"No, but we are a couple of big boys, and he is only a midget. If anything happened to him I should never forgive—listen, and see if you can hear him coming."

"No, I cannot, but he has had hardly time to get there yet. Give him a chance. He will want to see all there is, boy-like. Let him have a good long look at the wonders of the place. He has never seen anything like it before, and never will again."

Jack was very anxious in spite of Dick's cheering words, and the minutes seemed like hours till at last, holding the rope in his hand he felt a tug at, and then heard:

"Hello! Are you up there?"

"Yes!" shouted Jack. "Are you all right?"

"Sure I am. Wait till I get the rope under my arms. I've got a bag of the stuff, as I said I would, but I don't think——"

"You don't think what?" asked Jack, thinking that he detected something in the tone of the boy's voice that indicated danger of some sort.

"Nothing, wait till I get the rope fast."

"Very good. Take your time."

"All right," the boy called in a few moments. "I have got it. Haul away!"

They saw the light of the electric torch flashing upon them, as the boy came nearer and nearer to them, and at last drew him out of the hole, Jack noticing that he seemed quite pale, and then suddenly noticing that he was wet up to his knees.

"Hello! what is this, Jesse W., how do you happen to be so wet?" he asked. "There was no water in——"

"Yes, some," answered the boy quietly. "It had worked in under the door or at the side somewhere. Maybe they had settled. Anyhow, I got the bag and here it——" and then the boy sank limp and helpless into Jack's arms and fainted away.

"By George! he was a plucky little fellow and no mistake!" exclaimed Jack. "He said that he would get the bag and he did, and standing in water up to his knees, and not knowing at what time he might have the whole Caribbean sea tumbling in upon him. Get some water, Dick!"

The boy presently came around, however, and said faintly, but with a half laugh:

"I told you I'd bring it, didn't I, Jack? Well, I did, and I hope it will be enough to keep you at the Academy for the rest of the course. If it isn't, my father——"

"You are a brave young fellow, Jesse W., but you don't go back for another, I tell you that!"

"You bet he does not!" echoed Percival. "So the water had made its way in, had it? That's the last we will see of the place, then."

"Yes, it had come in somewhere, at the bottom, I guess. Still, it was not coming in all the time nor fast, and I wanted to see the place, and I had promised to fetch a bag of gold to Jack and——"

"And you wanted to keep your word even if you were drowned," sputtered Percival. "Much you could have kept it in that case. You are a young brick, J.W., but don't you do anything like that again."

"Well, I won't, if you say so, Dick," answered the little fellow.

"That's a brave little chap," said the captain. "He said he'd do a thing, and he did it. There's lots who wouldn't."

They returned to the boat, and the captain told Percival to row toward the reefs and as close to the stump of a mast as it was safe to go, as he wanted to observe the wreck again.

Nearing the wreck they noticed that the water was swirling and eddying very violently at a point where they judged the cabin to be, and the captain said, after looking at the boiling waters for a short time:

"The water is making its way in and will run forward as far as its level. She'll break up with all that water in her, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her go any time."

In fact as they lay there watching the boiling waters over the sunken vessel, they saw them become more greatly agitated and Percival pulled away to a safer distance as the agitation increased.

Then of a sudden the stump of a mast sank into the water, there was a still greater agitation and a mass of broken timbers shot up into the air and then fell back, and went floating away on the tide.

"That's about the last of her," said Captain Storms, "or, at any rate, you won't go into the cabin again. You've made your last visit to the wreck, and if any one ever gets that money he'll have to dive for it. You can be thankful that you went there when you did."

"So I am," said Jack. "Come on, Dick, pull away from here."



CHAPTER X

A THRILLING ENCOUNTER

Returning to the yacht first for the captain to get aboard, Jack and Percival then took the boat and went to the outer bay on a little exploring trip of their own, the rest not caring to make any more explorations at that time.

The boys guided the boat along shore not too near the rocks, both keeping watch for any nook which might prove of interest or afford an opportunity for an adventure of any sort.

There was a short, keen-bladed hatchet to cut their way through the thicket if necessary when they went ashore, and Percival had a rifle with which to shoot any game they might come across, both being placed on one of the forward thwarts.

Jack was provided with his pocket flashlight in case they went into dark places, and Dick had a revolver in his pocket, declaring that this might be of as much use as the torch in case they came to close quarters with an enemy, no matter of what sort.

As they were rowing at a lazy rate, keeping up a slow, even stroke, Jack, who was keeping a lookout on the shore and steering at the same time, suddenly said, looking toward a mass of rocks which they had just come abreast:

"There looks to be a sort of cave in there, Dick. At any rate, there is a hole which seems to run in to some little distance. Suppose we explore it and see how far we can go."

"I'm in for anything that you are, Jack," replied Dick.

"All right, pull ahead, not too fast, and we'll have a look at the place."

"Pull ahead it is, Jack."

Jack was in the bow and he now steered the boat toward the opening in the rocks, which was quite big enough for them to enter, and they went on at a slow, steady gait, presently gliding into the water cave, for such it seemed, with plenty of room above and on both sides.

Jack turned his head now and then to see how they were progressing and if there were any obstructions in the way, and presently said:

"A little slower, Dick. It is getting darker in here now and I do not want to run into anything."

"Slower it is, Jack. It would not be any fun to stave a hole in the bottom of the boat. It doesn't belong to us."

"That would be reason enough for not daring, with some persons," said Jack with a low laugh. "They will take care of their own things, but are careless with those belonging to others."

"The woods are full of such, Jack."

Jack rowed with one hand, drawing in his other oar so that it might not strike the rocks in case the passage narrowed, and then got out his pocket flash and shot a strong ray ahead of him.

"Good gracious! what's that?" suddenly exclaimed Percival in accents of terror. "Back water, Jack, for heaven's sake!"

"What is it, Dick?" asked Jack, turning his head and sending the light directly in front of him. "I don't see anything."

"It's gone, Jack, or the light does not strike it now, but it was something awful. It fairly gave me the creeps to look at it."

"But what was it, Dick?" and Jack slowly turned the light this way and that so as to get a sight at the object which had so terrified Percival.

"I don't know. It had two awful eyes and a beak and a lot of legs, or arms, or whatever they were, and a fat body which—there it is, Jack!"

Jack saw it and shuddered.

"It's a devil fish, an octopus, Dick," he muttered, turning the light now full upon the grisly object squatting on a rock at the farther end of the water cave and glaring balefully at the boys through his blood-red eyes, like some demon of the deep, the very mention of which might send terror to the bravest hearts.

"We'd better get out quick, Jack!" gasped Percival. "If that fellow——"

What he might have said was cut short by a sudden splash in the water which caused the boat to rock violently and dashed the spray in their faces.

Then there was a whip-like sound and Jack felt himself struck by something which quickly wound itself about one arm and a part of his body and swiftly pulled him out of the boat.

He dropped his flashlight, but as he left the boat his free arm swung out and his hand touched something which he seized in an instant.

It was the short hatchet on the thwart and he had seized it by the helve, well up toward the top.

With the swiftness of thought itself he realized what had happened.

The octopus had wound one of its tentacles about his arm and body and, clinging to them with a tenacity which he could not overcome, had pulled him out of the boat.

Percival gave a scream of fright as Jack went overboard, although he was usually a very self-contained young fellow and not apt to give way to hysterical outbreaks.

It was dark in the cave, but he quickly groped for the torch which Jack had dropped, and cried out:

"Where are you, Jack? What has happened?"

Jack went under water and felt himself being drawn toward the end of the water cave where he had seen the octopus squatting on the rock.

His thoughts flew like lightning and, being a resourceful boy, he instantly decided what to do.

He had kept his breath from a natural instinct and now with his free arm he dealt a swinging blow with the little axe in a direction which would not cause him to injure himself but might strike the clinging tentacle.

His one hope was that another of the flying arms might not reach him and secure his other arm, which fortunately was his right.

He suddenly felt a resistance and realized that he had struck something and hoped that it might be the tentacle of the octopus.

In another moment he felt the pressure on his arm and body relax and then realized that something had fallen from them.

He struck out vigorously with both arms, the pressure upon his lungs from having held his breath so long beginning to be unbearable.

Then he felt his right arm seized, the suckers on the tentacle pressing strong upon his muscles and seeming to draw the blood even under his clothing, and he knew that the baleful creature had again gotten a hold upon him.

He was able to clutch the hatchet in his left hand as the power gave out in his right, and at that moment he arose to the surface and drew a succession of deep breaths before another of those terrible arms seized him by the leg and drew him again under water.

In another instant, as he struck wildly at the eldritch creature that held him and felt the tension on his arm relax, everything became suddenly black.

The octopus had resorted to one of its natural tricks and had ejected a dense black fluid into the water which made it impossible for him to see anything.

The creature was drawing him toward some hole in the cave, probably under water, and he realized most poignantly that something must be done shortly or he would be sacrificed to the pitiless water devil.

