come
sneaking around to see what we were doing and perhaps run across Allen
and Ruth. There's bad blood there, as you know, and it wouldn't take
much to bring about a scrap.

"Not that I think that has happened," he went on, "because it isn't
likely that Ditty's plans are far enough forward yet for him to show
his hand. Still I may be wrong. I tell you what I think you'd better
do. You can git around faster than I can with this old game leg of
mine. Suppose you run back to the shore and see if Ditty is hanging
around there. If he is and everything seems shipshape we can leave him
out of our calculations. Then we'll have to figure out what we're to
do next."

It was grasping at straws, but in their utter ignorance of the real
facts they had nothing but straws to grasp at. The captain set off
hurriedly, while Tyke went once more around the mountain base in the
forlorn hope that this time something tangible would come to reward his
efforts.

Once he thought he heard something that sounded like shots and he
stopped short in his tracks. His old eyes, keen yet, despite his
years, looked eagerly around. But as far as his eyes could reach there
was nothing to be seen, and he came to the conclusion that he must have
imagined the sounds or that they were caused by some rumbling of the
earth.

In a surprisingly short time, the captain was back, panting and winded
by his exertions.

"Well," asked Tyke eagerly, "did you find out anything?"

"The men were all huddled down on the shore evidently scared out of
their wits. I guess we can cross them off our slate. But how about
you? Did you find any clue?"

"Nary a thing," answered Tyke dejectedly. "I thought at one time that
I heard shots, but when I come to look it up there was nothing in it."

"We must find them!" cried the captain excitedly, pacing back and forth
like a wild animal and digging his nails into his palms as he clenched
his fists in anguish. "We'll go over every foot of this island. I'll
get out every man on the ship and set him to work searching."

"I wouldn't do that--at least not yit," adjured Tyke, laying his hand
on the captain's arm. "Of course we may have to do that as a last
resort. But you know what sailors are, an' we don't want to have 'em
cracking their jokes 'bout Allen an' Ruth going off together. Wait a
bit. The day's young yet an' they may turn up any time of their own
accord. In the meantime, we'll explore places that we