n the
interest of his task, he had forgotten. Then, too, he remembered that
the dead man's two companions who marooned him on his own ship had
probably carried out their intention of returning and carrying off the
precious hoard.

"So that's all of that," mused the boy, "but just the same, if I ever
get out of this scrape, I mean to hunt up that island and see if I can
locate the fate of those mammoth tusks."

All day the boat moved swiftly along, and it was not till the following
morning that anchor was dropped, as Rob knew by feeling the motion of
the craft stopped, and by hearing the rattle of the anchor chain.

"I wonder what is going to happen to me now?" he mused.

He had not long to wait.

"Come out on deck and help us row the dinghy ashore," Gyp muttered as he
unlocked the door.

Heartily glad to get out of his cramped quarters, Rob obeyed.

Coming on deck he found Berghoff and Mike already there. The former had
a formidable-looking revolver strapped on him. The boat was lying off a
small, sandy island, isolated from the others, in one of the groups that
are common on that part of the coast.

It was wooded and appeared to be a fine spot for Berghoff's purpose of
remaining in seclusion till Rob's friends gave him up for lost, and the
mystery of his capture blew over.

The dinghy, which hung on the davits astern, was lowered, and Rob
roughly told to "pile in and row us ashore." He obeyed the order,
noticing that in the boat were tent and camping supplies. Evidently
these had been placed in it before he was called on deck.

His heart sank as he observed these preparations for an extended stay on
the lonely island. Once ashore, he was forced to help in putting up the
tent, building a fire and doing other jobs to make the camp habitable.
Then, without food, he was set to chopping wood. After a hasty meal,
Berghoff disappeared, leaving Rob guarded by Gyp and Mike, who lay at
full length smoking lazily while he worked.

When Berghoff returned he announced that there was no trace of humanity
on the island. With this statement vanished Rob's last hope of help. He
had nourished a secret aspiration that there might be some campers or
fishermen living on the place.

When the sun set that night Rob's feelings were down to zero. The very
fact that he was not closely watched seemed to prove to him the utter
impossibility of his escaping. True, there was the boat, but that had
been drawn up on the beach by his wi