Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-11

I
| wait until we are some distance iron
here,, Bob advised ''Fhe men may have
eeard us shouting, and we shall be safer II VIZ
lind another hiding place."
AS he spoke he started toward the east
moving with the greatest care and his com
panions followed him like shadows 1t wal
not until they were nearly mile from whert
they had met, and where another thickly
growing ciump Of bushes afforded good hid
ing place, that the captain halted, saying, a'
much-needed rest
Now tell me what happened while l was
away, and then I'll give you the history ol
my travels"
Percy related all that had occurred, begin
ming with his discovery of the secret con,
tanned IN the knotted rope, and ending with
the supposed fact that Gomez had passed
them some time after the hiding place had
been reached.
"That must have been me-" Bob said, as
he IN turn told his story; and he added, in
conclusion, ut seems strange that misfortune
comes each time we make a step toward
finding the whereabouts of the treasure. As
soon as we got the cryptogram, Gomez ap-
peared; after we had escaped, and when you
succeeded In reading the cipher, the Jaquita
was wrecked; now, when you have learned
the secret of the rope, we are in worse
position than ever before, for we are almost
out OF food, entirely without water. and hunt
ed down like rabbits. expect the island
pen, If we. should really put our hands on
the money!"
"I'H risk all that if we can get rid of Go
mez and his crew." Percy said, with laugh,
for both he and Dudley grew almost light
hearted as soon as Bob was with them again.
We have saved the compass, and If we can
find some means of measuring distances, we
ca, can strike the treasure in very short time.
The most important, question now is. what
are we going to do?" =
81 know what we can try Bob replied.
1T is a fact that we can't get off the key,
unless some vessel puts in. and it is quite as
true that We have no water-food we can
manage to find. Now, we have run away
from the Spaniard long enough, and l think
it's time we began to give him some trouble" I"
Percys eyes sparkled. He had always been
In favor of assuming the offensive, however
slight might be the chance of success, and
he was thoroughly well pleased that Bob's
patience was at last exhausted. Dudley, on
the contrary, looked as alarmed as the mate
did happy; but he made no remonstrance.
eve will keep in hiding until tomorrow
morning. the captain continued. "and when
the sun is high enough to use my watch crys-
tai we will start three big fires on the east
side. | calculate that will bring out all the
thieves to see if any one has landed, or if
they can catch us. As soon as we've done
that, we'll take the nearest cut through the
middle of the key to the harbor. and either
get away on their raft, or take some provi-
sions and water"
"But the wounded man will surely be on
guard objected Dudley, hoping he could
bring up sufficient against the scheme to in
duee his companions to abandon it.
Every likely he will. and we must run the
risk of his being armed" said Bob, Some
of their weapons and good many cartridges
were destroyed at the time of the explosion,
and I'm taking the chances that all of them
have not got revolvers. Ii Launee is there, pre-
pared to shoot, we shall have made failure;
but il he does not happen to have ANYTHING
to defend himself with, we must get what
we can by force, for it viii only be taking our
own Ny hatchet will count for something,
and three boys, even though they have moth
ing but clubs, can do considerable against
man with but one arm"
eve can fix it easily enough if the men see
the smoke" Percy said, confidently. "We
have got to make some fight, Dud, or run the
risk of being killed, and you must work up
little more courage than you had when Gomez
came upon us, or We shall find ourselves in a
mighty hard position"
Dudley promised that he would do his best,
and he mentally resolved to be brave, how
ever frightened he might become.
In pursuance of Bobs plan, the boys stayed
where they were during the remainder of the
day and night. They heard nothing to de-
note that Gomez or his friends Were in the
vicinity, and the general belief was that the
Spaniard had concluded to wait until the
pangs Of thirst should force them to come
into the camp
When the first streaks of dawn appeared in
the sky next morning, Bob who had been
awake nearly half the night, aroused his
sleeping companions to prepare for action.
There was no breakfast to be eaten for all
the food had been consumed the day before,
and the hungry party set out, guided on their
way by the precious compass.
They started toward the east, walking as
rapidly as possible, for there was no fear