" said Bob, angrily.

"Haven't seen him, sir," said Dick, touching his cap.

"But he was standing here not ten minutes ago, just before we brushed
against those trees!" exclaimed the young officer.

"Well yes, sir, I remember as he was," said old Dick, and several of the
sailors were ready to affirm that they saw him not five minutes before.

A look round the deck showed that he was not there, and Bob stood
looking puzzled; for the man had evidently looked upon himself almost as
a prisoner, and not free to go about; he had consequently stood leaning
against the port bulwark all the time, except when he had squatted on
the deck to partake of the food supplied to him.

"Couldn't have been knocked overboard by the boughs, could he, sir?"
said Dick.

"Impossible!" exclaimed the middy; and he hurried off to report the fact
that the Malay was missing.

"Are you sure?" exclaimed the lieutenant sharply.

"Certain, sir! He's nowhere on deck!"

"I thought as much!" cried the lieutenant angrily. "Good heavens,
Roberts! that we could have been such idiots! Gray was right!"

"I do not understand you, sir."

"Understand? It's plain enough! That man, Private Gray, said he
suspected the fellow, and yet we allowed him to gull us with his
plausible story. Here, look sharp there!" he cried, as the steamer
stood out now free of the tunnel-like canal, through which she had
passed, and was now approaching the centre of a tolerably broad lagoon.

The lieutenant gave his command in short, sharp, decisive tones, and a
minute later a little anchor fell with a splash into the water, and the
steamer swung in the just perceptible stream.

"I dare not attempt the journey back to-night, Roberts," he said. "We
should be aground in the thick darkness before we had gone a mile."

"But won't you go forward, sir? We must be near the stockade!"
exclaimed Bob.

"If we go on till the river becomes a ditch, we shall find no stockade
here, Roberts!" cried the lieutenant. "Why should there be one? There
is neither campong nor sampan upon the river, and it is evident that
there is no trade. No, Roberts, we have been tricked--cheated, and we
must get back at full speed as soon as day begins to break. I have been
uncomfortable for hours now, as I felt that our poor friends could never
have come through such a forest as this. It is only passable for
beasts!"

"But the Malay and his message?"

"The Malay is as great a cheat as the o