the true direction. They had already started
in pursuance of his advice when Soa, who had remained silent hitherto,
suggested that they should first go a little way down the right-hand
stream on the chance of finding a clue. Leonard demurred, but as the
woman seemed bent upon it, he yielded, and turning the boat they paddled
her some three hundred yards in this new direction. As there was nothing
to be seen, however, Otter began to put her about again.

"Stay, White Man," said Soa, who had been searching the surface of the
water with her quick eyes, "what is that thing yonder?" and she pointed
to a clump of reeds about forty yards away, among which some small white
object was just discernible.

"Feathers, I think," Leonard answered, "but we will go and see." In
another moment they were there.

"It is paper, Baas," said Otter in a low voice, "paper stuck on a reed."

"Lift it carefully," answered Leonard in the same tone, for his anxiety
was keen. How came it that they found paper fixed to a reed in such a
place as this?

Otter obeyed, laying the sodden sheet on the thwart of the canoe before
Leonard, who with Soa examined it closely.

"This is a leaf from that holy book in which my mistress reads," said
the woman with conviction; "I know the shape of it well. She has torn
the paper out and affixed it on the reed as a sign to any who might come
after her."

"It looks like it," said Leonard; "that was a good thought of yours to
turn up here, old lady." Then he bent down and read such verses as were
still legible on the page; they ran thus:

"For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven
did the Lord behold the earth;"

"To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed
to death;"

"The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be
established before thee."

"Hum!" said Leonard to himself, "the quotation seems very appropriate.
If one had faith in omens now, a man might say that this was a good
one." And in his heart he believed it to be so.

Another hour's journey brought them to the point of the island along
which they had been travelling.

"Ah," said Otter, "now I know the path again. This is the right stream,
that to the left must be a new one. Had we taken it we should have lost
our way, and perhaps have found it no more for days, or not at all."

"Say, Otter," said Leonard, "you escaped from this slave-camp. How did
you do it--in a bo