His hands, as well as Parmalee's, went up promptly. One of the seamen, laughing a little, came forward and searched them both, taking away Drew's weapon. Parmalee had dropped his useless club.

The young men, so suddenly made captives by the mutineers, stood with their backs to the strong moonlight, their faces in the shadow. The moon was now sinking behind a b.u.t.tress of the volcano. As yet, neither had been recognized by their captors. But now Ditty came forward, and first of all thrust his face into that of Parmalee.

"Who the devil are you?" he demanded.

The young man lifted his head and stared into the mate's pale eye.

Ditty started back with a shriek.

"What--what---- Who is it?" chattered the mate. His henchmen gazed at him in amazement. Suddenly Ditty came forward again, and whirled Parmalee around so that he faced the sinking moon.

"Mr. Parmalee!" he whispered.

The latter smiled faintly.

"It's Parmalee, all right," he said. "You didn't expect to see me again, I imagine, Mr. Ditty."

The sound of the man's voice seemed to rea.s.sure the mate. The other mutineers chattered their surprise. Finally Ditty, licking his dry lips, stammered:

"I--I thought that you--you were----"

"No thanks to you that I'm not drowned, Mr. Ditty, if that's what you mean," said Parmalee bitterly. "You tried your best to murder me."

"Not me!" declared Ditty, with a gesture of denial, turning his single eye away from the other's accusing gaze. "It was that swab, Drew, threw you overboard."

"Liar," declared Parmalee evenly. "Drew lay on the deck unconscious from his fall. I was stooping to help him. Though you crept up behind me, I knew you when you seized me in your arms, you villain. And I hope to see you punished for it."

Ditty, with a curse, would have struck Parmalee, but Drew stepped between them and received the blow intended for his comrade.

"If you must hit a man, hit one of your own size," he said quietly.

"Drew! Drew himself!" shouted the mate, recognizing the second captive. "The very one we wanted! Hi, bullies! we've got the whip-hand now. We've got the old man's right bower! An' him an' the gal an' Tyke Grimshaw will pay us our price for the freedom of this laddy-buck, to say nothin' of Parmalee. Bring 'em along!"

CHAPTER x.x.xIV

THE BATTLE IS ON

Helpless and almost hopeless, the two captives were led deeper into the forest paths. Drew realized that they were skirting the barren hillside and gaining a position nearer to the treasure seekers' fort.

Finally they saw a fire in the now dark wood, and soon came to a stockade. Several fallen trees formed this barrier, and in addition to the protection they afforded, a number of branches had been so arranged as to form an abattis. The work had been hastily done; but with determined men behind it, it would offer a formidable obstacle to an attacking party.

At a fire in the further end of the enclosure the mutineers were preparing their breakfast. Ditty went over and talked earnestly with some of his men, but finally broke off abruptly and came back to the prisoners, who had both been tied, wrist and ankle.

"So I've got you where I've wanted you at last, have I?" he taunted Drew. "Little moonlight walks don't always pan out as you expect."

Drew disdained to reply.

"You wont talk, eh?" the mate snarled, kicking him in the ribs with his heavy boot. "Well, I know some cunnin' little ways of makin' people talk when I want 'em to. But I'm goin' to wait a while before I try 'em on you. I want somebody here to see you cringe and hear you howl.

Bless her pretty eyes, how she'll enjoy it!"

Then Drew's eyes flashed and he strained at his bonds.

"You vile scoundrel!" he cried. "If my hands were free I'd choke the life out of you!"

"So you can talk, after all?" sneered the mate, his cold eye becoming still more reptilian.

"And more than talk--give me the chance," Drew flung back at him.

"Smart boy," jeered the mate. "Smart enough to translate Spanish and the pirate's old map, eh? An' now you're goin' to smart more when you see me an' my mates walk off with the doubloons," and he laughed.

"Yes. When I do!" the young man said boldly. "You'll be a deal older when that happens, Ditty."

"I'll show you!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the mate, and kicked him again.

"The brute!" gasped Parmalee.

"Parmalee," Drew said in a trembling voice, "I never wanted the use of my hands so much as I do now. When I do get free, I shall be tempted to kill that fellow."

"He deserves it--the double-dyed villain!" groaned Parmalee. "And he threw me overboard."

"I knew he must have done so," said Drew. "But why did he do it? Not just to put the crime on me? How were you saved and how did you get here? Let's hear it all."

"I had overheard the rascal plotting with some of the men," returned Parmalee. "Ditty must have caught a glimpse of me. I suppose he felt the time was not ripe for exposure; so he put me out of the way. He must have been lurking near us that night when you fell. I was stooping to help you when he grabbed me and flung me over the rail. I didn't have time to cry out.

"I'm a good swimmer--one of the few active accomplishments I possess--and I swam as long as I could. Just as I lost strength, my hand touched a cask lashed to a grating that must have fallen from some vessel, or been thrown from it. That held me up till morning. By that time I was about all in. But just then a sloop--a turtle catcher she was--bore down on me, sighted me, and answered my frantic appeal, and picked me up. It was a terrible experience."

"It must have been," breathed the other. "Go on. How did you get here to this very island where the doubloons were buried?"

"Are they here?" asked Parmalee eagerly. "Do you know?"

"Sh!" whispered Drew. "Don't say a word. We have 'em--pecks of them!

And jewels and other stuff besides--enough to make us all as rich as Midas."

"Humph!" commented Parmalee, with sudden gravity. "And he had a.s.ses'

ears. I'm afraid this mess we're all in shows that we did an asinine thing in coming down here after the doubloons. What is wealth compared to life itself?"

"True," murmured Drew. "And what we've been through besides. But go on. Tell the rest."

"When those turtle catchers landed here I had no idea that this island was the one marked on the pirate's map which Captain Hamilton showed me," pursued Parmalee. "I was treated well enough. But I happened to have no money in my pockets, and the men disbelieved my claim that I would pay them if they would get me to a civilized port! So they made me work. That was all right, but the work was too heavy for me; so I went off into the interior of the island to see if there were not some inhabitants. Then the first earthquake came. It frightened those half-breeds and negroes blue. They set off in the sloop, leaving me behind.

"Day before yesterday I came up this way. I guessed that the fortification must have been thrown up by one party from the _Bertha Hamilton_ and that this was the island we had been seeking; but hesitated to come nearer, unarmed as I was, fearing that Ditty and his gang of cut-throats were fortified here."

"Ruth saw you," Drew volunteered. "She thought you were an apparition.

And so did I, this morning. But you must have had a frightful time of it."

"I've been keeping myself alive on fruit and sh.e.l.l-fish since the turtle catchers deserted me. It's not a satisfying diet," Parmalee said with a little laugh.