He felt himself rising and in a moment, when he most needed it, was able to get his breath.

The devil fish, even with the loss of two of its arms, was still powerful enough to make all his efforts futile, and he felt himself being drawn into some recess beyond where he had first seen the octopus squatting on the rock and glaring at them with its horrible eyes.

Percival, having found Jack's electric torch and searching the cave below and above water for a sign of his friend, suddenly saw the devil fish rise to the ledge where he had first seen it.

Jack was now caught in two of its remaining arms and was being drawn toward some deep recess whence there would be no rescuing him.

Transferring the light to his left hand, Percival whipped out the revolver from his hip pocket with his right and took rapid aim.

"I'm afraid it will be like trying to pierce an elephant's hide," he muttered, "but I'm going to try it for all that."

Luckily he caught sight of the creature's eyes at the moment and took aim straight for one of them.

Jack was being drawn toward the horrible beak and the sight nearly unnerved Dick.

Fortunately he had aimed and pressed the trigger before he saw this ghastly sight.

He fired three or four shots in quick succession and then heard the sound of a plunge in the water.

Jamming his torch into the clutch of one of the tholepins, he seized the rifle and shot a quick glance ahead of him.

Jack was not to be seen, but he did see the octopus writhing and waving its frightful arms on the ledge.

"Where are you, Jack?" he shouted.

"All right!" cried Jack himself, rising just alongside the boat and holding on to the gunwale with one hand.

"I'll finish that demon before he can do any more mischief!" hissed Dick.

It was Jack falling into the water that had caused the plunge he had heard and not the return of the octopus to its element.

Now, taking quick but careful aim, Percival fired half a dozen shots from the repeating rifle he had seized and with deadly effect.

The revolver shots had wounded the octopus, but not fatally, and he might at any moment plunge into the water and seize Jack.

The heavier caliber weapon did the work.

As Jack climbed into the boat there was a great plunge into the water which caused the light craft to rock again and the spray to fly.

"That settles him!" gasped Percival, and then he dropped his weapon and drew Jack into the boat, where he promptly sank limp and helpless under the thwarts, all his strength having seemingly left him.

"All right, Jack?" asked Percival.

"Yes, but get away," answered Jack feebly.

Percival was not slow to obey the injunction.

Seizing the oars, he quickly backed water and then turned the head of the boat toward the entrance of the cave, whence he shortly saw the light streaming in as he pulled a quick, powerful stroke.

"I'm glad that's over!" he said with a sigh of deep relief as he neared the opening. "No more exploring queer places like this again!"

When he was outside the cave he rested on his oars and said:

"You are all right again, Jack?"

"Yes," said Jack, getting up and seating himself on a thwart, "but I don't want another such an experience. I feel as if all the blood had been drawn out of me by that horrible thing in there."

Out in the bright sunlight, away from the gruesome cave and its dreadful tenant, Jack seemed to recover his spirits quickly, however, and he presently took one of the oars and then another, and said:

"It's all right, Dick. We are away from the horrible thing and I thank heaven I am still alive to tell of it. Let us go somewhere else."

"Right you are, I will," echoed Percival heartily. "If I had had any idea that there was such a thing in that place you could not have hired me to go into it or to have let you ventured there. I am glad enough that I was around to be of assistance."

"So am I, Dick, but suppose we say no more about it. I hate to even think of the horrible object and I only hope that I will not dream of it these nights."

Then the boys rowed swiftly away from the place where they had had such a thrilling encounter and never once looked back at it.



CHAPTER XI

THE VOICES IN THE WOODS

After the boys had gone some little distance from the water cave they pulled at a more easy stroke and began to talk again, their thrilling experience with the devil fish having made them silent for a time.

They did not allude to it again, but talked of other matters, Percival saying as they neared a green, shady wood where the trees grew thick and cast a deep shade on the white sands and showed a more than twilight darkness in their farther recesses, everything being quiet and peaceful within those heavy shadows:

"That's a place where everything seems to be asleep even at midday, Jack. It looks like the cave of the seven sleepers that we used to read about in mythology."

"It seems quiet enough for a fact," said Jack with a smile, "but it is hot outside and the birds are probably all taking a rest. Probably just before dawn or at sunset you would hear them making noise enough."

"It is a thick wood all right, just the place to get lost in. If the African jungle is any worse than this I don't care to enter it."

"The trouble is you can't see far ahead and then there are briars and brambles and a lot of spiky plants, prickly pears and Spanish bayonets and cactus to run against and get scratched and cut with. Our own woods are good enough for me, or bad enough, I might say."

"I wonder if we could find anything if we did go in there?" said Percival musingly as they rowed along shore, fascinated by the bright glare of the sands, the dense green of the woods and the dear blue of the skies. "We might have a try at it, Jack."

"Yes, I suppose we might if we did not go too——" And then Jack suddenly paused and a look of alarm came across his face.

A harsh voice from the wood suddenly interrupted him and he glanced here and there to see whence it came.

The words he heard were in Spanish, as far as he could judge, but he could see no one.

Other voices quickly joined the first and the boys rowed out somewhat from shore and looked closely at the woods, expecting to see some one.

"There are people on the island after all, Jack."

"Yes, Spaniards, I think. Sailors, I guess. At any rate they are not using the choicest language from what little I know of the language; Jack. I do not see any one. Do you?"

There were loud and angry voices in the woods, but the boys could see no one and went on slowly, farther out from shore so as to be out of danger in case any one appeared.

"A lot of drunken sailors would not be good company," declared Jack. "I would rather be alone."

"It can't be any one from the yacht, can it?"

"No, I don't think so. We have no Spaniards and Captain Storms brings his men up better than that. Besides, if it were some of our men we would see a boat, and there is nothing."

They still heard the voices at intervals as they rowed on and had no desire to enter the woods as long as the men were there.

"That's a nuisance," said Percival with a half-growl as they rowed on. "I would have liked to go ashore there, but of course if there are a lot of swearing Spaniards hanging about it wouldn't do."

"I'd like to know what brought them here," remarked Jack. "We got in by the sheerest good luck and it does not seem possible that another vessel could have done the same. Those things don't happen twice."

"Well, they are here, at all events, and it stops our going ashore. I'd like to know if they saw us in the boat?"

"I don't suppose so. They did not show themselves and they would not have made so much noise if they had——"

Just then the voices were heard again and the boys stopped rowing.

"There they are again!" muttered Percival. "We may have trouble, Jack."

The voices were very loud and the language used was not of the choicest, although, being in Spanish, it was not as offensive as it would have been in English, the boys not understanding much of what was said.

"Are they quarreling, do you suppose?" asked Percival.

"No, I don't think so," and Jack suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" asked Percival, somewhat impatiently.

"Listen a minute, Dick," said Jack.

The voices had ceased, but presently they were heard again, closer than before, and then a big, gorgeously feathered parrot flew out of a clump of trees not ten feet from shore.

"There are your quarrelsome Spaniards, Dick," laughed Jack, as another parrot joined the first.

"Well, I declare!" laughed Dick. "Are you sure, Jack?"

"Yes. The first time I heard them I was deceived, but just now I fancied there was something queer about those voices and I decided that there were parrots in the woods."

"Yes, but Jack, Spanish is not the natural language of parrots and they must have heard it from men. That proves that there are men on the island."

"Or that there have been, at any rate, but we don't know that there are any here at present."

"Well, as long as we know that there is nothing more dangerous than a lot of parrots, suppose we go ashore and look about a bit."

They found a good landing place where there was a shelving beach extending for some distance in either direction, and a clump of trees close to the water, where they tied the warp of the boat to keep it from floating away.

They saw more of the parrots, but not all of them imitated the human talk, chattering and making harsh sounds after their own fashion and making the glades bright with their gorgeous plumage.

Both boys laughed at the recollection of their first fright when they heard the birds and thought that there were men on the island, and then, taking their bearings, set out to explore the island for a short distance.

As Jack had a good idea of direction, they were not likely to get lost, although in the jungle they were often in a twilight shade and could not see the sun, which might have told them which way they were going.

"It gave me something of a start when I thought there were other people on the island besides ourselves," remarked Percival as they went on through a semi-darkness, the vegetation being thick above and around them so that they could see nothing of the sky. "It's pretty dark here."

"Yes," agreed Jack, turning on his pocket flash. "Hello!"

"What's the matter?" asked Percival, Jack's tone being one of alarm.

A shot rang out, and then Jack jumped back, exclaiming:

"I guess I've settled him, Dick!"

"What have you settled, Jack?"

"That fellow there," and Jack turned the light upon something at his feet and then pushed it aside.

"A snake!" exclaimed Percival. "You blew his head off. Is he very dangerous, Jack?"

"Well, not now," said the other with a dry laugh.

"No, I should say not. Would he have been?"

