CHAPTER XX
THE EARTH TREMBLES
It was with a feeling of relief after their surroundings of the lastfew hours, that the treasure seekers found themselves again on boardthe _Bertha Hamilton_ and seated in the bright cabin at the appetizingand abundant meal that Wah Lee had prepared for them.
All four felt jubilant at the discoveries they had made. Drew and Ruthwere 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 fewmore hours of daylight. To-morrow, they felt sure, would find them inpossession of the doubloons.
Drew's personal trouble had been for the moment obscured, although thethought of it was sure to return to torment him as soon as theexcitement of the afternoon's search was past.
One thing served to delight and to torture him at the same time. Hewas almost sure that he had surprised a secret in the eyes of Ruth. Hewas thrilled as he thought of it. But the next moment he groaned inanguish 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 byreaction. Ruth withdrew early to her room, pleading weariness. Tykewas thoughtful, thinking of the thunder he had heard just before theyhad left the island. The captain went on deck only to find in thereport 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. "Foundsome; but it tasted strong of sulphur, sir."
"Yes, I know, Mr. Rogers," replied the captain. "I tasted some myselfwhile I was ashore, and found it no good. Still, we've got plenty onboard, so it doesn't matter."
Still the second officer lingered.
"What is it, Mr. Rogers?" asked the captain, who saw that the man hadsomething on his mind.
"Why, I hardly know how to put it, sir," answered the second officer, alittle confusedly. "Perhaps it's foolish to speak about it; and theremay 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 likethe way the men are acting. I never was sweet on the crew from thebeginning, 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 themthat are smart seamen, but most of them are rank swabs that don't knowa marlinspike from a backstay. Seem more like a gang of river piratesthan deep-sea sailors."
"I know that most of them are a poor lot," replied the captain. "Butthey've managed to work the ship down here, and I guess they can gether home again."
"But it isn't only that, sir," went on the other. "There's altogethertoo much whispering and getting into corners when the men are off dutyto suit me. And they shut up like clams when I pass near 'em. Andthey're surly and impudent when I give 'em orders. I've had to lick ahalf 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 isusually quicker with his fists than he is with his tongue; but I neversaw him like he is on this voyage. Seems like at times as though hetook 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 withsome of the men this very afternoon, sir, when I went over to theisland. They found the water tasted of sulphur, and some of 'emstarted in saying that the devil wasn't very far off when you couldtaste brimstone so plain. Of course, sailors are superstitious, and Iwouldn't have thought anything of that, only it seemed as if the badones were just making that an excuse to get the others sore anddiscontented. They were growling and muttering amongst themselves allthe time they were ashore.
"I've got it off my chest now, sir, and maybe you'll think it'sfoolish, but I thought you ought to know. There's something going onthat I can't understand, and it bothers me."
"You've done quite right to tell me what you have, Mr. Rogers," repliedthe captain, "and I'm obliged to you. I'll think it over. In themeantime, keep your eyes wide open and let me know at once if anythingcomes to light. By the way, did you ever find anybody who saw whathappened to Mr. Parmalee?"
"Not a man among 'em will own to having seen anything. It was a darknight," replied Mr. Rogers, touching his cap and turning away.
Captain Hamilton sought out Tyke immediately and related to him whatRogers had said.
"How many men that you know you can depend on have you got in yourcrew?" 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 homewith me from Hong Kong. They are as good men as ever hauled on asheet. But even some of them may have been affected by whatever it isthat'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 mewould 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 strikingthe first blow.
"That is," he went on, "if there's anything in it at all. Perhapswe're just imagining they mean something serious, when after all it maybe only a matter of sailors' grumbling. Rogers may have only uncovereda mare's nest."
"Perhaps," admitted Tyke. "All the same, I've never trusted thatrascal, Ditty, from the minute I clapped eyes on him. An' since helied 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, RufeHamilton, you an' me have been friends for going on thirty years, butwe 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. Butwhat we have on hand just now is how to get the better of Ditty and hisgang."
Gradually Tyke's ruffled feathers were smoothed and he devoted himselfto 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 wasso to manage matters as to leave Rogers in command of the schooner whenthe captain himself should be ashore. Unless Ditty were actuallydeposed, and as yet there was no valid excuse for doing this, the onlyway they could carry out this plan was to see that Ditty was on shoreat the same time that the treasure seekers were.
The next morning when the party was ready to start, Captain Hamiltonspoke to Ditty.
"Mr. Ditty," he directed, "you will take ten of the men ashore on leavethis morning in the long-boat. I am going myself with the crew of thesmaller boat. Mr. Rogers will remain in charge of the ship. If youfind 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. Rogerscan go in my place if he wants to, sir."
"You heard what I said, Mr. Ditty. Mr. Rogers went yesterday," saidthe 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 tilllate afternoon. Take your dinner grub with you."
The boats left the ship's side together, and in a few minutes bothreached the beach. With instructions to Ditty to keep his men on theeast end of the island, the captain's party entered the jungle
.
They easily found the path they had trodden the day before, and werewell on their way to the whale's hump when they were startled by aqueer vibration of the earth. There was no sound accompanying it. Onthe contrary, everything seemed hushed in a deathlike stillness. Thecries of birds and the humming of insects had stopped as though bymagic. Nature seemed to be holding her breath.
Then came a second quivering stronger than the first--a shock whichthrew the four treasure hunters violently to the ground.