The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle by Edward Stratemeyer

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"Oh, we can camp anywhere," cried Tom. "It's good enough--just for
one night."

They began to trudge along the edge of the horseshoe curve, over
smooth sand. But this did not last, and presently they came to a muddy
flat and went down to their ankles. Dick was ahead and he cried to the
others.

"Stop! It's not fit to walk here!"

"Why, it's like a bog!" declared Sam, after testing it.

"We'll have to go inland a distance," said Tom. "Come on," and he
turned back and struck out for the palms and bushes beyond.

It was then that the Rover boys began to realize what was before them.
Scarcely had they penetrated the interior for fifty yards when they
found themselves in a perfect network of trailing vines. Then, after
having pulled and cut their way through for fifty yards more, they
came to a spot that was rocky and covered with a tangle of thorny
bushes.

"Wow!" ejaculated Tom, after scratching his hand and his leg. "This is
something prime, I must confess!"

"What I call hunting a treasure with a vengeance," added Dick, dryly.

"I move we go back," came from Sam. "We seem to be stuck in more ways
than one."

"Perhaps it is better traveling just beyond," declared Dick. "I am not
going to turn back just yet anyway."

He took the lead, breaking down the thorny bushes as best he could,
and Sam and Tom followed closely in his footsteps. It was rather dark
among the bushes and almost before the three knew it they had fallen
headlong into a hollow.

"Well, I never!"

"This is coming down in a hurry!"

"Is this the treasure cave?"

Such were the exclamations of the three lads as they picked themselves
up out of the dirt, which, fortunately for them, was soft and
yielding. Nobody had been hurt, for which they were thankful.

The hollow was about fifty feet in diameter and half that depth in the
center. On the opposite side were more bushes and rocks, and then a
thicket of tall trees of a variety that was strange to them.

"This is what I call hard work," observed Tom, as they began to fight
their way along again. "I don't know but what we would have done as
well to have waited until morning."

"Don't croak, Tom," said Sam.

"Oh, I am not croaking, but this is no fun, let me tell you that."

All of the boys were panting from their exertions, and soon they had
to call a halt to get their breath. It was now growing dark rapidly,
for in the tropics there is little of what we know as twilight.

"We certainly can't do much more in this darkness," said Dick at last.
"I must confess I thought walking in the direction of the cave would
be an easy matter."

"Well, what's to do next?" questioned Sam, gazing around in
perplexity.

This was no easy question to answer. As if by magic darkness had
settled all around them, shutting out the sight of objects less than a
hundred yards away. To go forward was all but impossible, and whether
or not they could get back to where they had come from was a serious
problem.

"If we can't get back we'll have to camp right here," said Dick.

But they did not want to stay in such a thicket and so they pushed on
a little further, until they reached a slight rise of ground. Then
Dick, who was in advance as before, uttered a cry of surprise:

"A trail! I wonder where it leads to?"

He was right, a well defined trail or footpath lay before them,
running between the brushwood and palms and around the rocks. It did
not look as if it had been used lately, but it was tolerably clear of
any growth.

This was something the Rover boys had not counted on, for Bahama Bill
had never spoken of any trail in his descriptions of the isle. They
gazed at the path with curiosity. Tom was the first to speak.

"Shall we follow it?" he asked.

"Might as well," answered Sam. "It's better than scratching yourself
and tearing your clothing in those thorn bushes."

The boys took to the trail and passed along for a distance of quarter
of a mile or more. It wound in and out around the rocks and trees and
had evidently been made by some natives bringing out wild fruits and
the like from the forest.

"It doesn't seem to be leading us to anywhere," was Dick's comment. "I
don't know whether to go on or not."

Nevertheless, they kept on, until they came to a sharp turn around a
series of rocks. As they, moved ahead they suddenly saw a glare of
light cross the rocks and then disappear.

"What was that?" asked Sam, somewhat startled.

"A light," answered Dick.

"I know. But where did it come from?"

"It was like the flash of a bicycle gas lamp," said Tom.

"There are no bicycles on this trail," said Dick.

"I know that, too, Dick. But it was like that kind of a lamp."

Just then the flash of light reappeared, and now they saw it came from
a point on the trail ahead of them. They listened intently and heard
somebody approaching.

