ght at his funny work," suggested Shelley, hitting the
nail directly on the head, as the reader already knows.

Casting the light of the acetylene gas lamp ahead of them, the party
from the _Josephine_ moved on, directly past the spot where the
Rovers were in hiding. The boys hardly dared to breathe for fear of
discovery. They stood stock still until the others were all but out of
sight.

"This is interesting," murmured Tom. "They must have landed on the
other side of the island."

"Yes, and Merrick hired that Walt Wingate to play us foul!" cried Sam.
"What shall we do next, Dick?" he continued anxiously. "They act as if
they expect to get that treasure to-night!"

"I don't know what to do exactly," answered Dick. "But one thing is
certain--we must follow them up and prevent their getting hold of that
treasure if we possibly can!"

CHAPTER XXI

SCARING OFF THE ENEMY

It was easy enough for Dick to say they must follow up their enemies
and prevent Sid Merrick and his party from gaining possession of the
treasure, but how all this was to be accomplished was another matter.

In the first place, the other party numbered four as against their
three. More than this, those from the _Josephine_ were heavily
armed, while the Rovers had brought with them nothing but a single
pistol.

"It's well enough to talk," whispered Sam, after Sid Merrick and his
crowd had passed on, "but if we tackle them in the open the chances are
we'll get the worst of it."

"We may get a chance at them in some other way," answered Dick. "We
have this advantage, we know where they are and they don't know we are
on the isle."

With cautious steps they stole after the Merrick party, keeping them in
sight by the waving rays of the lamp and lantern ahead, as they danced
over the rocks and among the trees and bushes. They kept about a
hundred feet to the rear.

"I've got a plan," said Tom, as the party ahead came to a halt to make
sure of the trail. "Can't we cut in somewhere and get ahead of them and
then scare them back?"

"Let's try it!" exclaimed Sam. "I am sure if we play ghosts, or
something like that, we'll scare Tad Sobber out of his wits."

"It's a risky thing to do," mused the eldest Rover. "We might get
caught at it."

Nevertheless, he was rather in favor of the plan, and when the Merrick
party stopped again, for Cuffer to take a stone out of his shoe, they
"cut into" the woods and pushed forward with all speed. It was