petites. I forgot to say that
Mr Dobbin, the mate of the merchantman which had been plundered, had
come to try and identify the stolen property. While storming the fort,
he had been as active as any one, and showed that had there been work to
be done he was the fellow to do it. To employ the time till they could
get some breakfast, Hemming determined to commence a systematic search
for the stolen property. They hunted and hunted about with great zeal,
examining every hut and every heap of rubbish.

"I wonder, after all, if this is the place the pirates are accustomed to
hide in," observed Jack. "It would be a sell if we had made a mistake
altogether."

"What could have put that into your head, Rogers?" exclaimed Hemming,
feeling rather queer. "Oh, no! there's no doubt about it."

Still, as he got more and more hungry, and searched still farther in
vain, his spirits began to sink to zero, and he could lot help believing
that Jack might be right. Just then here was a shout from some of the
party. They were standing before a dilapidated hut, the door of which
they had broken open. Presently the mate of the merchantman appeared
dragging out a bale of goods.

"Hurrah! we have not searched for nothing!" he exclaimed. "There seems
to be a good bit of the ship's cargo in here."

A number of valuable bales of cotton and cloth, and some silk, were
hauled forth, all of which the mate identified as having formed part of
the cargo of his ship. Still there was a very large part of the missing
property not forthcoming. Nothing else was found for some time, till
one of the men, of an inquisitive turn of mind, happened to poke his
head into one of the pigsties, where, in the farthest corner, his eye
fell on several bales piled up one above the other to the roof. The
clue to the sort of place in which the well-known ingenuity of the
Greeks had taught them to conceal their booty once being discovered, a
considerable amount more was brought to light. Still much was missing.
Just then Adair and his men were seen returning.

"Hurrah I now we'll have breakfast," cried Jack, who declared that he
could eat a porcupine or a crocodile, outside and all, he was so hungry.
What was his dismay, and that of all the party, when they found that no
food was forthcoming, and that the boats were not to be found. Just
then their hunger was most pressing, and they left the subject of what
had become of the boats for after consideration.