"Several men are coming!" whispered Dick.

"Not from our yacht?" said Tom.

"I don't think so."

"Can they be from the _Josephine_?" asked Sam.

"That remains to be seen."

"If they are from the _Josephine_ what shall we do?"

"I think the best thing we can do is to keep out of sight and watch
them."

"But they may locate the cave and take the treasure away," said Tom.

"We have got to run that risk unless we want to fight them."

"Oh, if only we could get our crowd here to help us!" murmured Sam.

"We may be mistaken and they may be strangers to us. Come, let us
hide."

Losing no time, the three Rover boys stepped into the bushes beside
the trail. As they did so the other party came closer, and the lads
saw that they carried not only an acetylene gas lamp, but also a
ship's lantern and several other things. The party was made up of Sid
Merrick, Tad Sobber, Cuffer and Shelley.

"It's mighty rough walking here," they heard Tad Sobber complain.
"I've got a thorn right through my shoe. Wait till I pull it out, will
you?" And he came to a halt not over ten yards from where the Rover
boys were hidden.

"You didn't have to come, Tad," said his uncle, somewhat harshly. "I
told you to suit yourself."

"Oh, I want to see that treasure cave as well as you do," answered
Sobber.

"I'd like to know if this is the right trail or not," came from
Shelley. "You ought to have brought that Spaniard along, to make
sure."

"Doranez is no good!" growled Sid Merrick who was by no means in the
best of humor. "He likes his bottle too well. If he would only keep
sober it would be different."

"Why don't you take his liquor from him?" asked Cuffer. "I'd do it
quick enough if I was running this thing."

"He says he won't tell us a thing more if we cut off his grog. He is
getting mighty ugly."

"Maybe he wants to sell out to those Rovers," suggested Shelley.

"He wouldn't dare to do that--I know too much about him," answered
Sid Merrick. "No, it's because he wants too big a share of the
treasure."

"Do you suppose the fellows on the steam yacht have landed here yet?"
asked Tad, as he prepared to go on.

"I don't know. They are laying to outside of the reef. I reckon they
don't know anything of the landing on the other side of the island,"
answered his uncle. "Come on, we haven't any time to waste if we want
to head them off. I didn't dream they'd get here so quickly."

"I guess that fellow Wingate was no good," came from Cuffer. "He
didn't delay the steam yacht in the least."

"Maybe he got caught at his funny work," suggested Shelley, hitting
the nail directly on the head, as the reader already knows.

Casting the light of the acetylene gas lamp ahead of them, the party
from the _Josephine_ moved on, directly past the spot where the Rovers
were in hiding. The boys hardly dared to breathe for fear of
discovery. They stood stock still until the others were all but out of
sight.

"This is interesting," murmured Tom. "They must have landed on the
other side of the island."

"Yes, and Merrick hired that Walt Wingate to play us foul!" cried Sam.
"What shall we do next, Dick?" he continued anxiously. "They act as if
they expect to get that treasure to night!"

"I don't know what to do exactly," answered Dick. "But one thing is
certain--we must follow them up and prevent their getting hold of
that treasure if we possibly can!"

CHAPTER XXI

SCARING OFF THE ENEMY

It was easy enough for Dick to say they must follow up their enemies
and prevent Sid Merrick and his party from gaining possession of the
treasure, but how all this was to be accomplished was another matter.

In the first place, the other party numbered four as against their
three. More than this, those from the _Josephine_ were heavily armed,
while the Rovers had brought with them nothing but a single pistol.
"It's well enough to talk," whispered Sam, after Sid Merrick and his
crowd had passed on, "but if we tackle them in the open the chances
are we'll get the worst of it."

"We may get a chance at them in some other way," answered Dick. "We
have this advantage, we know where they are and they don't know we are
on the isle."

With cautious steps they stole after the Merrick party, keeping them
in sight by the waving rays of the lamp and lantern ahead, as they
danced over the rocks and among the trees and bushes. They kept about
a hundred feet to the rear.

"I've got a plan," said Tom, as the party ahead came to a halt to make
sure of the trail. "Can't we cut in somewhere and get ahead of them
and then scare them back?"