"He belongs to the family of dangerous snakes, one of the most dangerous, in fact. He is either a fer de lance or a first cousin to it, and either is a sort of creature to keep away from. The bite is nearly always fatal, as the virus acts so rapidly upon the system. It was lucky I turned on the light when I did. These creatures inhabit the dark places and are always ready for an unwary traveler."

"H'm! I think we had better keep in the light, Jack. We go into a dark water cave and run across a devil fish. Then we go into the dark woods and meet with this poison gentleman. Let's go back to the light!"

"I think we had better," returned Jack. "We are strangers here and the residents seem to resent our coming. I am sure I'll be glad enough to leave the place for good."

It did not seem to be such an easy matter, however, for difficulties beset them on every side as soon as they started to leave the jungle, as though there were some malign influence in those gloomy shades which was endeavoring to hold them captive.

There were morasses which they had to avoid, there were bramble thickets which barred their way, and Percival questioned whether Jack was going in the right direction and asked him to try another.

"We are going toward the shore, Dick," said Jack, "and if we keep on you will see that I am right."

"I don't doubt that we were going that way in the beginning, Jack, but we were thrown out of our path by the brambles and again by the swamp, not to mention the snake, and I don't believe we are going that way now. Don't the trees give you any idea?"

"Yes, and I am sure we are going toward the water. If we had a bit of daylight I could convince you, but it is as dark as a pocket here. I never saw trees grow so thick."

Jack had his way, for Percival had confidence in him and at length the boy paused and said:

"Listen, Dick! There are the parrots again. They won't talk if it is dark and all we have to do is to follow the sound and we will shortly come out into the light."

"I guess you're right," laughed the other. "I know we always used to cover our bird with a dark cloth when it got to chattering too much, and it stopped in an instant. But I don't hear them."

"Listen!" said Jack, pressing forward by the light of his pocket torch.

"I hear them now," said Percival. "They are using as bad language as ever. Those are educated parrots, although their education has not been of the best."

In a short time they heard the parrots much plainer than before and then it grew lighter and still lighter till at length they were able to see the sky overhead through the branches and finally the sun itself, by which time they were right among the parrots, who were making a tremendous chattering.

"Well, we are obliged to you at any rate, even if you are a noisy lot," laughed Percival. "You frightened us first and then you showed us the way to the light. Still, are we in the right direction, Jack?"

"Certainly," and pushing on, Jack led the way into more open ground and in a short time they came in sight of the inner bay where the vessel lay at anchor.

"We are not so far out of our way, Dick," said Jack. "The boat lies just on the other side of that clump of trees and we can reach it in a few minutes."

He proved to be correct and, getting in, the boys rowed back to the yacht, where they amused and interested a party of their companions by telling of their adventures.

"Well, it is certainly not safe to go far away from the vessel," declared Billy Manners, "and I think if I do I will be sure to take Jack along as a guide."

"Not very complimentary to me," said Percival dryly.

"Oh, you want your own way too much."

"H'm! if I had had it we would have been lost yet, so I guess you are out there, William."

"Well, that only proves what I said in the first place," said Billy with a chuckle.



CHAPTER XII

ADVENTURES IN THE WOODS

One day not so long afterwards the boys returned to shore, but at a different place than they had been before, and set out on a walk through the woods toward the hill, which they had never managed to get to before, although they had tried it more than once.

They took the axe along, not knowing but they might want it, and set out in high spirits.

Hearing voices ahead of them they pushed on, and soon came across the old sailor, Ben Bowline, and the acting head cook, Bucephalus, discussing some knotty point.

"Ah tell yo' dis am not de way," said the negro in a very positive tone, "an' any one what has any perspicuity in his haid will tell yo' so."

"I don't know what that 'ere is, and I don't believe I ever had any, but it ain't the right road 'cordin' to the course," returned the sailor. "We sot out nothe-nothe-east, and this here course is due nothe, which ain't at all proper."

"Which way yo' wan' to go, Sailorman?" asked Buck.

"This here way, of course," said Ben, pointing.

"Huh! an' there ain't no path there, nothin' but briahs an' big rocks an' swamp. How yo' goin' to get through there? This here way is the right way, because it am plain to be seen that it am a thoroughfare, and has been promenaded by pedestrians before now."

"I don't care what has happened to it, and it may be a good road all the same, but it ain't the course we sot out on, and so it's the wrong one to take, and I ain't going to take it."

At this point Jack, Dick and Jesse W. came along, being much amused at the arguments offered by the disputants.

"How are you heading, Ben?" asked Jack in the soberest fashion.

"Nothe-nothe-east, sir," said the old seaman, saluting.

"Change your course to north."

"Aye-aye, sir, north it is," said Ben.

"And follow in our wake in case you are needed."

"Aye-aye, sir, follow in your wake it is, yes, sir."

"You could not have persuaded that grizzled old tar that there was any course but the one he started on, no matter what the difficulties of his course were, but give him a new one, and he will take it without the least question. That's the sailor of it."

"And they would have stood there arguing till the cows came home," said Dick. "You settled it in a moment."

"And if we need them they are there."

They kept on, now in the open and now in deep shade, having occasionally to cut their way, pushing on toward the hill, which Jack had determined to get to the top of, and now and then seeing it when they reached higher and more open ground.

They reached the top at length, and had a fine view of the island and of the sea, but could not see any other islands in the distance.

"We are on a lost island and no mistake," said Percival. "There is not another one in sight. I wish I could make out a passage through the reefs, but there does not seem to be any."

"We may find one unexpectedly," said Jack. "That often happens. You hunt and hunt for a thing and don't find it, and then you give up hunting and the first thing you know you find what you have been looking for without looking for it."

"That sounds like a contradiction," laughed Percival, "but I know what you mean."

Leaving the hill after getting a good view of the surrounding sea and the island, the boys took a course which would lead them to the part of the reefs, which they had not before visited.

They were pushing on leisurely when they suddenly stopped and listened, having heard what seemed to be a cry for help.

"Somebody is in trouble," said Jack. "Where is it, straight ahead?"

"It sounds like it, and that sounds like the voice of Billy Manners."

"Maybe he is joking," said young Smith. "He always is."

Just now came a lusty cry for help in so serious and agonized a tone that Jack said with a smile:

"Billy is not joking now, that is certain. He is in real trouble. Come on and let us see what it is."

They pushed on rapidly, the call being presently repeated, and at the same time they heard a bellowing sound, which they could not make out.

"Come on!" cried Percival. "Billy is in trouble, and that sounds like the bellow of a wild beast."

"I should say it was a calf," remarked Jesse W., "if you were to ask me about it, but what a calf is doing here——"

He hurried on to keep up with Jack and Dick, Buck and Ben following quickly, having evidently heard the noises.

Coming in a short time into an open space the boys paused and then began to laugh heartily, something they would certainly not have done if Billy had been in danger.

There, in the crotch of a little tree about six feet from the ground, was Billy Manners, while at the foot of the tree was a calf a few months' old bellowing lustily and evidently calling for food.

"I told you it was a calf!" laughed young Smith.

"Help!" roared Billy, seeing the boys. "Here is a wild bull, and I am treed. Shoot him, boys, drive him away, anything!"

Instead of doing anything the boys only stood there and laughed, and when Bucephalus and Ben Bowline came up in great haste they did the same, all joining in a full-voiced laughing chorus.

"Why don't you help a fellow?" wailed Billy. "There you all are, laughing to beat the band, and I can't get down on account of this wild bull at the foot of the tree."

"Wild bull nothing!" exclaimed Percival. "It is a three months' old calf, and you're another, only you are a bit older than that. Can't you tell a calf when you see one, or have you been brought up in the city where they don't have them except in the way of veal cutlets?"

"That a calf?" asked Billy in disgust. "I thought it was a wild bull. He makes noise enough."

"Probably calling for its mother," laughed young Smith. "I said it was a calf right along."

"Shoo!" said Buck, advancing on the terrible wild bull, which had so frightened Billy. "Get o't o' dat or Ah cut yo' up fo' de young ge'men's dinnah. Shoo!"

The calf let out a tremendous bellow, and scampered off into the woods, whereat the boys laughed harder than ever till the tears fairly ran down their cheeks.

"That's a good one on Billy who is all the time getting off jokes on other folks," said Percival. "That is too good to keep."

"Dick Percival," said Billy, laughing in spite of himself, "if you say a word about it I'll cut you dead."

"I can't help it," chuckled Dick; "it's too good to keep, and I won't keep it, no matter what are the consequences. Think of a boy who has spent the biggest part of his life in the country not knowing the difference between a little three months' old heifer calf and a wild bull. Billy, my boy, you have neglected your opportunities."

Billy got down from the tree, and all hands laughed again, but Jack said thoughtfully:

"That was not a wild calf, and the question naturally arises, what is a domesticated calf doing on a supposedly uninhabited island? If there is a calf there must be a cow and if a cow, then people who own and take care of her. There must be people on the island after all, although we have never seen them."

