It was kind of spooky anyhow. Across the sand we could hear the surf breaking on the ocean side of the island, and the moonlight was a kind of sickly pale that made things look different than they really were, and the sand itself, with unlucky bushes growing once in a while, and clumps of grass, made the whole place look like almost anything disagreeable could happen there. And I bet it could.
“Go easy,” says Catty, “we may run onto them any minute.”
“The turtle eggs,” says he, with a kind of a chuckle.
Sure enough; in a few minutes we could hear somebody talking, and we flopped down on our stomachs and wriggled along, until we could see two men. They had been digging, but now they were resting and talking it over while they sat on a pile of sand.
“I tell you this _is_ the place,” says Mr. House. “I measured carefully, and then went all over it to be sure I hadn’t made a mistake.”
“Well, we dug all night last night, and nothing yet. They surely wouldn’t have it much deeper.”
“The map may have made a mistake,” says House, “but I didn’t.” At that I poked Catty in the ribs and he kicked my shin.
“We’ve got to lift it tonight. They’ll be nosing around. They may be here tonight.”
“They won’t hurry. They don’t suspect anything.”
At that Catty kicked me a good one, and I was like to holler out good and loud, but I didn’t. I made up my mind I’d remember that kick and pay it back double when it was safe.
“Anyhow, I want to get it and be off,” says the other man to Mr. House. “They’re welcome to the hole it came out of.”
“It was great luck, our getting that map that way,” says House.
“If you were as good at digging as you are at finding fault it would,” says House.
We just lay still and watched them throw sand, and it was fun, because we knew they were just getting exercise. Every once in a while they would stop and quarrel about it, and then go back at it again, until Mr. House said his back was busted in two, and the other man said he had blisters on his hands as big as oranges and at that I snorted. Catty kicked me again, and this time I deserved it. But it didn’t help to kick after the snort.
“Sounded like a sheep,” says the other man.
“What’s a sheep ever doing any place?... Let’s take a look, anyhow. Nothing like being safe.”