"Doranez is no good!" growled Sid Merrick who was by no means in the best of humor. "He likes his bottle too well. If he would only keep sober it would be different." "Why don't you take his liquor from him?" asked Cuffer. "I'd do it quick enough if I was running this thing." "He says he won't tell us a thing more if we cut off his grog. He is getting mighty ugly." "Maybe he wants to sell out to those Rovers," suggested Shelley. "He wouldn't dare to do that--I know too much about him," answered Sid Merrick. "No, it's because he wants too big a share of the treasure." "Do you suppose the fellows on the steam yacht have landed here yet?" asked Tad, as he prepared to go on. "I don't know. They are laying to outside of the reef. I reckon they don't know anything of the landing on the other side of the island," answered his uncle. "Come on, we haven't any time to waste if we want to head them off. I didn't dream they'd get here so quickly." "I guess that fellow Wingate was no good," came from Cuffer. "He didn't delay the steam yacht in the least." "Maybe he got caught at his funny work," suggested Shelley, hitting the nail directly on the head, as the reader already knows. Casting the light of the acetylene gas lamp ahead of them, the party from the _Josephine_ moved on, directly past the spot where the Rovers were in hiding. The boys hardly dared to breathe for fear of discovery. They stood stock still until the others were all but out of sight. "This is interesting," murmured Tom. "They must have landed on the other side of the island." "Yes, and Merrick hired that Walt Wingate to play us foul!" cried Sam. "What shall we do next, Dick?" he continued anxiously. "They act as if they expect to get that treasure to night!" "I don't know what to do exactly," answered Dick. "But one thing is certain--we must follow them up and prevent their getting hold of that treasure if we possibly can!" CHAPTER XXI SCARING OFF THE ENEMY It was easy enough for Dick to say they must follow up their enemies and prevent Sid Merrick and his party from gaining possession of the treasure, but how all this was to be accomplished was another matter. In the first place, the other party numbered four as against their three. More than this, those from the _Josephine_ were heavily armed, while the Rovers had brought with them nothing but a single pistol. "It's well enough to talk," whispered Sam, after Sid Merrick and his crowd had passed on, "but if we tackle them in the open the chances are we'll get the worst of it." "We may get a chance at them in some other way," answered Dick. "We have this advantage, we know where they are and they don't know we are on the isle." With cautious steps they stole after the Merrick party, keeping them in sight by the waving rays of the lamp and lantern ahead, as they danced over the rocks and among the trees and bushes. They kept about a hundred feet to the rear.