"We have not been all over the island," said Percival, "and it is likely that in the very parts where we have not been we shall find the people who own the calf."

"They are probably negroes or halfbreeds," added Jack, "and seldom visit the shore. Suppose we keep on. We may find a village, or, at any rate, one or two houses occupied by them. Come on, Billy, you are safer with us in case we come across another wild bull."

"Get out!" said Billy, half laughing, half in disgust. "How much will you take to keep quiet on that subject?"

"I could not think of making a bargain, Billy," chuckled Jack, "and then I am afraid it would cost you too much. Remember, there are myself and Dick, Jesse W. Smith, Bucephalus Johnson and Ben Bowline to be bought off, and the prices might go up."

"All right," muttered Billy with a wry face, "but don't rub it in too much, that's all."

"All right, I won't, but remember when you feel like playing jokes on the boys that I may say something about it."

"All right, but I say, what about it, that calf is not wild?"

"Not a bit of it, she is just as tame as any barn-yard calf along the Hudson valley. Calves are the same the world over."

"And Billy was one not to know it," said Percival with a grin. "Remember, William, you have not bought me off yet. I have made no promises, and neither has Jesse W. Smith."

"Oh, I don't care anything about it," said the smaller boy. "I won't say anything about it no matter how much Billy jokes, I am interested in the other matter. If there are tame calves here there must be more or less civilized people living on the island."

"Well, we have made two or three very good discoveries on our island," observed Percival. "We have found treasure, and we have found calves, and probably inhabitants."

"And the next thing is to find a way through the reefs," said Jack.

"If we found the others why should we not find that?" asked Percival. "We did not expect to find anything, and we have found a lot."

"But we won't find our way home," said Billy, "if we don't start pretty soon, for it will be dark in a little while."

"The funny fellow grows serious once in a while," chuckled Dick, "but I think he is right for all that."

"I think we had better be going myself," said Jack. "Ben Bowline?"

"Sir to you, sir," said the seaman.

"Steer south, and go on a free wind at four miles."

"Aye-aye, sir!" said Ben, and they all set out for home, as they called the yacht.

"Talkin' about calves," said Ben Bowline as they were walking on in a body through the woods, "there was another adventure of mine which——"

"You're a liar!" suddenly interrupted a strident voice speaking in Spanish and then some bad language in the same tongue followed.

"Mah goodness, dat am fightin' talk!" exclaimed Bucephalus. "Ah wouldn' stan' dat, Sailorman."

"Jus' wait till I get my mudhooks onto him," growled Ben, "an' I'll let Trim know whether I'll stan' it or not."

"There are people on the island besides ourselves," muttered young Smith, getting close to Jack and Dick. "Maybe they own the calf."

"If you tell them anything about me," sputtered Billy, "I won't speak to you again in a week."

Then there was more talk in Spanish and Bucephalus put his hands over his ears and whistled.

"Mah wo'd! Ah done hear disreputable language in mah days, but nothin' to compaiah with that!" he declared emphatically. "It ain't respectable. Ef Ah meet de fellah wha' talk lak dat Ah's gwan to tell him wha' Ah done thought ob him."

There was still more of the talk, and Ben Bowline doubled his fists and said angrily:

"It's as bad to be told you're a liar in Spanish as it is in English or French or Dutch or any other lingo, an' I'm not goin' to take it from nobody. Just wait till I get hold——"

Dick and Jack were both laughing heartily now, much to young Smith's amazement, Billy's surprise and the disgust of Ben Bowline, Bucephalus looking on and wondering what had come over his "young gentlemen" as he was accustomed to call them.

"What are you two fellows laughing at?" asked Billy.

"I don't see anything funny in it!" sputtered Ben.

"I think it's awful!" murmured Jesse W.

"Why, those are not men talking," laughed Dick.

"They aren't!" exclaimed Billy.

"Mebby dat am all imagination, sah!" added Bucephalus.

"What is it if it isn't men!" asked Ben.

"Parrots!" laughed Jack. "Don't you remember, you fellows, what we told you happened to us the other day when we were ashore together, Dick and I?"

"H'm! and I forgot all about it," chuckled Billy.

"Oh, that's different!" said J.W., greatly relieved.

"Parrots?" asked Ben. "Poll parrots? Well, I'll be keelhauled!"

"Mah we 'd! Ah knowed parrots could talk an' use de mos' obstreperous vocabulary at dat," declared the negro cook, "but Ah done suspected dat dey was men, fo' shuah Ah did."

The parrots, for such indeed they were, as all the party now realized, continued to talk and scream and chatter, and in a short time the boys and their companions caught sight of a number of them as they came out into a more open bit of woods.

"We were a bit alarmed ourselves, as you may remember," said Jack, "when we first heard them, and it was some little time before we realized that they were not men."

"They have caught the talk of men who have been to the island," added Percival, "and probably that of men who are here now. That calf is a tame creature and is probably owned by some one now on the island. The parrots may have heard them."

"If that is the sort of talk they heard, the birds were not in very good company," remarked Billy, "and it is just as well that we did not meet them this time. In fact, I hope we won't."

"Well, I'm glad it was only Poll parrots!" grunted Ben, "for I was ready for a fight."

"I'm glad myself," echoed Jesse W., greatly relieved, "for I don't want to get into a fight at all."

"That accounts for the milk in the cocoanut," laughed Billy. "I wondered what you two fellows were laughing at. If it had been Dick alone I would not have thought so much of it, but Jack has more sense."

"Thank you," said Dick dryly. "I know a tame calf from a wild bull, however, if I haven't much sense."

"Come ahead, boys," said Jack. "We must get back to the yacht. If there are other men on the island besides ourselves we do not want to meet them just now. They are not a desirable lot, most likely."

The entire party then pushed on, and in a short time reached the shore, got their boat and returned to the yacht.



CHAPTER XIII

A STRANGE LIGHT AT SEA

The captain and Dr. Wise were very much interested in the report that the boys brought back from their walk through the woods, and to the top of the hill in the interior of the island.

"If there are people here they know how to get out through the reefs," observed the principal, "for they must have come here once, and no doubt are in communication with the people outside."

"They may have lived here all their lives," returned the captain. "I never saw any one on these islands, natives, I mean, that knew very much. We can't tell how long they have lived here, they and their ancestors, of course, and these fellows probably don't know when they came, and don't suppose there is any other place in the world."

"H'm! that does not speak for a very high state of intelligence," remarked the doctor with a grunt.

"You won't find it in these natives nor even in the half breeds, sir," the captain returned. "The rating is pretty low. It'll be interesting to see these people, but I don't think that you will find them very intelligent. You'd better not expect too much."

The next day there was nothing to be seen of the wreck, and when Jack and Percival went to the wooded point to look for the place where they had descended when they first found it, there was nothing but a great hole into which the sea poured, and made a great disturbance at every tide.

"That's the last of that," said Jack. "No one would believe us if we told them we had gone down there and found a vessel fast in the rocks."

"But we know we did, for we have the evidences of it, and you are at least a couple of thousand dollars richer by it. That will help you a lot in getting your education, my boy, and give your mother something as well."

"Yes, and she is the first one to be considered," said Jack.

There had been no answers as yet to the captain's wireless messages, and that day he sent out another one, this time to the owners of the vessel in New York, addressing Mr. Smith in particular, thereby hoping to receive attention.

Meantime, the boys went on with recitations, wrote descriptions of the different parts of the island they had seen, took excursions on the bay and through the woods, and got up little entertainments to pass away the evenings so that altogether they were kept quite busy, and, as a consequence, were very well content with their situation, although it was not just what they had expected when they left home.

The day after sending out the personal message to Mr. Smith the captain of the yacht picked up a message which, although not addressed to him, was the first he had been able to pick up, and was of some interest on that account if on no other.

The message was to some government official in Florida, and related to a certain smuggler who had been defrauding the government by sending shipments of tobacco without paying the duty thereon.

"Are on track of Rollins and smuggler crew. Sighted them near Isle of Pines. Will keep on watch there and in Caribbean."

Such was the message and the captain, although not especially interested in Rollins, whoever he might be, was glad to get any information from the outside world which seemed so far away, although almost at their very doors.

He sent a wireless to the sender of the message, and asked if information of their situation could be sent to the government, and help despatched to them, hoping by this means to receive some recognition at last.

"If I get other folks' messages some one will probably get mine," said the captain, "and by communicating with these people I may finally get attention. Rollins? Don't remember to have heard of him. There's probably a gang of them working between our border, Cuba and the South American ports. Whistling cyclones! they might be working among some of these little islands. A man who would defraud his government is no better than a pirate and pirates used to hang around these waters a lot. It isn't such an unlikely thing that these new pirates should do it now."

