A few stones more or less made no great difference, and I should probably never turn to account those I had.

But the incident revived suspicions as to the good faith of the two castaways, which had been long floating vaguely in my mind.

From the first I had rather doubted the account they gave of themselves.

And Kidd! I had never much liked him; he had a hard inscrutable face, and unless I greatly misjudged him was capable of bolder enterprises than petty larceny.

He was just the man to steal secretly away and return with a horde of unscrupulous treasure-seekers, for he knew now that there were diamonds in the neighborhood, and he must have heard that we had found gold and silver ornaments and vessels in the old cemetery-- "_Dios mio!_ What is that ?" exclaimed Angela, dropping her book and springing to her feet, an example which I instantly followed, for the earth was moving under us, and there fell on our ears, for the first time, the dread sound of subterranean thunder.
"An earthquake!" But the alarm was only momentary.