sassinated?"

"A-mussy, no, sir," said Smith, grinning, "don'tcher see, sir? That was
our other supper, as we hung up there to use to-night when t'other was
done. The buck we brought home."

"Oh!" exclaimed the mate. "How absurd. But what's become of it?"

"It's gone, sir."

"Well, we can see that, my lad. But how has it been stolen?"

"Yes, sir, that's about it. In the night. Must ha' been the cat."

"The what?"

"Well, sir, you see, I don't means the ship's cat, because we ain't got
one, but I means one o' them great spotty big toms as lives in the woods
here."

Taking their guns, the mate and Drew followed the trail, which was
plainly enough marked from the side of the brig, the round soft
foot-prints showing out in the light patches of sand, the fore paws
well-defined and the hind partly brushed out, showing that the body of
the deer had been dragged over them. Here and there, too, dry smears of
blood were visible on the rough coral rock, where the animal had
probably rested, and then dragged the carcase on again in its progress
toward the nearest patch of forest.

"The brute must have followed me," said Drew, "attracted by the blood
which no doubt dripped as we came along, and when all was quiet followed
the scent and then come on board."

A quarter of a mile farther on the trail ceased, and it was plain enough
why, for the soft sand was plentifully marked with foot-prints, and in
one place bits of fur and smears of blood showed that there had been a
fierce fight with tooth and claw, while broken bones and bits of hide
with the short sharp horns pointed to the fact that the fight had been
followed by a banquet, after which the leopards or panthers had trotted
steadily off to the forest, the track of three or four of the great
cat-like creatures being plainly marked.

"No use to go hunting them," said the mate. "They go on stealing away
from tree to tree, and we should never get a shot."

They shouldered their guns and walked back, talking about the rushing
and trampling noise of the preceding night, Drew having heard something
of it from a distance and attributed it rightly to a sudden panic
amongst the animals startled into headlong flight by the eruptive action
of the volcano.

Oliver and Panton were watching them from the bulwarks against which
they leaned, using their small binoculars to watch the proceeding of
their companions, and both low-spirited and looking dejected at having
to s