The next day quite unexpectedly the captain got a call and at once sent for the doctor and said:

"I've had word at last. From our owners. From Mr. Smith himself. He has just heard from us, and is going to send out a vessel to get us away from here. It seems that one of our smaller vessels, a steamer, has been captured by some smugglers working around Cuba, Porto Rico and the neighborhood, who are using it in their trade. Some of the men got away, and took the news to Havana. The name of the vessel is a good deal like our own, and Smith thought that we had been taken at first, and began a lot of investigating. Then he got our messages, which had been held up by some one else, thinking they were fakes, or some boys' play. These young wireless operators make a lot of trouble now and then."

"Well, as long as we know that help is being sent to us we can feel relieved," said the doctor. "That is something, at any rate, but——"

"But you don't think that it will do any good, Doctor?"

"Well, if you cannot get out how is any one else going to get in?" the doctor asked, as if merely seeking for information, and not being especially interested in the matter.

"There's something in that, sir," replied Captain Storms musingly, "but we'll see how it turns out when they get here. At any rate we are not forgotten altogether, and that is something."

The boys were told about the message, and were greatly interested, Jesse W. saying to Jack:

"Now I'll have a chance to speak to father about you, Jack, and to tell him what you have done for me. He has always been interested in you, and now he will be all the more so."

"Never mind doing too much for me, J.W., or you will spoil me altogether," laughed Jack, who, nevertheless, felt grateful to the younger boy for his interest. "We Hilltop boys should help each other, and so I don't deserve any extra credit for simply doing what is expected of me. It is only the big brother idea which is gaining ground every day, and is a good thing both for the little brothers and the big ones."

That night as Jack Sheldon lay asleep in his berth in the cabin set off for the Hilltop boys, he was suddenly awakened by a bright light flashing in his face, there being a porthole opposite.

"That's odd!" he murmured, as he sat up and looked around. "Where does that light come from? Or did I only imagine it?"

At that moment the light flashed in his face again, and he got out of his berth and went over to the porthole, looking out to see where the light could have come from, there being only water on that side.

The yacht had changed her position, and was now in sight of the outer bay, and having changed the direction of her head on account of the tide, the boy could now look out upon the bay, which he had not been able to do at the time he went to bed.

He saw the flash again, and in a moment realized that some one out there, probably beyond the reefs, was using a regular code of signals, a thing he had himself done with his pocket electric light.

Having had this experience he was familiar with the code, and at once began to read the message sent by those outside, whoever they might be.

"That cannot be the steamer Mr. Smith has sent," he mused. "No, of course not. 'Where are you? Am dodging government vessel.' Why, that must be one of the smugglers that the captain told us about. But where is the man he is signaling? I wish I could tell that."

The signals ceased, but presently the lights flashed again, and Jack read the message:

"Why don't you answer? Am waiting."

"My word! I believe the fellow takes our lights for the smuggler's, and thinks that he is in here. It would be just the place for him. By Jove! I have a mind to answer him myself, and get him in here. Then we could get out. Even if a smuggler takes us out that is better than waiting."

His pocket flash was in a convenient place, and he quickly got it out and flashed out through the port:

"In the bay. Come inside."

After sending this message he waited a few minutes, and then saw the reply being flashed to him:

"Cannot. Don't know the passage. Come out"

"H'm! that's too bad," muttered Jack. "I was in hope I could get him in here. I'd like to know—I guess I'd better see the captain."

Partly dressing himself he hurried on deck, and looked for the light, but could see nothing.

An anchor watch was kept, or supposed to be at least, but Jack saw the man on deck fast asleep on a bench against the house on deck instead of keeping a lookout as he was supposed to do.

He could not see any vessel's light out at sea, and saw no more flashes, although he looked for them for several minutes.

"Well, I can't go to waking the captain in the middle of the night," he said, "and it is likely this fellow has gone. It is simply another disappointment. I think I'll go to bed."



CHAPTER XIV

THE MAN WITH THE WHITE MUSTACHE

In the morning Jack told the captain, Dr. Wise, and a few of his most intimate friends among the boys under the promise of keeping it quiet, the strange event of the previous night, asking the doctor if he had done right in not calling the captain.

"If you had aroused me I would probably have been mad," chuckled the captain, "and could not have done anything anyhow. It is clear that there is a way in here, although we don't know it, and that this fellow you saw signaling mistook our lights for those of one of his evil associates. I'd like to watch him, but there is no use in crying over spilled milk, and you did all right in not calling me."

"It is all very singular," said the doctor, knitting his brows. "Of course we would like to get out of here, but as to seeking the assistance of a smuggler——"

"I'd as soon go out under his escort as that of any one else," laughed Storms, "although we might get in trouble afterward if a government vessel happened to see us in company with smugglers. Well, I guess it won't be long now before the relief steamer comes, but——"

"But they may not know the way in, and we are as badly off as before," finished the doctor. "I don't see that we have advanced any, except, perhaps, to let people know where we are."

"And you think there is little satisfaction in that?" with a grin. "We might be worse off, however, so I guess we had better wait and trust to good luck. Clever game, that of Jack's, wasn't it, stealing the fellow's despatches?"

"Why, yes, clever in a way," admitted the doctor, glaring at the captain through his big black-rimmed glasses, "but does it not savor somewhat of—h'm—of deception? Pretending to be one person when he was another, and quite a different one, by the way?"

"But he did not pretend to be anybody. He simply flashed a message, and if that fellow outside took him for another person it was not Mr. Sheldon's fault. All is fair in love and war, you know."

"H'm! so I have heard, but as I have been in neither I cannot say whether it is so or not. However, I am not accusing you, Sheldon, you understand? I suppose, under the circumstances, that what you did was perfectly justifiable. At any rate, we shall not have to wait for this person to come and take us out. But where was the person to whom he was sending signals? You did not see him, Captain?"

"No, indeed, and I wonder that my man on deck did not see them. Asleep, I'll warrant. That means loss of shore liberty to him for some time. The other fellow was not here, of course. How could he get in?"

"I believe there is a way, sir," spoke up Jack, "and that this place is used as a retreat for smugglers. If not just here, then some part of the island. How about the calf we saw? I thought at the time that there were people here, but did not think of smugglers."

"Why, I guess you've been reading about Captain Kidd and Blackbeard and those old pirates, and have got your head full of secret lairs and all that sort of stuff."

"Oh, no," smiled Jack in reply, "but evil men hide in woods and mountains and all sorts of odd places as much now as they did in the old days. There is just as much of this in modern times as there was in the old, but it is accompanied with greater danger."

"Yes, I reckon it is. At any rate, I'd like to get hold of these rascals. There'll be a pretty big reward for them, I fancy."

The boys left the cabin and during the afternoon Jack, Dick and young Smith set out for a stroll over the island, taking one of the paths already made, so as not to subject the younger boy to too much trouble.

"I hardly think these smugglers are on the island," said Jack, as they walked on, "or, at least, I don't think that they got in through the reefs. They could have landed on the other side, although there are many difficulties connected with it, not to say dangers. You remember the rocks, Dick? And there is a good deal of surf there also. One would need to be careful in making it. A vessel could lie to, of course, while boats landed the men, and that has probably been done."

"Yes, I suppose so," said Percival carelessly, thinking of other things at the moment, and not paying much attention.

The boys walked on without paying much attention to where they were going, young Smith being greatly pleased at being with the older boys, but at length Jack stopped, looked around him, and said with the least bit of alarm in his tone:

"H'm! I believe we are where Billy was treed by the calf the other day or pretty near it, at any rate. We thought there might be people in the neighborhood, but we did not see them."

"I suppose it might be as well to go back," said Percival. "It would not be pleasant to run across a lot of half-civilized natives to say nothing of smugglers."

"No, it would not," and at that instant there was a rustling in the bushes not far away, and two men stepped out, the singular appearance of one of them causing Jack to turn suddenly pale.

This man was of good height and build and evidently quite strong, and was, besides, a person of superior intellect if not of the best tendencies, as his face indicated, but what attracted most attention was the fact that while his mustache was snowy white his hair and eyebrows were quite dark, this making him noticeable in a moment.

"You here, George——"

"Rollins," said the other, evidently thinking that Jack was about to pronounce another name, which was the fact. "Yes, I am here. It is safer than back in New York state or any of the states, in fact. May I ask what you are doing in this part of the world! I am as much surprised to see you here as you are to see me," and the man made a sudden quick signal with his left hand.

Jack heard a rustle behind him, and turned quickly, but not soon enough to escape the quick rush of three big, strong, bearded men who sprang upon him and his companions and held them fast.

"What does this mean, George—Rollins?" asked Jack, hesitating at pronouncing the name, "Who are these men!"

"Friends of mine," laughed the man with the white mustache. "Business partners I might say."

"The majority of your business partners get in jail or are shot by the police, Mr. Rollins," said Jack. "Are these the same sort? What business are you in now?" and then a look of intelligence shot across the boy's face, as he remembered that Rollins was the name of the smuggler he had but recently heard mentioned.

