Fortunately the ground was moderately soft within the circle, and their spades sank deep with every thrust. Tyke was not allowed to share in this work of excavation, much to his disgust. As for Drew and Captain Hamilton, their muscular arms worked like machines, and they soon had great mounds of earth piled around their respective pits.
But fortune failed to reward their efforts. One place after another was abandoned as hopeless.
They were toiling away with the perspiration dripping from them, when Drew was startled by a cry from Ruth. He leaped instantly out of his excavation, and ran to her. Ruth was standing in the shade of the jungle's edge; but she was staring across the barren hillside toward the west.
"What is it?" demanded the young man. "What do you see?"
"I—I don't know. I'm not sure I saw anything," she admitted. "And yet——"
"Some of the seamen?" demanded Drew. "I've been expecting that, though your father is so sure that Ditty and his gang will remain at the eastern end of the island."
"Oh, Allen! Not Ditty! Not one of the sailors! I—I could almost believe in—in ghosts," and she tried to laugh.
"What is it, my dear?" asked Tyke, who had come over. "What's happened? Did you see something?"
"Yes. It moved. It was there, and then it wasn't there. The space it stood in was empty," said the girl earnestly.
"For the love o' goodness!" cried Tyke, mopping his brow. "You've got me all stirred up. Now, if I was superstitious——"