they
saw the holes which had been dug there by gold-seekers. The boys
longed for picks and shovels, that they, too, might dig. But the
captain laughed at them.

"There's no gold here, lads," he told them, "and ye'd be only fooled
like others."

"But did anybody ever find gold here, captain?" Rod enquired.

"Not that I know of. But there have been some good jokes played upon
people here, though," and the captain chuckled as some funny incident
came into his mind.

After supper was over that night, the scouts gathered around the bright
camp-fire, and asked Captain Josh to tell them a story about
gold-seeking on the island. The boys were stretched upon the ground,
watching the fiery-tongued flames and the countless sparks as they
soared up into the darkness. This was a new experience for them, and
they were delighted.

"What kind of a story d'yez want?" the captain asked.

"A funny one," was the reply from all.

"A funny one, eh?" and the old man scratched his head.

"Yes, the one which made you chuckle this afternoon," Rod suggested.

"Oh, that one, ha, ha! Sure I know all about it, fer I was there
myself. I was younger then than I am now, and fond of an occasional
joke. I heard that two men were goin' to hunt fer gold right over
there by the shore near that big rock I showed yez to-day. They had
been stuffed about buried gold, and so they were goin' to hunt fer it.
I saw Jim Gibson, and asked him to join me in a little fun. We came
over ahead, got things fixed up, and then waited jist behind that rock.
It was dark as pitch when the men came, and from where we were hidden
we could see them with their lanterns diggin' fer all they were worth
right near that rock. We let them work away fer a spell, as we didn't
want to spoil their fun too soon. But at last we began to groan and
make queer noises. Say, ye should have seen them men. They were
almost scared out of their boots, fer they thought sure that ghosts
were around. Then, when they were shakin' all over, I pulled a string,
and off came a black cloth we had put over a wo