the mid-day
meal, when the doctor called to them to stop.

"It is time," he said, "that we hold a consultation, and come to some
resolution respecting our future movements. Sit down here in the shade,
and we'll talk the matter over."

The boys obeyed, and took their places; Lion, as usual, seating himself
at Frank's side, and occasionally bestowing a broad lick of affection on
his face and hands.

"I have made a fresh examination of the boat this morning," began Lavie,
"and am quite satisfied that it is impossible for us to repair her. She
is an old boat, and wouldn't anyway have lasted much longer, and now she
is so much hurt, that no one but a regular boat-builder could make her
float again. It is impossible therefore to carry out our original
intention of going on to Cape Town by sea. Well, then, we must hit on
some other plan."

"Wouldn't it be the simplest way to travel along the line of coast the
whole way?" suggested Ernest. "As far as I remember my geography, there
are no bays running far inland, or very wide rivers to interfere with
us."

"You're right, Ernest," rejoined Lavie. "There are nothing but small
bays all the way, and until we reached the mouth of the Gariep, there
would be no rivers to interfere with us."

"And when we did reach the Gariep, said Frank, we should be pretty safe
to fall in with some settlers or, any way, natives, who, `for a
consideration,' would help us through the rest of our journey. I think
Ernest's advice very good."

"I should think it so also, Frank," said the surgeon, "if I didn't
happen to know something of the line of country proposed. I have never
been along it myself, but I have met people who know it well. It is one
long sandy waste the entire way--no trees, no grass, scarcely even a
rock; and if there are any water-springs, they are so few and scanty,
that it is almost the same thing as if there were none at all. There
would be no food to be obtained, no shade from the sun, and no
resting-place at night, as it would be impossible to carry our tent with
us. And, to wind up, we should certainly not meet with a human being
from the beginning of our journey to its end."

"Well, that is pretty nearly enough, I think," observed Nick, "I have no
fancy to be broiled like a fish on a gridiron, or have a leg of nothing
and no turnips for dinner, like the clown in a pantomime. Let us hear
what you propose."

"I advise that we should travel towards the east,