Part 36 (1/2)

”I ain't exactly blaming you, Rufe,” he conceded, for despite his ardent partisans.h.i.+p of Allen, he could realize how Captain Hamilton as a parent must feel; ”but I'm mortal sure that thing will be cleared up before long. You know just as well as I do that Allen didn't kill Parmalee any more than you or I did.”

”That's what I want to believe,” returned the captain. ”I mean,” he corrected, as he saw the choleric flash in Tyke's eyes, ”that's what I do believe.”

”It's that scoundrel, Ditty, that did it himself,” growled Tyke savagely. ”He cooked up the whole thing and then shoved it off on Allen. You've seen enough of him since then to know that he's capable of anything.”

”Yes,” admitted the captain, ”he's a dirty dog. But don't you see, Tyke, that even allowing that Allen is innocent, he's been _charged_ with doing it. And to lots of people, that's just about the same as though he were actually guilty. Then, too, the matter will have to be tried out in the courts. Allen will have to stand trial and even if he gets off, as I hope he will, there'll be a cloud on his name as long as he lives. How could I let Ruth marry a man who had been charged with murder and who got off because there wasn't evidence enough to convict?”

”Mebbe Ruth would be willing to take the chance,” persisted Tyke stubbornly.

”Maybe she would,” agreed the captain, ”but she'd never do it with my consent. She's too good and sweet and pretty a girl to link her life with a man whose name was smirched. I wouldn't stand for it for a minute.”

Tyke was framing a reply when suddenly the earthquake which wrought such dire results to the two of whom they were speaking shook the ground. The two men were thrown against each other and both went in a heap to the bottom of the ditch. The breath was knocked out of their bodies, and every thought was driven from their minds except the instinctive desire to remain alive until nature's onslaught had ceased.

When the worst was over, they scrambled to their feet, brushed the dirt from their clothes and faces, and stared grimly at each other.

”If it didn't seem too conceited to think that all this fuss was being made on our account,” growled the captain, as he picked up his spade.

”I'd surely make up my mind that something was trying to shoo us away from this treasure hunting.”

”Yes,” agreed Tyke. ”Now, if I was superst.i.tious--”

”I wonder,” broke in the captain with sudden alarm, as he thought of the two errant members of the party, ”where Ruth and Allen were when this quake happened.”

”The only safe thing is to say that they were together somewhere,” said Tyke. ”I notice that they're never far apart. Don't you worry, Rufe.

Allen will take good care of her.”

But the captain was already climbing out of the excavation. He gave Tyke a hand and helped him up.

”Where did you last see them, Tyke?” Hamilton asked, as his eyes scanned the surrounding landscape without catching a glimpse of the figures he sought.

”The last I saw of Allen he was going down toward them trees,” replied Tyke, indicating a corner of the jungle, ”an' a little later, out o'

the corner of my eye, I saw Ruth going in the same direction. Now, don't fret, Rufe. They'll turn up as right as a trivet in another minute or two.”

”The jungle!” gasped the captain in alarm. ”Don't you see, Tyke, that some of those trees have been shaken down. Maybe they've been caught under one of them. Hurry! hurry!”

He set off, running hurriedly, and Tyke hastened after him as fast as he could.

They were soon at the jungle's edge. Several giant trees had fallen victims to the earthquake's wrath, but a frantic searching among their trunks revealed no traces of the missing ones.

The captain wiped his brow and gave a great sigh of relief.

”So far, so good!” he exclaimed. ”They've escaped that danger anyway.

I had a fearful scare. I don't mind admitting that my heart was in my mouth for a minute.”

”Same here,” a.s.sented Tyke, who despite his faith in Drew's resourcefulness had secretly shared the captain's alarm. ”But if they're not here, where in Sam Hill can they be?”

They raised their voices in a shout, but no answering sound came back.

Several times they repeated the call, but all to no purpose.