been driven from by his
enemies, that he had eyes for nothing else.

"What a coward I must be!" thought Murray, as he calmed down. "I'm
precious glad that there was no one by to see what a fine brave-hearted
fellow I am. Poor fellow, why, he must be the black who built this
hovel and planted the fruit. Well, of course he's a slave, and I only
hope we may have the opportunity to set him free."

Murray stood thinking for a few moments, and then in obedience to a
sudden thought he made a dash for the spot where the black had plunged
in. But all was silent again, and he felt that it would be impossible
to follow his trail.

"It's a pity," thought the lad, as he went slowly back to the hut
doorway. "Here was a friend, if I had only known--one who would have
helped me to find the way back to the others--if I could have made him
understand what I wanted."

Upon reaching the side of Roberts he had the satisfaction of finding him
sleeping more calmly, and after making up his mind to be on the watch
for the black's next coming, he crouched down by his wounded companion
to think again about trying to hunt out Tom May; but he ended by
wrinkling up his brow and coming to the conclusion that it would be
cruel to forsake his friend in such distress.

"A hundred things might happen," he mused. "I should as likely as not
lose my way and be unable to get back. Poor Dick--I don't think I care
much for him, for he always sets himself against me and is as jealous as
can be; but trouble seems to wipe all that away, and I suppose I am
pretty fond or I shouldn't have been ready to fight for him. Yes," he
mused, "he might recover his senses and find himself alone and so weak
that he could hardly stir. Why, it would be enough to drive him nearly
mad."

Murray employed himself twice over in the course of that day bathing and
dressing his comrade's wound, and always with good results, for though
the lad remained insensible, he sank each time into a more restful
slumber, leaving his nurse and surgeon at liberty to watch and plan as
to their future.

It was towards evening that he had another scare--one sufficiently real
to make him feel that they were again in imminent danger, for though he
could not identify a couple of fresh-comers of whose advent he had
warning, their fierce aspect, the way in which they were armed, and
their action, seemed to show for certain that they belonged to one or
other of the slavers' crews.

Murray