Part 32 (2/2)

”Wow!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Tom, after scratching his hand and his leg. ”This is something prime, I must confess!”

”What I call hunting a treasure with a vengeance,” added d.i.c.k, dryly.

”I move we go back,” came from Sam. ”We seem to be stuck in more ways than one.”

”Perhaps it is better traveling just beyond,” declared d.i.c.k. ”I am not going to turn back just yet anyway.”

He took the lead, breaking down the th.o.r.n.y bushes as best he could, and Sam and Tom followed closely in his footsteps. It was rather dark among the bushes and almost before the three knew it they had fallen headlong into a hollow.

”Well, I never!”

”This is coming down in a hurry!”

”Is this the treasure cave?”

Such were the exclamations of the three lads as they picked themselves up out of the dirt, which, fortunately for them, was soft and yielding.

n.o.body had been hurt, for which they were thankful.

The hollow was about fifty feet in diameter and half that depth in the center. On the opposite side were more bushes and rocks, and then a thicket of tall trees of a variety that was strange to them.

”This is what I call hard work,” observed Tom, as they began to fight their way along again. ”I don't know but what we would have done as well to have waited until morning.”

”Don't croak, Tom,” said Sam.

”Oh, I am not croaking, but this is no fun, let me tell you that.”

All of the boys were panting from their exertions, and soon they had to call a halt to get their breath. It was now growing dark rapidly, for in the tropics there is little of what we know as twilight.

”We certainly can't do much more in this darkness,” said d.i.c.k at last.

”I must confess I thought walking in the direction of the cave would be an easy matter.”

”Well, what's to do next?” questioned Sam, gazing around in perplexity.

This was no easy question to answer. As if by magic darkness had settled all around them, shutting out the sight of objects less than a hundred yards away. To go forward was all but impossible, and whether or not they could get back to where they had come from was a serious problem.

”If we can't get back we'll have to camp right here,” said d.i.c.k.

But they did not want to stay in such a thicket and so they pushed on a little further, until they reached a slight rise of ground. Then d.i.c.k, who was in advance as before, uttered a cry of surprise:

”A trail! I wonder where it leads to?”

He was right, a well-defined trail or footpath lay before them, running between the brushwood and palms and around the rocks. It did not look as if it had been used lately, but it was tolerably clear of any growth.

This was something the Rover boys had not counted on, for Bahama Bill had never spoken of any trail in his descriptions of the isle. They gazed at the path with curiosity. Tom was the first to speak.

”Shall we follow it?” he asked.

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