"Let's try it!" exclaimed Sam. "I am sure if we play ghosts, or
something like that, we'll scare Tad Sobber out of his wits."

"It's a risky thing to do," mused the eldest Rover. "We might get
caught at it."

Nevertheless, he was rather in favor of the plan, and when the Merrick
party stopped again, for Cuffer to take a stone out of his shoe, they
"cut into" the woods and pushed forward with all speed. It was hard
work, but they were in deadly earnest, and did not let the vines and
brushwood deter them.

"Now, the question is, How are we to scare them?" said Dick, after
they had regained the trail, well in advance of Sid Merrick and his
followers.

"Let us play ghosts?" said Sam.

"We might black up and play niggers on the warpath, with big clubs,"
suggested Tom.

"And get shot down," interrupted Dick. "No, I think the ghosts idea is
as good as anything. Quick, take off your coats and tie your
handkerchiefs over your faces."

The boys had on light colored outing shirts, and these, with the
handkerchiefs over their faces, made them look quite ghostlike in the
gloom under the trees.

"Now, when the time comes groan," said Tom "Ghosts always groan, you
know."

"And let us order them back," added Sam.

"But be sure to do it in very ghostlike tones," warned Dick. "If our
voices sound a bit natural they'll get suspicious at once. If they
come for us, or shoot at us, drop behind the rocks and run into the
woods."

It must be confessed that the boys were doubtful of the success of
their ruse. Yet they felt they must do something to hold the treasure
seeking party in check, at least until morning. With the coming of
daylight they could signal to the _Rainbow_ and with the aid of those on
the steam yacht probably rout the enemy.

The Rover boys advanced along the trail until they reached a spot they
deemed favorable for their purpose. Then Dick gave his brothers a few
more directions.

Presently they saw the rays of the gas lamp and the lantern in the
distance. At once Tom set up a deep groaning and Sam and Dick joined
in.

"What's that?" asked Shelley, who was the first to hear the sounds.

"Sounds like somebody in distress," answered Sid Merrick.

"Thought you said there was nobody on this island?" came from Cuffer.

"Didn't think there was. Maybe it's some native who--"

"Look! look!" screamed Tad Sobber and pointed ahead with his hand.
"What's that?"

"What's what?" asked the men in concert.

"There--that thing bobbing up and down over the rocks?" And Tad
Sobber trembled as he spoke. This lonely walk through the darkness of
the forest had somewhat unnerved him.

"That's strange," muttered Merrick. "It's groaning!"

"It's a ghost!" screamed Tad, and shrank back, as did Cuffer and
Shelley.

"A ghost?" repeated Sid Merrick. "Nonsense! There are no such things
as ghosts."

"It cer-certainly looks like a-a ghost!" faltered Cuffer.

"It is a ghost!" said Tad, his teeth beginning to chatter. "I-I ca-can
hear it gro-groan! Come on ba-ba-back!" And he began to retreat.

"Back with you!" came in solemn tones. "Back with you!"

"No white man must come here," said a second voice. "This is sacred
ground!"

"He who sets foot here dies!" came from a third voice. "This is the
burial place of the great Hupa hupa! Back, if you value your life!"
And then followed a jabbering nobody could understand, and white arms
were waved wildly in the air.

This warning was too much for Tad Sobber, and without further ado he
took to his heels and retreated down the trail whence he had come.
Cuffer followed him, and Shelley also retreated several yards.

"Stop, you fools!" cried Sid Merrick. "Those are no ghosts, I tell
you. It's a trick of some kind."

"I--I don't know about that," answered Shelley. "Don't you think it
would be better to come here in the daylight? We--er--we can't
find that cave in the dark anyway."

"Yes, we can--and I am going to do it, too," was Merrick's answer.
"That is a trick, I tell you." He raised his voice: "Who are you?" he
called out. "Answer me truthfully, or I'll fire on you!"

This threat alarmed the Rover boys, for they saw that Merrick was in
earnest.

"I guess our cake is dough," muttered Tom.

"Wait, I think I can scare him back yet," said Dick. "Let me do the
talking."

"I say, who are you?" repeated Merrick. "You needn't pretend to be
ghosts, for I don't believe in them."

