"don't speak while we are digging, or the gold will
vanish from our sight like magic. You understand."

I nodded in the affirmative, although I had no faith in his advice, or
in the necessity of maintaining silence. I considered that the devil and
his imps would not care about interesting themselves in a matter which
could do them no good, and might hurt their friends.

Mr. Brown glanced around the island, saw that every thing was quiet, and
then recommenced his labor with energy and determination.

About the second blow that he struck was answered by a groan so
unearthly that I began to entertain serious ideas regarding the
propriety of joining a church, or attempting a prayer of some sort. My
companion did not seem to notice the interruption, and I remembered his
instruction not to speak, so I did not intrude my thoughts in relation
to the matter upon him.

A dozen blows with the pickaxe removed the dead grass, and exposed a
soil such as two thirds of Australia is composed of, a light sand, soft,
and not suitable for agricultural purposes.

Mr. Brown made a motion for me to use the shovel, and I was about to do
so, but a groan, louder and more unearthly than the original ones,
prevented me.

"What, in the devil's name, is that?" demanded my friend, looking around
the island with some symptoms of alarm and curiosity, forgetting, in his
eagerness for information, that speaking aloud was strictly prohibited
while digging for the gold.

"Perhaps one of your ghosts that you have talked so much about, or it
may be the spirit of Bill Swinton, desirous of claiming a share in the
booty."

"I don't think that," my friend said, after a short pause; "after all
the trouble I had with him--furnishing the candles to die by, and
allowing him luxuries of the most costly description, I don't think that
he would be so mean."

"Then let us solve our doubts by making search over the island," I
replied, drawing my revolver, determined to shoot at whatever I saw, let
it be man or beast, devil or ghost.

"No, no--don't do that; we should he decoyed into a bog by an _ignis
fatuus_, and smothered without mercy. Let us stay where we are, and dig
until we see sights that make us abandon the project."

I agreed to be guided by Mr. Brown's advice, and once more we began to
toil amid the rocks and dead grass.

About this time the moon, which had shone with wonderful brightness
while we were digging, became obscured by white clouds fr