CHAPTER IV.

ON DOLLAR ISLAND.

W1 HEN Bobby stood watching TommyTucker and Ikey Jones as they sailed

slowly away, he realized that it was no longerpossible for him to leave the island until someboat should pass that way, or come directly totheir assistance.

Bad as such a position was, Bobby did notlook at it as the worst of his troubles. He hadyet to meet Captain Sammy, and explain whathe, who had been left in charge, was doingwhen the pirates stole the boat. This he con-sidered was trouble by the side of which beingobliged to remain on the island any number ofdays was absolute pleasure.

Bobby knew that he ought to have resistedwith force any attempt to take the boat, andhe feared that Captain Sammy, in the absence ofthe real culprits, might wreak some signal ven-geance on himself.

He continued to run back and forth on thebeach, imploring Tommy to return, but makingno attempt to warn the others of the evil that

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had been wrought, for Captain Sammy's com-ing was worse, he thought, than Tommy's going.

But Bobby was not left long in uncertainty asto what the little man might say or do, for whilehe was still intent on trying to persuade the run-aways to return, he heard a most unwelcome andgruff voice from the thicket behind him,

"Hallool What's in the wind now? Whatare you kicking up such a row about?"

For a moment the unhappy boy could makeno answer, and while he thus hesitated the lit-tle captain came into view, where he stood look-ing in surprise at Bobby, not observing the theftof his boat.

"What's the matter with you? What are youyelling so about?" he asked, impatiently.

"They've gone! they've gone!" cried Bobby,pointing to the boat, whose occupants were nowmaking every exertion to get away even fromthe sound of the one-legged man's voice. Tommyhad laid aside his dignity of captain for the timebeing, and was tugging away at one of the oarsas if he feared pursuit, even though he knew itwas impossible.

Captain Sammy gazed out over the water,shading his eyes with his hand, as if it was diffi-cult for him to believe that he was not deceived,and then he looked down at the place where hisboat should have been, too much surprised evenfor words.

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Dare and Charley had come up beside him,and they too were at a loss to understand it all.

"It's Tommy Tucker; he's taken the boat,"cried Bobby, growing more frightened at thisunaccountable silence on the part of the captain."They've stolen her, an' gone off to be pirates "

"Come back here, you rascals! come backhere!" shouted Captain Sammy, as he realizedall that had been done; and then, with a quick,angry movement, he unfastened his wooden leg,and stood with it in his hand, as if deliberatingwhether or not he should throw it at them."Come back here, or I'll break every bone inyour bodies !"

The boys in the boat made no reply, but bentall their energies at the oars, until Tommy, inhis eagerness, dipped too deep, "caught a crab,"and fell over backward in the bottom of the boat,a confused mass of gorgeous piratical uniformand frightened boy.

Dare and Charley ran down on the beach, asif they thought they might do some good bythus getting nearer the runaways; while CaptainSammy, without stopping to think that he stillheld his leg in his hand, attempted to do thesame thing.

Of course there could be but one ending tosuch a start; and when the angry and forgetfullittle man attempted to step on the leg that wasno longer in its accustomed place he very nearly

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turned a somersault, and came rolling down onthe beach, very much to his own discomfiture,and frightening Bobby almost out of what fewsenses still remained to him.

Captain Sammy choked and sneezed, becauseof the sand that had gone down his throat andup into his nose, while Dare and Charley hadconsiderable trouble to keep from laughing atthe comical appearance he presented.

This accident did not lessen Captain Sammy'sanger, and when at last he succeeded in standingon his one foot he was in a fine state of rage.He began to realize that he could effect nothingby holding his wooden leg in his hand, whilehe might work himself farther injury if it wasnot placed where it belonged; so he adjusted itat once.

"How did it happen? how did they get her?"he demanded, furiously, as he turned to Bobbywith a threatening gesture.

Although Bobby was not a brave boy he couldnever be accused of lying, even when the truthwas as much against him as it was in this case,and, with considerable hesitation and evidentshame, he related the events as they hadoccurred.

"Why didn't you stop them? Why didn't youchew 'em all up?" demanded Captain Sammy,furiously.

Bobby thought it was absurd in the captain

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to talk about his chewing two pirates up and hereplied, almost piteously,

"I couldn't; there were two of them, and theysaid they'd serve me out i'f I tried to stopthem."

"Serve you out!" sneered Captain Sammy."Why, they couldn't have done anything if you'donly dared to go up an' knock their headstogether."