"We are the owners of this isle," answered Dick, in the heaviest tone
he could assume. "We are ten strong, and we order you to go back to
your ship at once."

"The owners of this isle?"

"Yes."

"I don't believe it."

"You can do as you please about that. But if you come a yard further
we'll fire at you."

"Humph! Then you are armed?"

"We are and we know how to shoot, too."

"What brought you here at such a time as this?"

"We have a special reason for being here, as you may learn by to
morrow."

"Do you know anything of a treasure on this island?" went on Sid
Merrick curiously.

"We know something of it, yes. It belongs to the Stanhope estate,
provided it can be found."

"It doesn't belong to the Stanhopes at all--it belongs to me," cried
Merrick.

"In a day or two the Stanhopes are coming here to take possession,"
went on Dick. "They will bring with them a number of their friends and
uncover the treasure, which is now hidden in a secret place. As I and
my brothers and cousins own this isle we are to have our share of what
is uncovered. Now we warn you again to go away. We are ten to your
four, and we are all armed with shotguns and pistols, and we have the
drop on you."

"Good for you, Dick, pile it on," whispered Tom. Then he pulled Sam by
the arm. "Come on, let us appear from behind another rock--they'll
think we are two more of the brothers or cousins!"

"You won't dare to shoot us," blustered Merrick, but his voice had a
trace of uncertainty in it.

"Won't we?" answered Dick. "There is a warning for you!" And raising
the pistol he carried he sent a shot over the heads of the other
party.

"They are shooting at us! We'll all be killed!" yelled Tad Sobber, who
had come back during the conversation, and again he and Cuffer took to
their heels.

"Mind the warning!" called out Dick, and dropped almost out of sight
behind a rock. At that same moment Tom and Sam appeared from behind a
rock far to the left.

"Mind that warning!" they cried. "Remember, we are ten to four!"

"There are two more of 'em," cried Shelley.

"Confound the luck, what sort of a game is this anyway?" said Sid
Merrick, much chagrined.

"Well, it is more than we expected," answered Shelley. "I, for one,
don't care to risk being shot down. I reckon they have the bulge on
us, if there really are ten of 'em."

"I've seen but five the three ahead and the two over yonder."

"There are two more!" answered Shelley and pointed to another rock, to
which Sam and Tom had just crawled. "That makes seven."

"Go back, I tell you," warned Dick. "We'll give you just two minutes
in which to make up your mind. If you don't go back we'll start to
shoot!"

"Come on back!" cried Tad, from a safe distance. "Don't let them shoot
you, Uncle Sid!"

"We'll go back to our ship," called out Sid Merrick. "But remember,
this thing isn't settled yet."

"If you have any differences with the Stanbopes you can settle with
the folks on the steam yacht which has just arrived," answered Dick,
not knowing what else to say.

The party under Sid Merrick began to retreat, and Dick, Tom and Sam
watched them with interest, until the lights faded in the distance.
Then Tom did a jig in his delight.

"That was easier than I expected," he said.

"Even if we didn't scare them playing ghost," added Sam. "I wonder if
they really thought we were ten in number?"

"Well, they thought we were seven anyway!" answered Dick. "It was a
clever ruse you two played."

What to do next the Rover boys did not know. It was impossible for any
of them to calculate how far they were from the spot where they had
landed or to determine the best way of getting back to Foreshow Bay,
as they had named the locality.

"If we move around very much in this darkness we may become hopelessly
lost in the forest," said Dick.

"Maybe we had better stay right where we are until morning," suggested
his youngest brother.

"I'm agreeable to anything," were Tom's words.

"If we stay here we want to remain on guard," said Dick. "Merrick may
take it into his head to come back."

An hour later found the three 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 Tad Sobber, who had had small part
in the operations, but who was ready to do all the "crowing" possible.

"Prisoners!" gasped Sam. "Where is Dick?" he added.

"Also a prisoner," said Tad, with a chuckle. "You thought you had
fooled us nicely, but I guess we have turned the tables on you."

"I suspected you Rovers," said Sid Merrick.

"Really!" answered Tom, sarcastically. "You acted it!"

"See here, don't you get funny, young man. Please remember you are in
our power."

