"Well, when you get enough gold pieces you can buy one," said Grant.

"Don't you think your friends back home would be jealous of you though?"

and he winked slyly at his companions.

"Ah suttinly does hope so," exclaimed Sam heartily. "Dey's a lot of good fo' nothin' no 'count n.i.g.g.e.rs anyhow."

"Would you work any more if you had a lot of money?" asked George.

"Work!" exclaimed Sam disdainfully. "h.e.l.lo, dere, foolish! What yo'

think Ah am anyhow? To' must think Ah'm plumb crazy," and Sam looked pityingly at George. "Ob co'se Ah wouldn't nebber lif' mah han' agin."

"Don't you think you'd get tired of doing nothing?" laughed George.

"Jes' lemme try it onct," and Sam snorted at the idea of any one being so silly as to work unless he was compelled to do so.

"Well, I hope you do get rich, Sam," exclaimed John, "and I hope all the rest of us do too."

"Dis am de place fo' it," said Sam confidently. "Jes' think how many people would gib dere eyes jes' to fin' dis yere island."

"Finding the island wouldn't do them much good unless they knew where to look after they got here," said Grant.

"But we do know," exclaimed Fred. "All we have to do now is to make a few measurements and do a little digging."

"It may be a good deal of digging," said Grant.

"We don't know how deep the stuff is buried, you know."

"And we don't care," said George. "I'd dig all the way to China to get that stuff if it was necessary."

"I wish we had some tools," sighed John. "It may be slow work."

"Oh, I don't know," said George. "It's all sand down around that end of the island and we can use sticks and anything we can get hold of."

"An' mah knife," added Sam eagerly.

"Yes," agreed Grant. "That knife will help a lot."

"We can get Snip to use his beak on the tough spots," suggested Fred.

"Yes," laughed George. "By the way he dug into my hand he ought to be able to tear holes in the ground without any trouble at all."

"Let's get to sleep," said Grant, "and at the crack of dawn to-morrow we'll be down at the old shark rock with our compa.s.s and String's shoe ready to make ourselves wealthy."

It was an excited little party that turned in presently and dreamed of gold and treasure unheard of all the rest of the warm tropical night.

CHAPTER XXV

ON THE BEACH

The sun had scarcely made its appearance above the horizon the following day when the inmates of the cave were astir.

"Get up everybody," shouted Grant, the first to arise. "We've got work to do."

"Yon won't have to call me twice," exclaimed John, hastily rising to his feet. "It seems to me I've been awake half the night anyway, just waiting for that old sun to come out and give us enough light to see."

"Suppose it had been a cloudy day and the sun hadn't come out, String,"

said George, who had now joined the others. "I suppose you'd have had to stay in bed all day. My, that would have been tough luck."

"You're pretty funny for so early in the morning," said John shortly.

"After you've broken your back digging for a couple of hours maybe you won't feel quite so smart."

"My back will never get tired digging for gold," laughed George. "I could keep at it for a week and not even feel it."

"An' me too," chimed in Sam. "Ah is pow'ful strong when it come to dat kind ob diggin'."

"Well, let's get some breakfast and then give all these strong men a chance," laughed Fred.

"Aren't you going swimming first?" demanded George.

"I'm going, I know that," said John enthusiastically. "I don't intend to miss any swims in the mornings if I can help it."

"How about sharks?" queried Grant. "I should think you'd have had just about all the swimming you'd want, String."

"No, indeed," laughed John. "I can tell you one thing, though, and that is that I intend to stick awfully close to sh.o.r.e."

"You won't be any closer than I will," exclaimed George seriously. "I'll leave the middle of the ocean to the fish and not dispute it with them at all."

"Who's coming?" called George, who had already started. It seemed that every one was, for a moment later the other four members of the little family were close behind George. All were in excellent spirits and an air of suppressed excitement seemed to pervade the atmosphere around about them. When any one spoke it was in a tense tone and every laugh sounded somewhat nervous. Eyes sparkled eagerly and breath came a trifle faster when the thought of the buried gold arose in any one's mind.

"Diamond horseshoes, Sam!" exclaimed John, slapping the grinning negro heartily on the back. "Diamond horseshoes right after breakfast."

"'Deed Ah hopes so," said Sam. "Ah sho' could use one ob dem."

"Not here, though," laughed Grant. "Pretty soon we shan't have anything to wear if our clothes get very much more ragged."

"That's right, Sam," said John. "You couldn't wear your diamond horseshoe on this island."

"Does yo' really think dey is any ob dem in dat chest?" asked Sam very seriously and very eagerly.

"I doubt it," laughed John. "I don't believe they wore such things in the days when this treasure was buried."

"Dat's all right dough," said Sam cheerfully. "As yo' say Ah wouldn't hab no use fo' one on dis yere island. All Ah wants am gold enough to buy one when Ah gets back to Richmon'. Dat's when Ah wants it, an', golly, say won't dem n.i.g.g.e.rs be jealous." He laughed aloud as he usually did at the thought, for it was a most pleasing prospect to him. He was scarcely more than a child in mind; his great, and seemingly his supreme, desire to make his friends jealous showed this.

"Maybe we'll find some earrings," suggested Fred. "We can wear those, and if we find bracelets and gold arm-bands and anklets and things like that we can put them all on and look like a bunch of cannibals."