Anything was better than listening to such noises while his companions were unconscious in slumber, and he shook Ned, who chanced to be nearest him, violently.
“What’s the matter?” the sleepy boy asked as he rubbed his eyes.
“Hush! Don’t speak so loud! I’ve been hearing the queerest kind of a noise. It sounds as if some one was on the island.”
Ned’s eyes had closed again while Vance was talking, and the latter shook him yet more violently than before.
“Wake up and listen. It may be that men have landed, and we must look out for the treasure!”
This was sufficient to render Ned very wide awake, and he raised himself on his elbow as he said:
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Wait awhile and you will.”
It was not necessary for Ned to listen many seconds; Vance had hardly ceased speaking when the noise was heard again, and one would have failed to decide which boy was the most frightened.