THE EARTH TREMBLES
It was with a feeling of relief after their surroundings of the last
few hours, that the treasure seekers found themselves again on board
the _Bertha Hamilton_ and seated in the bright cabin at the appetizing
and abundant meal that Wah Lee had prepared for them.
All four felt jubilant at the discoveries they had made. Drew and Ruth
were sure that they were on the very brink of finding the pirate hoard,
and might, that very afternoon, have uncovered it if they had had a few
more hours of daylight. To-morrow, they felt sure, would find them in
possession of the doubloons.
Drew's personal trouble had been for the moment obscured, although the
thought of it was sure to return to torment him as soon as the
excitement of the afternoon's search was past.
One thing served to delight and to torture him at the same time. He
was almost sure that he had surprised a secret in the eyes of Ruth. He
was thrilled as he thought of it. But the next moment he groaned in
anguish as he remembered the frightful charge hanging over his head.
What had he now to offer her but a wrecked career and a blackened name?
The exhilaration all had felt on their return was followed soon by
reaction. Ruth withdrew early to her room, pleading weariness. Tyke
was thoughtful, thinking of the thunder he had heard just before they
had left the island. The captain went on deck only to find in the
report of the second officer more cause for gravity.
Mr. Rogers came up to him as he emerged from the cabin.
"Couldn't get any water this afternoon, sir," he reported. "Found
some; but it tasted strong of sulphur, sir."
"Yes, I know, Mr. Rogers," replied the captain. "I tasted some myself
while I was ashore, and found it no good. Still, we've got plenty on
board, so it doesn't matter."
Still the second officer lingered.
"What is it, Mr. Rogers?" asked the captain, who saw that the man had
something on his mind.
"Why, I hardly know how to put it, sir," answered the second officer, a
little confusedly. "Perhaps it's foolish to speak about it; and there
may be nothing in it, after all."
"Out with it, Mr. Rogers," ordered the captain, all alert in an instant.
"Why, it's this way, sir," returned the second officer. "I don't like
the way the men are acting. I never was sweet on the crew from the
beginning, for the matter of that, not meaning any disrespect to Mr.
Ditty, who had the choosing of most of them. There's a few of them
that are smart seamen, but most of them are rank swabs that don't know
a marlinspike from a backstay. Seem more like a gang of river pirates
than deep-sea sailors."
"I know that most of them are a poor lot," replied the captain. "But
they've managed to work the ship down here, and I guess they can get
her home again."
"But it isn't only that, sir," went on the other. "There's altogether
too much whispering and getting into corners when the men are off duty
to suit me. And they shut up like clams when I pass near 'em. And
they're surly and impudent when I give 'em orders. I've had to lick a
half dozen of 'em already."
"Well, you've got Mr. Ditty to help you out," said the captain.
"That's another queer thing, sir," continued the second officer,
evidently reluctant to speak against his superior. "Mr. Ditty is
usually quicker with his fists than he is with his tongue; but I never
saw him like he is on this voyage. Seems like at times as though he
took the men's part, sir."
"That's a hard saying, Mr. Rogers," said the captain.
"True enough, sir; but you told me to speak out. I had trouble with
some of the men this very afternoon, sir, when I went over to the
island. They found the water tasted of sulphur, and some of 'em
started in saying that the devil wasn't very far off when you could
taste brimstone so plain. Of course, sailors are superstitious, and I
wouldn't have thought anything of that, only it seemed as if the bad
ones were just making that an excuse to get the others sore and
discontented. They were growling and muttering amongst themselves all
the time they were ashore.
"I've got it off my chest now, sir, and maybe you'll think it's
foolish, but I thought you ought to know. There's something going on
that I can't understand, and it bothers me."
"You've done quite right to tell me what you have, Mr. Rogers," replied
the captain, "and I'm obliged to you. I'll think it over. In the
meantime, keep your eyes wide open and let me know at once if anything
comes to light. By the way, did you ever find anybody who saw what
happened to Mr. Parmalee?"
"Not a man among 'em will own to having seen anything. It was a dark
night," replied Mr. Rogers, touching his cap and turning away.
Captain Hamilton sought out Tyke immediately and related to him what
Rogers had said.
"How many men that you know you can depend on have you got in your
crew?" asked Tyke quickly.
"Not more than a dozen that I'm sure of," admitted Captain Hamilton.
"That many've sailed with me on a number of voyages and they came home
with me from Hong Kong. They are as good men as ever hauled on a
sheet. But even some of them may have been affected by whatever it is
that's brewing. It takes only a few rotten apples to spoil a barrel,
you know."
"A dozen," mused Tyke reflectively. "Those, with you and Allen and me
would make fifteen."
"Don't forget Rogers," put in Hamilton.
"Sixteen," corrected Tyke. "That leaves only eighteen, if Ditty's got
'em all. Counting himself, that's nineteen. Sixteen against nineteen.
Considering the kind of muts they are, we ought to lick the tar out of
'em."
"We could if it came to open fighting. But if they're up to mischief,
they'll know what they're after and will have the advantage of striking
the first blow.
"That is," he went on, "if there's anything in it at all. Perhaps
we're just imagining they mean something serious, when after all it may
be only a matter of sailors' grumbling. Rogers may have only uncovered
a mare's nest."
"Perhaps," admitted Tyke. "All the same, I've never trusted that
rascal, Ditty, from the minute I clapped eyes on him. An' since he
lied so about Allen, I _know_ he's a scoundrel."
"I hope he did lie," said the captain doubtfully.
"_Hope!_" cried the old man hotly. "Don't you _know_? Look here, Rufe
Hamilton, you an' me have been friends for going on thirty years, but
we break friendship right here and now if you tell me you don't _know_
that Ditty lied!"
"There, there, Tyke," soothed the skipper, "have it your own way. But
what we have on hand just now is how to get the better of Ditty and his
gang."
Gradually Tyke's ruffled feathers were smoothed and he devoted himself
to the matter in hand.
They talked late and long, but in the face of only vague conjectures,
could reach no definite conclusion. One thing they did decide: It was
so to manage matters as to leave Rogers in command of the schooner when
the captain himself should be ashore. Unless Ditty were actually
deposed, and as yet there was no valid excuse for doing this, the only
way they could carry out this plan was to see that Ditty was on shore
at the same time that the treasure seekers were.
The next morning when the party was ready to start, Captain Hamilton
spoke to Ditty.
"Mr. Ditty," he directed, "you will take ten of the men ashore on leave
this morning in the long-boat. I am going myself with the crew of the
smaller boat. Mr. Rogers will remain in charge of the ship. If you
find sweet water, send back for the casks."
Ditty started to make an objection.
"Beg pardon, sir, but I don't care for shore leave myself. Mr. Rogers
can go in my place if he wants to, sir."
"You heard what I said, Mr. Ditty. Mr. Rogers went yesterday," said
the captain curtly. "Have both boats lowered at once."
There was no help for it, and Ditty yielded a surly obedience.
"What time shall I bring the men back, sir?" he asked.
"When I give you the signal," replied the captain. "Perhaps not till
late afternoon. Take your dinner grub with you."
The boats left the ship's side together, and in a few minutes both
reached the beach. With instructions to Ditty to keep his men on the
east end of the island, the captain's party entered the jungle.
They easily found the path they had trodden the day before, and were
well on their way to the whale's hump when they were startled by a
queer vibration of the earth. There was no sound accompanying it. On
the contrary, everything seemed hushed in a deathlike stillness. The
cries of birds and the humming of insects had stopped as though by
magic. Nature seemed to be holding her breath.
Then came a second quivering stronger than the first--a shock which
threw the four treasure hunters violently to the ground.