n they had built over the treasure chest, nor were
the rifles and tools displaced. Captain Hamilton's decision to make
the stand here was admittedly a wise one. Here was enough lava,
rubbish to build a dozen forts.

"Jest the spot," Tyke said vigorously, waving his hand in the direction
of the heap of lava blocks that hid the pirate's chest. "What do you
say, Cap'n Rufe? Shall we make that pile o' rocks the corner of our
breastworks?"

"Good idea, Tyke," agreed the captain. "But pass guns around first,
boys. All of you can handle a rifle, I suppose?"

"Aye aye, sir," said Barker, "you'd better believe we kin."

"If it comes to bullets," said Captain Hamilton, "those swabs will be
so near to us we can scarcely miss 'em. That is, if they come out of
the jungle.

"Suppose they circle around and come at us from above?" Drew suggested.

"We'll build a circular fort, by gosh!" cried Tyke. "An' build the
back higher'n the front. How about it, Cap'n Rufe? Then if them swabs
climb the hill to git the better of us, they can't shoot over."

"You're right, Tyke," agreed the master of the _Bertha Hamilton_.

"I don't believe," said Drew, "that Ditty and the men have many
firearms. Nothing like these high-powered rifles, that's sure."

"That's so, Drew, I'm sure," said the captain promptly. "Now, boys,
get to work," he added. "Roll 'em down! Here, Barker, you're
chantey-man. Set 'em the pace."

Weirdly, echoing back from the wall of the jungle and hollowly from the
hillside, the improvised chantey was raised by Barker, and the chorus
line taken up by the other seamen as though they were jerking aloft the
schooner's topsails.

"Oh, Bug-eye's dead an' gone below,
Oh, we says so, an' we hopes so;
Oh, Bug-eye's dead an' he'll go below
Oh, poor--ol'--man!

"He's deader'n the bolt on the fo'c'sle door,
Oh, we says so, an' we hopes so;
Oh, he'll never knock us flat no more,
Oh, poor--ol'--man!"

Under the impetus of this dirge with its innumerable verses the men
rolled the boulders down. The fortification began to take form and
give promise of shelter in time of need.

And there was no telling how soon that time might come!

CHAPTER XXX

THE FLAG OF TRUCE

The seamen rolled the larger boulders to the line Tyke indicated.
Captain Hamilton himself and Drew chocked the interstices between the
larger blocks with broken lava. A chance bullet might slip through
into the for