"And we'll do some shooting, if we have to," added Tad, bombastically.

"Tad, I guess I can do the talking for this crowd," said his uncle.

"You were afraid of the ghosts, Tad," said Sam. "You must have run
about a mile!" And the youngest Rover grinned in spite of the
predicament he was in.

"You shut up I." roared Tad Sobber, and exhibited some of the
brutality that had made him so hated at Putnam Hall by raising his
foot and kicking Sam in the side.

"Stop!" cried the youngest Rover, in pain. "What a brute you are!"

"Leave my brother alone!" came from Tom.

"A fine coward you are, to kick him when he is a prisoner! You
wouldn't dare to try it if he was free."

"I wouldn't, eh? I want you to understand I'm not afraid of anybody,"
blustered Tad. "I am--"

"Tad, be quiet," cried his uncle. "I am fully capable of managing this
affair. Don't kick him again."

"Yes, but look here, Uncle Sid, they--"

"I will take care of things," cried Sid Merrick, and so sharply that
his nephew at once subsided. But on the sly he shook his fist at both
Tom and Sam.

"Maybe we had better make sure that nobody else is around," suggested
Shelley, who had been Merrick's best aide in the capture.

"All right, look around if you want to," was Merrick's reply. "I am
pretty certain these boys are alone here--although more persons from
the steam yacht may be ashore."

They looked around, but, of course, found nobody else. Then Dick, Tom
and Sam were tied in a row to three trees which were handy. Merrick
took possession of their single weapon.

"I don't want you to hurt yourselves with it," he said, grimly.

"Merrick, this is a high handed proceeding," said Dick, when the gag
was removed from his mouth.

"No more so than was your statement of owning the isle," was the
answer.

"What are you going to do with us?"

"Nothing."

"I must say I don't understand you."

"What should I do with you? I don't enjoy your company. I am here
solely to get that treasure, as you must know. I am going after that
and leave you where you are."

"Bound to these trees?"

"Certainly."

"Supposing we can't get loose?" remonstrated Tom. "We may starve to
death!"

"That will be your lookout. But I reckon you'll get loose sooner or
later, although we've bound you pretty tight."

"Can I have a drink before you go?" asked Sam, who was dry.

"Don't give 'em a drop, Uncle Sid!" cried Tad. "They don't deserve
it."

"Oh, they can have a drink," said Sid Merrick. "I'd give a drink even
to a dog," he added, and passed around some water the boys had in a
bottle.

Less than fifteen minutes later the three Rover boys found themselves
alone in the forest. The Merrick party had lit their acetylene gas
lamp and the lantern and struck out once more along the trail which
they supposed would take them to the treasure cave. The boys heard
them for a short distance, and then all became dark and silent around
them.

"Well, now we are in a pickle and no mistake," remarked Sam, with a
long sigh.

"That ghost business proved a boomerang," was Tom's comment. "It's a
pity we didn't dig out for the shore, signal to the steam yacht, and
tell father and the others about what was going on."

"There is no use crying over spilt milk," said Dick. "The first thing
to do is to get free."

"Yes, and that's real easy," sniffed Tom. "I am bound up like a bale
of hay to be shipped to the South Pole!"

"And the cord on my wrists is cutting right into the flesh," said Sam.

"If we were the heroes of a dime novel we'd shoo these ropes away in a
jiffy," went on Tom, with a grin his brothers could not see. "But
being plain, everyday American boys I'm afraid we'll have to stay tied
up until somebody comes to cut us loose."

"Oh, for a faithful dog!" sighed Sam. "I saw a moving picture once in
which a dog came and untied a girl who was fastened to a tree. I'd
give as much as five dollars for that dog right now."

"Make it six and a half, Sam, and I'll go half," answered Tom.

"Well, this is no joke," declared Dick, almost severely. "We must get
free somehow--or they'll get that treasure and be off with it before
father and the others have a chance to land. We've got to do
something."

They all agreed they "had to do something," but what that something was
to be was not clear. They worked over their bonds until their wrists
were cut and bleeding and then gave the task up. It was so dark they
could see each other but dimly, and the darkness and quietness made
them anything but lighthearted.

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