y take us where we want to go down to the
shore."

But as they tramped on, with one of their captors leading the way, and
the rest behind, keeping an eye upon the cane bonds which now held both
prisoners' wrists behind, their way proved to be diagonally up the slope
of the volcano, and the tramp was kept up for hours beneath the broiling
heat of the sun, while it seemed to Jack that every now and then hot
sulphurous puffs of wind escaped from the stony ground over which they
passed. The trees grew rapidly fewer and less in size, till there were
only scattered bushes, and higher still these were dwarfed into wiry
grasses and tufts of a heather-like growth, with lichens and dried-up
mosses.

"Try and hold up, Mr Jack sir, they must halt soon to eat and drink.
My word, if we weren't prisoners, I'd say what a view we get from up
here. See anything of the yacht?"

"No, Ned; she's inside the reef, and we can't see that."

"No, sir, you're right. `Britons never shall be slaves,' but all the
same I feel just as if I was being driven to market. That's it, they're
taking us somewhere to sell us, I know; wonder how many cocoanuts we
shall fetch, or p'r'aps it'll be shells. Thirsty, sir?"

"I don't know, Ned, I haven't thought about it. I suppose I am, and
hungry and very tired; but I've been thinking about whether we shall
ever see the yacht again."

"Oh yes, sir. Never say die. Life's all ups and downs. Sir John ain't
forsaking us, you may be sure, and any moment we may see him and a lot
of our jolly Jack Tars coming round the corner, and the doctor with 'em,
ready to give these black brutes a dose of leaden pills. Ah! and
they'll have to take 'em too, whether they like 'em or no. Don't you be
down."

"I'm not, Ned. I keep trying to think that it's all adventure and
experience."

"That's it, sir. Do to talk about when we get back to old England."

Twice over, as the diagonal ascent grew steeper, the blacks halted for
about half-an-hour, and the prisoners were glad to lie down in the
shelter of one of the lava blocks with which the slope was strewn, the
cool air which came from the sea being fresh and invigorating; and the
second time Ned suddenly exclaimed--

"Not going to take us up to the top, are they, and pitch us into the
fire?"

"Not likely, Ned," replied Jack; "but we little expected to make the
ascent like this."

"With our hands tied behind us, sir."

"I believe they are going this way so a