decisively. "Mebbe there's boas, but
if so there're a mild and harmless kind, such as those they make
household pets of in some places to keep away the rats. And if there
are any poisonous snakes, it's against all likehood that both Ruth and
Allen would be bitten. One of them would come scurrying to us at once
for help for the other.

"Besides," he went on, "I know that Allen had his revolver along with
him and he's a sure shot. No, I don't think we have to worry about
animals or snakes."

"What is there left then?" groaned the captain.

"There's two things left," replied Tyke reflectively. "One of 'em is
old nature herself. What she can do is a plenty, as we've seen since
we come to this island----."

"This infernal island," broke in the captain viciously. "I wish to
heaven we'd never seen it. I wish some one of these earthquakes had
sent it to the bottom of the sea."

"I don't blame you much," assented Tyke. "But being here, we've got to
take things as they come. Now, as I was saying, old nature may have
taken a hand in causing trouble for the two young folks. But for the
life of me I don't see how. We've already seen that they weren't
caught under those falling trees. And there didn't any lava flow come
with that last quake. And that being so I can't see where nature's got
into the game.

"Now," he continued, "there's just one thing left--and that's men!
There may be some natives on this island that feel sore at our butting
in on 'em and they may have come across them youngsters and captured
'em."

"I don't think that's at all likely," rejoined the captain. "There'd
certainly have been some sign of them, some boat, some hut or something
else of the kind. But we haven't seen hide or hair of anything since
we landed. The boat's crew, too, have been roaming over the island and
they'd have reported to us anything they'd seen that looked as though
people lived in this God-forsaken spot."

"Yes," assented Tyke. "And it stands to reason that Allen with his
automatic would have put up a fight and we'd have heard the sound of
shots. But there are other men besides natives on the island."

"What do you mean?" asked the captain in surprise.

"I mean Ditty and his gang of water rats," replied Tyke.

"You don't think that skunk would dare--" spluttered the captain.

"I think that one-eyed rascal would dare almost anything," answered
Tyke. "And it struck me as barely possible that he might have