brous a boat as this would be overtaken in a very short time,
should it be seen making out from shore. Ned therefore determined
to swim out, especially as they observed that a watch was kept,
both day and night, near the canoes.

Five days passed in concealment. The coconuts afforded them both
food and drink. Occasionally they heard the boom of the culverins
at the castle, and knew that the natives were showing within range;
but as these shots were only heard at times, they were assured that
no persistent attack was being made.

It was late in the afternoon of the fifth day that the lads
observed a sail in the distance. It was indeed so far away that, as
the light was fading, they could not say with absolute certainty
that it was the longed-for ship. They both felt convinced, however,
that they had seen a sail; and watched intently, as night darkened,
for some sign of its passage.

It was four hours later when they saw, passing along at a distance
of about half a mile, a light on the ocean which could be no other
than that on board a ship.

"Now is the time," Ned said. "I will keep along the shore, under
the cliff, until I get nearly to the landing; and will then strike
out. Do you make for the castle, and tell them that the ship has
arrived, and that we will attack tomorrow; but not at daybreak, as
we proposed, but at noon."

As Ned proceeded on his way along the shore, he saw suddenly blaze
up, far ahead at the landing place, a small bonfire.

"Ah!" he muttered to himself. "The natives have seen the ship, too;
and are following the usual custom, here, of making a fire to show
them where to land. I trust that they will not fall into the
snare."

When, however, he had reached within a quarter of a mile of the
landing, he saw a small boat come suddenly within its range of
light, and two white men step out of it. They were received,
apparently, with much respect by the natives assembled there, and
at once advanced up the road; while the boat, putting off,
disappeared in the darkness.

"They will be murdered," Ned said to himself, "before they have
gone a hundred yards. The natives were crafty enough to allow them
to land without hindrance, in order that no suspicion might arise
among those on board ship."

In the stillness of the night he thought that he heard a distant
cry. But he was not sure that his ears had not deceived him. Far
out he could see a faint light and, knowing that this marked the
place wher