“Say, Phil,” he said, uneasily, “Don’t you think we’d better scout about a bit and find out if there’s anybody spying on us? All the time we were burying the treasure I felt as though someone were looking on.”
Phil shook his head.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
“Then you don’t think they’ll attack right away?” put in Dick quickly.
Again Phil shook his head.
“I think Ramirez has them pretty well under his thumb,” he said. “They won’t dare to carry mutiny very far. And as for Ramirez himself, he’s a pretty cautious rascal—and a greedy one too. He must have spent a good deal of his time around these diggings. At the moment we brought in the treasure he was hiding somewhere nearby. Later he came so close to the cave that he listened in on our conversation.”
The boys looked startled and glanced about them uneasily. The sun had risen flamingly giving promise of another fine day, but even its bright rays did not do much to lessen the uncomfortable feeling that someone was lurking near, spying upon them.
“The rat!” muttered Dick under his breath. “How much did he hear, Phil?”
“Enough,” Phil answered earnestly, “to make him sure that we had not only found the treasure but that there was still more to come. That’s his chief reason for not wiping us off the map at once.”
“Wants us to do the work, eh?” said Jack Benton. “And then when we’ve recovered all the treasure for him—which feat he couldn’t hope to accomplish for himself, not having the necessary equipment—he’ll get rid of us and triumphantly carry off the treasure?”