The other saw this look, and said with an evil glance:

"I think you have heard the name before. What are you doing here? You are in the government service, you and your boy friends? What is this uniform you wear?"

"That of the students of the Hilltop Academy. You knew that I was one of them, for on the occasion of our last meeting——"

"I say, Jack," said Percival suddenly, "this is the man who was concerned in the robbery of the Riverton Bank, your——" and the boy suddenly paused, a deep flush on his face.

"His father, you were going to say," laughed the other, an evil look crossing his countenance. "Yes, you are quite right, I am——"

"You are not!" cried Jack hotly. "You married my mother a year or so after my own father's death, and made her life miserable, but that does not make you my father, and you well know that I have never admitted your claim. No court would admit it. Courts? You take good care to keep away from all of them, Mr. Rollins, as you choose to call yourself."

"Take them away," said the man with the white mustache. "Let no harm come to them. I don't understand why they are on the island, but it would be awkward if any of their friends should know of our presence here. Don't let them get away, but don't hurt them."

The men were much stronger than the boys, and Jack saw the futility of a struggle during which the younger boy might be hurt, and he, therefore, submitted to being led away, hoping to escape at some later time.

The boys were led some little distance to a little opening where they saw a number of small crudely built houses, several dark-skinned men, who were neither Indians nor negroes, but perhaps a combination of both, and a number of domesticated animals, calves, pigs, a sheep and several fowls.

There were people on the island, therefore, as they had supposed, and these men visited the place on occasion as in the present instance.

There was a strongly built house somewhat larger than the rest on one side of the little village, and here the three boys were taken and locked in a small square room with one window, this being small and protected with an iron bar, evidently to make it safer, Jack noticing several cases in one corner opposite the window.

"Make yourselves comfortable, young gentlemen," laughed Rollins, as he called himself. "You will be set free, but not at present," and with that he went away, and the door was stoutly locked.



CHAPTER XV

JESSE W. IS SENT FOR HELP

All was quiet in a few minutes after the man with the white mustache had left the boys in the room with the barred windows, and presently Percival said, half apologetically, but with the greatest kindness:

"You know I did not mean to call that man any relation of yours, Jack, but the sudden recollection of the last time you met him when I did not see him at all made me blurt out suddenly. I did stop, though."

Jack had come unexpectedly upon his stepfather during his first term at the Academy, several months previous, the man at that time being concerned in the robbery of a bank near the Academy, but escaping capture and suddenly disappearing, Jack had hoped, forever.

He felt nervous and discouraged now that the man had again come into his life, and he sat in a corner of the room on a chest and thought deeply, Percival presently saying to him in cheery tones:

"Brace up, Jack. It is not like you to give way to despondency. What are we going to do? We can't stay here even if that fellow with the white mustache has given orders that we are not to be harmed."

"I tell you what," whispered young Smith. "That window is small, but not too small to put me through. You have done that before, you know. If you can get that bar loose it will be easy enough to put me out, and then I will go straight to the vessel and get the captain, old Ben Bowline, and a lot of sailors to come and get you out."

"You know the way, do you, Jesse W., you won't get lost!" asked Percival, catching at the idea. "You are a plucky little fellow, but I don't want you to take any risks."

"They are nothing but what I can take easy enough," answered the other quickly. "Don't you suppose I would do anything for Jack? And for you, too. You have both done a lot for me, and this isn't much. You get me through the window, and I'll do the rest."

Jack arose quietly, crossed the room, took hold of the iron bar put across the window and tested it.

"I believe we could pull it loose, Dick," he said in a low tone, not knowing if there were any one outside who might hear him. "It is only driven into the frame, and I believe we could pull out frame and all."

"Let me look at it," said Percival, and, taking hold of the bar, he suddenly swelled up his muscles, gave it a quick, sharp wrench, and had it out with a part of the frame as well.

"H'h! great protection that was!" he laughed. "I suppose they thought the window was too small for any one to get through, and it is for most folks, but Jesse W. is only half size and we can put him through all right."

"And I'll put through the other part," said the younger boy. "I am glad I can do something for you two, for you have both of you done a lot for me at one time or another."

"But see here, J.W., do you understand that there is considerable danger in getting away?" asked Jack in a serious tone. "These fellows may be watching, and they would handle you roughly if they caught you. And then it is dark going through the woods, for the moon does not rise till pretty late, and you might fall down some——"

"And I might not!" interrupted the other in a decided tone. "I have a pocket light with me. I always carry one now, whether I think I am going to need it or not, and I can find my way easy enough. Besides, I have a pocket compass as well, and I know which way the vessel lies, and I am going to get you boys out of here and that's all there is to it!"

"All right!" and Jack smiled at the smaller boy's determination. "But I wouldn't let you go if I didn't think you had the pluck to carry it out, and that the only difficulties are at the outset. Listen at the door, Dick, and I'll see how the land lies in this direction," and Jack pulled the chest to the window and looked out.

He could not see very far, but he saw that there were no huts on that side, and that it was not far to the woods, and calculated that the boy could get to them without being observed.

"All right, J.W., the coast is clear," he said. "You are sure you know the way and the general direction? What is it, in fact?"

"About south, and I will get in sight of the water as soon as I can. It will not be dark for some little time yet, and I ought to get to the yacht before sunset or a little after at any rate."

"Very good. Keep in the open as much as you can after you get away from here, and don't run too fast."

"All right. Are you ready?" and the boy stood on the chest beside Jack, looking up into the latter's face with such an air of determination that he laughed and said:

"Yes, I'm ready, up with you!" and Jack lifted the little fellow to the window level, and put him through, Percival saying in a low tone:

"It's all right. I don't hear a sound. I imagine they are all away somewhere, for I can neither see nor hear anything."

"Out you go!" said Jack, dropping the boy to the ground, and looking out to see that he was all right. "Now then, cut!"

He watched the boy till he disappeared in the woods, and then as he neither saw any one nor heard anything of an alarming nature, he said in a tone of great relief:

"He is all right, and I believe he will get there without trouble. I had an idea he would, or I would not have let him go."

"There he is, only half a boy, you might say," said Percival, "but ready to undertake anything for us, no matter how dangerous and there are those big overgrown bullies, Herring and Merritt, who would go all to bits if they had the half of this to do. I tell you, Jesse W. Smith is worth both of them in a lump, and with considerable on his side of the ledger after that, Jack."

"Yes, so he is," agreed Jack.

"And now we will simply have to wait, I suppose?"

"I don't see anything else. The window is too small for us and the door seems to be very strong and heavy, and securely locked. No, I considered these points before I let the boy go."

"But suppose our man with the white mustache should return and miss him?" asked Percival.

"Well, we will put the bar back in its place, put the chest in the corner, and place our coats in a neat pile over there where it is darkest. There are things that we can put under them, and there is the boy fast asleep after his tramp through the woods."

"A good idea, Jack! You are full of resources. Now I would never have thought of a way out of the trouble, but only of the trouble itself."

They replaced the bar so that no one would know by a casual glance that it had been tampered with, put the chest back where they had taken it from, and, gathering up a few loose articles from the floor, made a bundle of them and spread their coats over it.

"A mere reference to the boy being asleep will be enough," said Jack. "The look of the thing is enough to carry out the idea, and they will accept it without question."

"To be sure, and in the meantime the plucky young fellow is hustling to get back to the vessel and bring us help."

Having settled all this the boys sat down and waited, now and then conversing, and occasionally listening for any sound that would denote the return of the so-called Rollins and the men with him.

It was getting on toward sunset when Jack heard Rollins and another man talking outside, although he could not see them when he went to the little window and looked out.

"You say there is a vessel in the bay?"

"Yes, inside the reefs."

"Government vessel?"

"No, private yacht, the one these boys belong on. It's a school on a vacation or tour or something."

"Do they know the way through the reefs!"

"I guess not. They were washed in the other night when there was a cyclone or tidal wave."

"They did not come here after us?"

"No, they didn't know anything about us. They have been here for some time, a week I guess, and can't get out."

"H'm! let them stay here then!" growled the man with the white mustache. "They can't bother us any. If they don't know the way out, which very few do, they'll have to stay here for all I can see."

"But suppose we want to get in on that side ourselves?"

"They could not make us any trouble. We don't want to get in there at this time, although it is a better hiding place than this."

"Then you're going to let them stay there?"

"Certainly. They can't do us any harm. After we get away with our cargo we don't care what happens to them."

The men went away or stopped talking, at any rate, and Jack did not hear any further conversation between them.

"They will probably let us out as soon as they are ready to go," he said to Percival, "but we don't want to stay here till they get ready to let us out, and then there is just a chance that they may forget us altogether. It was just as well that we sent Jesse W. off on his errand."

"I think so myself, and I don't doubt that he will carry it out."

