way, sir?" asked Lenny.

"Any way, my lads. System is of no use here. We must trust to chance."

"Think he can have got over into the next gully, sir?" said Lenny.

"No, no, impossible. It would take a party of strong men to cut a way
through, and they would not make the clearance in a week. Forward!
Open out and keep on giving a hail from time to time."

Another signal gun for their recall was fired.

"We can't help it," said the doctor. "Forward, my lads. We must find
them now."

It was not until the occasional glimpses of the sky they caught told him
by their altered colour that the night was close at hand, that the
doctor once more halted, and then gave the order for the party to return
as well as they could upon their tracks.

And now as they staggered more than walked wearily back a shot was fired
every few minutes, and a short halt made to listen for a response.

But none came, and they struggled on through the darkness, the rapidness
of the descent of the ground and the roar of the torrent at their side
being their only guides, for the darkness beneath the trees was now
intense.

How long they had been going downward no one could have said, as they
kept now in line, following each other closely, with Lenny first, when
after stumble and fall at every few yards, as the doctor's gun flashed
and the report rang out, it was at length answered from higher up on
their left.

"At last!" cried the doctor, rousing himself from the feeling of
exhaustion which seemed to have deadened all his energies. "Bear to the
left, Lenny, for a few minutes, and then I'll fire again."

"Ay, ay, sir!" said the man huskily, and in a very short time he
stumbled and fell, rolling down a precipitous part.

"Hurt?" cried the doctor.

"Dunno, sir," said the man with a groan. "Feels like it; but don't you
mind me, you fire again."

The doctor cocked his piece and raised it to fire in the air, when a
shot rang out again, apparently about a hundred yards away, the flash
before the report being plainly seen.

"Ahoy!" yelled Lenny hoarsely, and this was answered faintly.

"That's Ned," growled Lenny. "No, no; not his voice," cried the doctor.
"Mind how you go down there."

The words were useless, for the men were too much worn out to study
anything, and they let themselves slide down, only too glad to get to
the bottom.

"Ahoy!" came now, and as they answered there was a breaking and rustling
heard among the trees, s