There was a difference of opinion betweenBobby and the captain as to what Tommy andIkey could have done; but, as Bobby thought itwould be useless to attempt to make the angryman view the matter in the same light he did, heremained silent.

"How did they get over here?" asked the littleman, after he had relieved his mind somewhatby shaking his fist savagely at the retreatingpirates.

Then Bobby told what Tommy had said aboutcoming over in an old boat, and Captain Sammystarted around the beach to find her, filled withthe hope that she might serve as a means of pur-suit. But one glance at the boat, after they hadfound her, was sufficient to show that nothingcould be done with her. She was so old andworm-eaten that it was a wonder she had heldtogether long enough to bring the boys over.The Wise Men of Gotham who went to sea in abowl had a more staunch craft than she was.

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Captain Sammy surveyed her in silence forsome time, and then said, emphatically,

"Well, this is a nice kettle of fish, an' nomistake !"

"How are we going to get home?" asked Dare,thinking of the anxiety his mother would sufferif they were not with her by night.

"That's jest it! that's jest it!" cried CaptainSammy, again giving way to his anger. "Oh,how I wish I had hold of them precious villainsfor a little while! They'd wish they really waspirates. I'll tell you how we're goin' to gethome. We're goin' to stay here till somebodycomes along an' takes us off; an' we may be herea week, for the matter of that, for nobody wouldunderstand any signals we could make fromhere. It's worse than a regular shipwreck."

For some time the party stood in silent des-pondency, the boys thinking of the fears whichwould beset Mr. and Mrs. Evans at their ab-sence, and Captain Sammy wondering if sleep-ing in the open air would not be sure to bringon an attack of his old enemy the rheumatism.

"It won't do any good to set here," said thelittle man at length, speaking in a more cheer-ful tone. "We're here for a while, anyhow, an'we might as well make the best of it. How arewe off for provisions?"

There was no need for any one to reply to thequestion, for the moment it was asked each one

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knew that the only things they had taken out ofthe boat on their arrival were the axes, and thepirates had not only captured a boat, but theyhad gotten one that was provisioned for severalhours at least.

"Well, we shall have to suck our thumbs fora while, at any rate," said the little captain, asif he had resolved to bear his troubles as philo-sophically as possible. "We will build up a fire,in the hope that some one in Tampa may see thesmoke an' come over here to find out the meaningof it. And, since you boys came here for timberfor your rafts, the best thing you can do is togo to work felling it. The work will keep youcontented, and you won't be wasting yourtime."

Bobby, who should have done something to-ward preventing the misfortune that had comeupon them, was charged with the work of build-ing the fire-signal and keeping it going, whileDare and Charley started about what was reallythe preliminary work of raising the Pearl.

It was then hardly more than ten o'clock, andthey had quite a long day before them in whichto work, even if they were prisoners on an unin-habited island.

All hands went to work with a will, and whileDare and Charley were blistering their hands intheir efforts to hew down the largest trees, Cap-tain Sammy busied himself with gathering the

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tiny oysters that were fastened to the rocks justbelow the surface of the water.

These little shell-fish were very acceptable tothe boys, who had grown hungry the momentthey knew their food had been carried away,and, thanks to the lunch the little man broughtthem, they were able to keep at their work allthe more closely.

Captain Sammy had a small canteen of waterwith him when he left the boat, and the contentsof this he doled out very sparingly, but in suchquantities that they were not actually sufferingwith thirst.

By six o'clock the boys had felled and trimmedof their branches ten trees-a sufficient number,in Captain Sammy's'opinion, to form the heavierportion of the rafts they wanted to build-andthen it was time to make some arrangements fora place to sleep that night, since it was hardlyprobable any one would come to their rescuebefore the next day.

Bobby had kept the signal-fire burning allday, and after some consultation it was decidedthat they should use the level piece of groundjust back of it as their camping-place.

The little captain had had no voice in theselection of the camp, for after he had given theboys all the oysters they wanted for dinner heseemed to have forgotten his philosophical ideas,and had relapsed into a moody silence.

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It was after Dare and Charley had decidedupon the camping-ground that they went to thepoint of reef on which Captain Sammy was sit-ting, enveloped in a cloud of tobacco-smoke.

"We think we had better camp for the nightnear the fire, sir," said Dare, "and if you haveno objections we will put up some kind of ashelter."

"It don't make much difference where we lay,my lad," said the little man, without looking up."I'll be sure to have the rheumatiz anyhow, an'it's no odds to me whether it comes when I'mlayin' on the ground or settin' here by the water.But I'll show that Tucker boy what a pirate iswhen I get hold of him."