ee Rover boys encamped in a small opening
to one side of the forest trail. They made beds for themselves of some
soft brushwood, and it was decided that one should remain on guard
while the other two slept.

"Each can take three hours of guard duty," said Dick. "That will see
us through the night nicely," and so it was arranged.

CHAPTER XXII

PRISONERS IN THE FOREST

Dick was the first to go on guard and during the initial hour of his
vigil practically nothing came to disturb him. He heard the occasional
cry of the nightbirds and the booming of the surf on the reefs and the
shore of the isle, and saw numerous fireflies flit to and fro, and
that was all.

"I don't believe they'll come back," he murmured to himself. "Like as
not they are afraid to advance on the trail and also afraid to trust
themselves to this jungle in the darkness."

Dick had found some wild fruit growing close at hand and he began to
sample this. But it was bitter, and he feared to eat much, thinking it
might make him sick. Then, to keep awake, for he felt sleepy because
of his long tramp, he took out his knife and began to cut his initials
on a stately palm growing beside the temporary camp.

Dick had just finished one letter and was starting the next when of a
sudden he found himself caught from behind. His arms were pinned to
his side, his pistol wrenched from his grasp, and a hand that was not
overly clean was clapped over his mouth.

"Not a sound, Rover, if you know when you are well off!" said a voice
into his ear.

Despite this warning the lad would have yelled to his brothers, but he
found this impossible. He had been attacked by Merrick and Shelley,
and Cuffer stood nearby, ready with a stick, to crack him over the
head should he show fight. The attack had come in the dark, the gas
lamp and the lantern, having been extinguished when the party from the
_Josephine_ drew close.

Merrick had prepared himself for his nefarious work, and in a
twinkling he had Dick's hands bound behind him and had a gag placed in
the youth's mouth. Then he had the lad bound fast to a nearby tree.

In the meantime Tom and Sam were sleeping soundly. The two brothers
lay each with a hand close to the other, and with caution Merrick and
his party tied the two hands together. Then they tied the lads' feet,
so that they could not run.

"What's the meaning of this?" cried Tom, struggling to rise, as did
Sam.

"It means you are prisoners!" cried T