ure it was
all over with the lot of us. But it isn't that, sir, that I came back
for. The boat's gone."

"Gone!" exclaimed the captain, staring.

"Yes, sir. It must have pushed away from the shore when the earth
shook so. Just down here below a bit is a place where you can see the
lagoon, and I caught sight of the boat about half-way between the shore
and the ship."

"Oh well, if that's all, there isn't any great harm done. Mr. Ditty
will send out and pick up the boat."

"But there's something else, sir," went on the seaman hoarsely. "As I
looked out, it seemed to me, sir, as if the reef had closed up behind
the schooner."

"What?" roared the captain.

"It's gospel truth sir," persisted the second officer. "I thought at
first I must be dreaming. But I looked carefully, sir, and you can
call me a swab if it isn't so! I couldn't see any sign at all of the
passage where we came in, sir."

The captain's bronzed face paled, as the full significance of the news
burst upon him.

"Come along and show me the place where you can see the schooner," he
commanded, and started to run, followed by the whole party.

They had not far to go. At a place where the earthquake had rooted out
a monster tree, a clear view could be had of the entire lagoon.

There lay the _Bertha Hamilton_, straining at her cable in the
commotion of the waters that had been stirred up by the earthquake.
And there was the small boat tossing about like a chip. But the
captain wasted not a second glance at these. He had seized his
binoculars and his gaze was fixed upon the reef. As he looked, his
visage became ashen.

The passage through which the ship had come into the lagoon was
entirely closed!

A barrier had been thrown up from the ocean floor, and this completely
landlocked the lagoon in which the schooner rode at anchor. The lagoon
had welcomed the ship as though with extended arms. Now those arms
were closed and the hands were interlocked.

The captain groaned at the magnitude of the disaster.

"Oh, Daddy, dear!" cried Ruth, darting to his side. "Don't take it so
hard! There'll be some way out!"

"Never!" cried the captain. "The _Bertha Hamilton_ is done for.
There's no way to get her out. She'll lie there now until she rots."

"And we're prisoners on this island," gasped Drew.

They looked at each other, appalled. This last statement seemed to be
irrefutable. They were captives on the island, which seemed itself