"If Rollins knows the way out through the reefs," said Jack presently, "we might either force or persuade him to pilot us out. If we should capture him we might force him to do it. Otherwise, I might persuade him to do it on consideration of allowing him to escape after we were perfectly safe outside. Very few know of the way out, and it is not likely that the vessel which they are sending to our relief will have any good pilot for these waters on board."

"You don't know positively that this man knows the passage!"

"No, I do not, but he does know some one who does, to judge by his talk, and if he cannot be bargained with perhaps the other man can. I am averse to having anything to do with the man, as you can readily understand, but I do not want to see the whole Hilltop Academy kept prisoners here for an indefinite time."

When it began to grow dark one of the men who had brought them to the place came in with some food and a bottle of wine, and said, as he put it on a chest:

"There's something for you to eat. Other boy asleep, h'm? Well, there is all the more for you then."

Then the man went away, never noticing the little bit of deception which the boys had practised, locking the door after him.

"The things to eat are all right," said Jack, after the man had gone, "but we would better not touch the wine. I never do, anyhow. This is likely to be drugged to make us sleep, so that we will give no trouble."

"I don't want it anyhow," said Dick.

The boys ate a supper, and then, as it grew dark, sat and waited for some sign of their friends, and at last when it was quite dark hearing a peculiar whistle somewhere outside.

"That's the Hilltop signal!" whispered Percival "Aid is at hand!"



CHAPTER XVI

BEN'S STRANGE STORY

Jack jumped upon the chest, which he quickly dragged to the little window, and answered the signal, one generally used by the Hilltop boys when they wished to communicate with each other at a distance.

In a moment it was answered, and then young Smith ran up under the window, and said eagerly:

"You are all right, boys, you are there still, and safe!"

"Yes," answered Jack. "Who is there?"

"Some of the boys, Ben Bowline, the captain and Buck, all ready for a fight if necessary."

"All right. I don't think you will need to make one."

Percival was at the door now, and in a moment he heard the outer one fall in with a crash, and then came the rush of many feet.

There were shouts outside, but these were drowned by the yells of the boys, and of the old sailor.

"Are yo' dere, sah?" the boys heard Bucephalus say in a few moments, just outside the door.

"Yes, but we are locked in."

"Nevah min' dat, jus' lemme get mah head at it an' Ah'll break it down in a hurry, sah."

"Here, stop that!" roared Ben Bowline. "You'll crack yer skull!"

"No, sah, Ah's used to dem things!" guffawed Bucephalus.

"Don't you know that his name means 'ox-headed,' Ben?" cried Percival with a laugh. "Why, he could split a two-inch plank with that head of his. Let him do it, but first wait till I get out of the way."

It was not necessary for Bucephalus to butt the door down, however, as one of the men with Rollins had been captured, and was forced to open the door with his key.

It was the same man who had brought them food and wine, and at the sight of the boys, for lights had been brought, he exclaimed:

"Guess you boys didn't drink anything?"

"No, we did not," said Percival. "Won't you have it your self?"

"Huh! I think not. But where's the little fellow? The one that was asleep when I come in."

"Here I am!" piped up Jesse W. himself, "and you'll find that I am pretty wide awake."

The boys picked up their coats, and put them on, and the man muttered, his eyes opening wider every moment:

"Huh! that was a neat trick! Then the boy was not there at all?"

"No, he was on his way for help," said Jack. "Never judge too much by appearances. Still, I am glad you did this time."

The boys and their friends now left the house, the man being taken a short distance to prevent his giving the alarm, although the natives had already scattered in many directions at the coming of Ben, Buck and the boys.

"Young Smith got to us all right," said Harry to Jack and Dick, "and we set out without delay. You must have had quite an adventure."

"So we did, and it might have been worse. Rollins is on this part of the island, sir," to the captain. "He got in yesterday or to-day, I am not sure which. I do not believe he has seen the man who was signaling to him last night, and I do not think he knows anything about him. He does know that government vessels are on the watch for him, however, and I think he will shortly get away from here."

"I wish we could get word to them so as to stop him," growled the captain. "These smugglers give honest traders a bad reputation, for folks think we are all alike."

A considerable number of the Hilltop boys had come to the rescue of the two boys, and these were now carried on the shoulders of the others, and a triumphal march back to the vessel was begun, young Smith being taken up as well as Jack and Dick, the boys saying that he had traveled enough for one day and that he needed a rest.

Many of the boys had pocket lights with them, and others cut pine branches and made torches of them so that there was light enough to show them the way, and it was not necessary to wait for the moon to rise.

The boys sang and shouted, and made a lot of noise on the way back so that if the smugglers or any of the natives had had any idea of attacking them they would have been deterred by the very din.

They reached the shore at length, and were taken on board the yacht, Bucephalus presently announcing that supper was ready, the boys having the best of appetites for it, and making it a feast in honor of Jack, Dick and young Jesse W., who was considered as much a hero as his older schoolmates, and was certainly regarded so by them.

Not all the boys had gone over to the other side, some staying away on account of the fatigue of the journey and others, noticeably Herring and his cronies, because they were either not asked or would not have gone if they had been.

It was a feast in honor of the three boys, nevertheless, and those who were not ready to join in praise of the heroes were wise enough to keep quiet and not to make any dissent.

After supper Jack and a few of the boys discussed the situation, and tried to calculate how long it would take the vessel which Mr. Smith had sent out to reach them.

"If we knew that, we would know how long we would have to wait," observed Arthur. "Some vessels are faster than others."

"It would take at least three or four days," said Jack, "and if he has sent a fast vessel and given directions to make all speed they might be here in less time. Then they must pick up a pilot who would be likely to know these seas, and who is used to making difficult passages. Any ordinary pilot would not do. He should have a special one."

"And he cannot tell just what is required till he gets here, and, perhaps, would have to hunt one up, and there is more lost time," said Harry dolefully. "It's a pity we are wasting so much time."

"Yes, but I don't see how we are going to help ourselves."

"No, perhaps not."

Late that night Jack was awakened as he lay asleep in his berth, not by a flash, as before, but by hearing some one say, as he went by the door:

"It can't be, it's too much like the flying Dutchman."

"That's what I say, but all the same I was sure I saw one come in through the reefs."

"You didn't see any lights?"

"No, but I could make out her masts and rigging."

The two men went on, and Jack heard no more.

"There has some vessel come in through the reefs," he said to himself as he sat up in bed. "I must try to find them to-morrow. I have always said that I thought it possible for a vessel to get through if one knew the passage, and this shows that it has been done. No wonder these men thought it was a phantom ship."

Partially dressing himself he went on deck, and looked around him.

He could see nothing, and he hardly expected to do so, but had yielded to impulse and had come on deck.

Ben Bowline presently came up, looked at him, touched his grizzled forelock, and said:

"Sir to you. Come up to get the air?"

"Yes," Jack answered shortly.

"Kind of a pretty night, don't you think, sir!" the old sailor said after a pause during which he stood balancing himself first on one foot and then on the other.

"Yes, it is a fine starlight night. The moon ought to be coming up soon, and then we can see things better."

"Yes, so we can. Was you looking for anything particular, sir?" in a mysterious tone.

"How about that vessel, Ben?" asked Jack in a low tone. "Are you sure you saw her? What was she, the long, low, rakish craft we read of in old stories or a saucy steam yacht with tremendous speed?"

"Sh! the old man might hear us," cautioned Ben Bowline. "Do you know I don't want to think it were the Flying Dutchman 'cause it's plumb bad luck to see her, but how is a live ship going to get in here?"

"Easy enough, if she knows the way, Ben. Don't say anything about it, but are you sure you saw something?"

"Well, I dunno, but I think I did. She was out yonder, just where you can see the open water, and she was only there half a jiffy, as you might say. Tom saw her, too, or I would have thought I was dreaming."

"Steamer, Ben?" asked Jack, sure now that there was something in the old fellow's story.

"Reckon she was, though I did see something white, which gave me a creepy feeling like as if I'd seen a apparition or something similar. Maybe she had sail on to help her steam. Some of 'em do."

"And you saw her for a short time only!"

"Yes, sir, not half a minute nor half that even. There wasn't time to say 'Jack Robinson' twice, sir, before she was out of sight."

"Well, if she came in she can get out, and so can we, Ben. Keep this quiet till I speak to the captain about it. It will be just as well not to have every one know it, and have it talked about all over the vessel."

"Shouldn't wonder if it would, sir," and as Jack walked away the old sailor continued his own passage up and down the deck.

"There are probably places to hide that we have not seen," thought the boy, as he took a turn of the deck, and then started to go below, "and we may not be able to see this vessel in the morning. I shall have a look for her, nevertheless. If there is to be a bargain made and I don't see why there should not be, unless we trade directly with lawbreakers and assist them. That we could not do, of course, but if we hire a pilot we are not supposed to know whether he is honest or not."

The question was a puzzling one, and Jack had not solved it when he went below, turned in and quickly fell asleep.

