hes, showing that the murderers
had intended to set the house on fire, but had suddenly retreated
without effecting their purpose. As it was important to return
immediately to the ship, he could make no further examination of the
building. It had apparently been the residence of a small proprietor.
The garden and neighbouring fields, though trampled down, had evidently
been carefully cultivated. He hurried back to the beat, passing the
fisherman's hut on his way.

"I told you so, massa," said the man quite coolly. "Worse tings happen
in other places."

"You did indeed speak the truth," answered the lieutenant, his heart
sinking as he thought of the danger to which Ellen and her father might
be exposed.

On reaching the ship he informed the commander of the dreadful state of
affairs, and recommended that they should stand along the coast and make
further inquiries at the towns and forts near the shore. In the last
letter he had received from Ellen, she had told him that she was
residing at a house some way further to the westward, but its exact
position he had been unable to ascertain, and he could not find it
marked on the chart.

A fresh and favourable breeze blowing, the ship soon came off Fort
Maria, when she hove to, and he--this time having Gerald with him, and
accompanied by another boat, of which Crowhurst had the command--pulled
on shore. As they approached the fort, the appearance it presented
excited their fears that the fisherman's report was likely to prove too
true. The flag and staff had vanished, and no sentries were to be seen
on the ramparts, while in the centre rose a mass of blackened walls.
The guns peering through the embrasures commanded the landing-place,
but, as the fort was evidently deserted, the boats pulled in, and the
lieutenant and his companions at once leaped on shore. They made their
way up a steep path which led to the rear of the fort. The gates were
open, and they hurried in. A fearful sight met their gaze. Every
building within had been set on fire and gutted. Amid the mass of
charred timber lay numerous bodies, apparently, as far as their dreadful
condition enabled the party to judge, of white men--some in the dress of
civilians, while the half-destroyed uniforms showed that others had been
soldiers. Two, from the broken swords still grasped in their hands,
were apparently officers, who had fought their way out of the building,
which had been the mess-room of the f