“’Deed I didn’t, fo’ a fac’. I nebber seen it; but I reckon it was ’cause we kept mighty near de beach all de time watchin’ fur a vessel.”
“Dere’s plenty ob oysters ’roun’ de shore, an’ it’s a prime place fur turtles. Dere ain’t no danger ob goin’ hungry ef de _Day Dream_ don’ come back fur a week.”
“I’m glad to hear that, for the yacht may be away some time--I don’t see any signs that this wind will haul around very soon--and the food supply promises to become serious to us. If you are rested, let’s push on; the boys may grow frightened if we stay too long.”
Andy acted upon this suggestion at once, and the two did not halt again until they had reached a point from which a view of the entrance to the cave could be had, while they were screened by the foliage.
From the first glance it appeared as if the blacks had not returned to their underground hiding-place; but after waiting five minutes, a woolly head was seen at the entrance for an instant, and then drawn back very quickly, as if its owner did not dare to expose any portion of his precious body very long at a time.
“I’se gwine ter plump one ob dese yere rockets right inter dat hole,” Andy whispered, as he began to unwrap the package.
“Don’t do anything so foolish,” the mate replied in the same cautious tone. “They would then see the stick, and know it wasn’t the work of supernatural beings. Besides, we can use them to better advantage by waiting until the whole gang come outside.”
“Some of them have still got the revolvers taken from the boys an’ me. If we could manage to put our hands on them it wouldn’t be much of a job to hold the crowd in check for as long as we wanted to stay.”
“But how’s we gwine ter do dat wid de rockets?”
“I don’t know; we’ll wait a while, and perhaps something may turn up in our favor.”
Andy was eager to continue his work of terrifying the blacks, but he managed to restrain his impatience, as Jenkins requested, and during the next hour the two remained silent and almost motionless, watching intently for the appearance of their enemies.
During this time two or three of the party had peeped out several times, without showing any more of their bodies than was absolutely necessary, and Andy had begun to grumble because of the delay, when the entire crowd emerged.