In the morning, nothing having been seen of any strange vessel from the deck of the yacht, Jack told Percival quietly what he had heard, and after breakfast they went ashore and set out for a search for the stranger.

"If she is here," Jack said, "she is one of the smugglers, and will not want to be seen. If we can find her it may mean that we can get out of our strange prison."

"How are we going to find her, Jack? There are probably plenty of hiding places about here that we don't dream of."

"I know it, Dick, but we must find them if we want to leave here. I do not think that Smith will be able to get us out, and if we can do it ourselves, so much the better."

"Yes, and all the more credit to us, Jack."



CHAPTER XVII

DISCOVERIES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS

The boys landed at the point where they had first gone ashore, well up in the bay, as that would give them less walking, and pushed toward the north, keeping as near to the shore as they could in the hope of being thus better able to see the hidden smuggler in case she was still at the island.

Making their way over rough ground, they at length came to an opening in the rocks which was quite high enough for them to enter, and Jack said in an eager tone:

"It is possible we may find something here, Dick. This seems to be a cave, and smugglers and men of that sort make such places convenient."

"It looks rather dark, Jack," murmured Percival. "We had a pretty gruesome experience in a dark cave when we first came to the island and I don't want to repeat it."

"You won't find any devil fish in there, Dick," said Jack reassuringly. "Besides, we have our flashes with us and are armed as well, and if we do find anything uncanny we can put up a good fight, I imagine."

"That's all right, Jack, but once I have an experience of that sort I am a little shy at venturing into a place anything like it. The mere look of this cave made me think of the other."

"But there is no water here and it may be only a hole in the rocks after all. Then it may lead to some retreat of these smuggler folk, and if it does, so much the better."

"All right, Jack, I am with you," said Percival, and the boys entered the hole in the rocks, as Jack called it.

It was more than that, as they presently discovered, for they found that it extended much farther than they thought, and Jack, turning on his pocket flash when there began to be less and less light to guide them, saw that the passage went on for some distance.

It was high enough for them to walk upright and wide enough for three or four persons to walk abreast, there being a few turns, but none sharp enough to cut off the view ahead for some distance.

"Well, we won't get under water as we did in the other place, Jack," observed Percival as they walked on, meeting the first sharp turn and being now unable to see behind them, "for we are going toward the interior of the island and not toward the sea."

"No, and there will be no one to tumble down rocks upon us and shut us in, or think they did, as happened before. In fact, the place seems to be decidedly uninteresting, Dick."

"Nothing has happened so far, if that is what you mean," laughed the other, "but you never can tell."

They made one or two more sharp turns and at length came to an opening of greater magnitude where they could see three or four passages leading in different directions, some very narrow and one wide enough for them to walk side by side.

"Which one shall we take, Jack?" asked Percival. "The place begins to grow interesting now that we have several routes to choose from. Does it look as if men had been here? Do you see any smudges on the walls or any footprints in the dust? Is this just an accident, or has it been cut out and made of use for a hiding place?"

"No, there are no smudges which might have been made by torches, Dick, and I don't see any footprints except our own. I don't believe any one has been in here for years."

"Then you think that there may have been some one here at some time, Jack? It has been used?"

"Yes, for it has not the looks of a natural cavern which has not yet been discovered. It has been cleaned up to a certain extent. Still, I do not think that the particular gang of malefactors we are looking for has ever occupied it."

"Then there is not much use in our going any farther, Jack?"

"No, not if we want to find Rollins and the rest."

"Suppose we take the widest passage, Jack!"

"Very well. Come ahead."

They went on for twenty feet, when the floor of the passage began to take a sudden decline which increased at every step.

"Hold on, Dick," said Jack, holding his light low and flashing it along the rough floor. "This thing may take a sudden drop and——"

"So it does!" gasped Percival, lying at full length on the floor and crawling carefully forward a pace or two. "It takes a drop for fair. It is a lucky thing you noticed it."

"Then we may as well go back, for I don't care to take a drop I don't know how deep."

"I'll see," muttered Percival, picking up a loose stone as big as his fist and tossing it ahead of him.

Not until several seconds had passed did the boys hear the sound of the stone falling into water, and Percival said with a sigh of relief:

"Well, we didn't go that way, at any rate. Come on, Jack, there is nothing to be seen in that direction."

The boys returned to the place where the passages diverged, and Percival suggested that they take one of the narrower paths and follow it for a time.

"All right," laughed Jack, "but I don't believe we shall find any more than we have already found. In fact, I don't believe the smugglers know of this place at all and we won't find out anything."

However, they proceeded down the narrow path till they suddenly found themselves at the end, where the place widened into a chamber about ten feet square, and here they saw a sight which made Percival tremble.

It was a pile of human skeletons reaching nearly to the roof of the vault and thrown promiscuously about like so much rubbish.

"I say, I've got enough of this!" gasped the young fellow. "Let's get out of this, Jack, before we find anything worse. First the bottomless pit and then a charnel house. I am satisfied!"

"It is not a very pleasant sight," said Jack musingly, "but they cannot do us any harm. They have probably been here for years."

The boys returned to the chamber they had left and then went back along the way they had come without seeking to explore any other passages.

Getting out into the light at last, they proceeded with their search for the smugglers, resolving not to enter any more mysterious caves, but to look for places where a vessel might be able to hide.

"There must be a lot of coves along here," said Jack, "that we have not been able to find on account of the difficulty of making one's way along the rocks, but now we are looking for them we don't mind doing a lot of scrambling."

"No, we are used to that, and, besides, we are alone, and haven't young Smith with us. I suppose he would have been delighted to come, for he likes being with us, but it would have been too much of a task for him."

"And yet he would not have complained, Dick. He is a plucky little chap. Just think of his going into the cabin of the wreck, up to his knees in the water, to get that bag of gold just because he said he would."

"Yes, it was a nervy thing to do, and there are bigger boys in the Academy who would not have done it. But I say, Jack, it is getting pretty rough along here. I am afraid we may have to change our route."

They had come upon a mass of high rocks over which it was well nigh impossible to make their way, and Jack stopped, looked around him and said:

"It seems a pretty tough job, Dick. Suppose you give me a boost, however, and let me see if I can get to the top of this one. I am lighter than you, and perhaps I can make it."

"All right, Jack, just as you say," and Dick bent his back so that his companion could get upon his shoulders, and then straightened up slowly, Jack holding on by some of the projections in the rock and going up with him, being able to reach a bit higher when Percival was at his full height and saying, with some satisfaction:

"That is fine, Dick. I should reach the top now. Catch me if I come tumbling down, however."

"I don't think you will, Jack. You are a regular cat to keep your feet, and I guess you are all right."

Clinging with toes and fingers to the rock and going up inch by inch, Jack at length reached a point whence it was easier climbing, and here he advanced more rapidly than before, Percival watching him closely, and standing ready to catch him in case he happened to lose his footing.

Jack did not, however, and at last, as he reached the top of the rock, threw himself forward and found himself on a flat, but somewhat rough surface a few yards in extent with higher rocks on one side, but nothing in front of him.

Beyond, at some little distance, there were other rocks, but he judged that if he went to the edge of the rock to which he had climbed he might see something, and he, therefore, crept along cautiously for fear of being seen, until he reached the edge.

Here he looked over and saw that there was water below him, quite a good sized cove, in fact, which ran up from the shore to a considerable distance, apparently, but had a turn a few rods farther up in shore.

Looking the other way Jack could see the bay in which they lay, and said to himself:

"That is the way they could come, but now let us see if they did, and if there is room beyond for a vessel of any size to pass."

The higher mass of rock on his left prevented his going much farther, however, and he was thinking that he might be obliged to climb to the top of this, being unable to get around it, when he heard a suspicious sound below him, and lay flat on his face, peering cautiously over the edge.

There were some bushes and coarse grass here and these hid him somewhat from observation, while they did not prevent his seeing anything going on below.

The sound he had heard was the splash of oars and the hum of voices, and in a few moments he saw a boat containing two men appear around a corner of the higher rock, which descended sheer to the water's edge, and make its way slowly toward the open bay.

"I tell you there is one, Davis," Jack heard one of the men say, recognizing the voice as that of the man with the white mustache, as he always thought of him, and not as his stepfather.

In fact, he had long since repudiated any relationship whatever with the man, and regarded him as a stranger who had come into his life without any wish of his own, and whom he would willingly put out of it, and be satisfied never to see or hear of again.

"But weren't you in here the other night when I signaled?" asked the other man, who was rowing. "You answered and told me to come in."

"Me?" with a laugh. "I tell you I was not. I don't know the way in any more than you, though I know that there is one."

"But I saw lights, and I got flashes from some one on deck, in the regular code, too."

"They were from the deck of this yacht I told you of, and I will show her to you if you are patient. Go easy, though, for we may come in sight of her at any moment."