ut I'll see that you don't lose anything by it.
Step up smartly now."

The men shouldered their burdens and started off on the trail that had
now grown familiar to the treasure seekers. The men were able to
maintain a fairly rapid pace, and before long the party arrived at the
edge of the clearing within which the treasure was supposed to be
buried.

The captain took Rogers aside.

"Take your men back to the beach now, Mr. Rogers," he directed.
"Remember, I want none of them poking about here. We'll rejoin you in
good season for supper, if not before."

"Aye, aye, sir!" was the cheerful reply.

Rogers turned with his men, and the captain watched their backs far
down the forest path, until they were lost to sight in the greenery of
the jungle.

"Well now," he remarked, as he turned again to the others, "lively's
the word. Let's get busy and----. Great Scott! Look at that!" he
exclaimed, staring at the top of the whale's hump.

A column of black smoke was rising from the crater.

"Looks like the whale was going to blow again," Tyke said, with a
feeble attempt at levity to disguise his apprehension.

The next moment the ears of the party were deafened by a terrific
explosion.

CHAPTER XXVIII

BY FAVOR OF THE EARTHQUAKE

No thunder that had ever been heard could be compared with the sound of
the explosion. It was like the bellowing of a thousand cannon. It was
as though the island were being ripped apart.

The earth shook and staggered drunkenly beneath the feet of the
treasure seekers. Great trees in the adjacent forest fell with
tremendous uproar. The slope of the whale's hump was ridged until it
looked like a giant accordion. Crevasses opened, extending from the
summit of the hill downward. Rocks came tumbling down by the score,
and a column of smoke and flame rose from the crater to a height of two
hundred feet or more.

None of the party had been able to keep on a footing. All had been
thrown to the ground by the first shock, and there they lay, sick from
that awful seismic vibration.

A cloud of almost impalpable dust spread broadly and shrouded the sun.
There was not a breath of air astir. Not a living thing was to be seen
in the open--even the lizards had disappeared.

The spot where they had delved the day before, was now in plain view to
the treasure seekers. They saw the hillside yawn there in an awful
paroxysm, till the aperture was several yards wide. Then, from
benea