.
Then he followed. They heard a wild shout and the next minute Ruth was
sobbing in her father's arms, while Tyke--hardy grizzled old Tyke--had
thrown his arms around Allen in a bear's hug and was blubbering like a
baby.

CHAPTER XXVI

HOPE DEFERRED

There was a wild babble of questions and answers, and it was a long
time before all had calmed down enough to talk coherently.

The captain and Tyke in their frantic search had come just abreast of
the outlet at the moment when Ruth and Allen had burst out into
daylight and safety.

Their hearts thrilled as they listened to the dreadful perils through
which had passed the two who were dearest to them on earth and the
narration was punctuated with expressions of consternation and sympathy.

"Well now," suggested Ruth after a half hour had passed, "let's get
back to work."

"No more work this afternoon," ejaculated the captain. "You're going
straight back to the ship."

"Indeed I'm not, Daddy," rejoined Ruth. "I'm all right now and I'll be
vastly happier sitting here and seeing you go on with the work than to
feel I've made you lose a day. We've got some hours of daylight yet."

The captain protested, but Ruth coaxed and wheedled him till he
consented and they all went back to the ditch they had started and went
to work, Ruth alone of the party being forbidden to lift a finger.

They excavated to the volcanic ledge in half a dozen places. In none
did they find a trace of treasure--not a sign that this soil had ever
before been disturbed by the hand of man.

"Bad mackerel!" grumbled Captain Hamilton, finally climbing out of his
last pit. "This looks as if we'd been handed a rotten deal from a cold
deck."

Tyke looked up from his work, and began:

"Mebbe that--Now, if I was superstitious--Oh, well," he went on
hastily, "you can't expect to find a fortune in a minute."

"But we got the bearings all right, according to the map, didn't we?"
demanded the captain with some asperity.

"We certainly did," Drew put it.

"We can't dig over the whole island," complained Captain Hamilton. "It
would be foolish. Hush! What's that?"

A rumble, a sound from the very bowels of the hill, smote upon their
ears. Ruth ran to them.

"Oh, Daddy!" she cried, "is there going to be another earthquake?"

"Look there!" Drew said pointing upward.

Over the summit of the whale's hump hung a balloon of smoke, or of
steam, its underside of a lurid hue.

"I say I'v