"I don't know," Mark said, hastily. "If you are in command of those Indians, call them off, please. There are three of our party somewhere with the flying machine, and the Indians have been shooting at them." "I'll try it," declared the man, instantly. "I can usually call them together with this horn," and he raised it to his lips again and blew another mighty blast. "I have had this bunch of Aleuts six months," he explained, when he got his breath again. "They are good workers, but as superstitious as you can imagine. They are particularly shaky just now, for a number of queer things have happened lately in these parts. There is a volcano somewhere in action--we had a storm of ashes a week ago. And night before last there was a positive earth-shock." "You seem like a pretty intelligent man," grunted Andy Sudds, in his blunt way. "What are you doing up here in this heaven-forsaken country?" "Why, I am an oil hunter," said the fat man, simply. "A _what_?" repeated Andy and Mark together. "Oil hunter. My name is Phineas Roebach, and I am in the employ of the Universal Oil Company. I am here--as I have been in many lands--boring for petroleum. You understand that my mission is semi-secret. If we find oil here we shall obtain a grant from the Government, or something like that." Just at that moment Mark Sampson was not particularly interested in the odd-looking Mr. Roebach or his business. "Blow your horn again, sir," he begged. "Call off your Indians. They may shoot our friends." "If your party is all dressed as peculiarly as yourself, young sir," said Phineas Roebach, "my Aleuts could scarcely be blamed for taking a pot shot at them." Then he blew the horn mightily for the third time. CHAPTER IX THE EARTHQUAKE The long twilight which preceded full day had now grown so strong as to reveal matters more plainly about the spot where Mark and Andy Sudds had disembarked from the flying machine. They soon saw several objects running through the grove toward them, and these objects proved to be the returning Indians. There were half a dozen of them, and they were all armed with rifles. The moment they beheld the old hunter and the youth, with Phineas Roebach, they gave every indication of shooting, for they stopped and raised their rifles, pointing them at Mark and Andy. Mr. Roebach sprang between his Aleuts and his visitors and began to harangue them angrily in their own harsh dialect. However, his huge body so entirely sheltered Mark and Andy that neither was much terrified by the Indians. Besides, the Maine hunter advanced his own rifle and calculated he could do considerable execution with it while the red men were hesitating. "They believed you all spirits of the air," said the oil man, turning finally to speak to his new friends. "They were much frightened." "Ask them for news of Professor Henderson and the others," begged the anxious Mark.