him, and murdered him and most of
his people. They had then gone on board, rescued their countrymen, and
carried off the survivors of the brig's crew as captives into the
interior.

Though I trembled while the account was being translated to me, yet on
considering over the subject, I felt sure that Alfred would not have
joined the party who had attempted to kidnap the natives, and I
therefore had great hopes that he was among those who had been made
prisoners, and that I should ultimately be able to discover the place of
his captivity. The Arab did not know the exact position of the spot
where the occurrence had taken place, as it was some way further to the
south than he had gone. Yet from the information he gave, Captain
Armstrong had little doubt about finding it.

Leaving Magadoxa, we continued our course to the southward. A few days
after this we were standing on with a fair breeze and a light wind, when
the look-out from the masthead hailed the deck, to say that there was an
object on the port bow, but whether a rock, or a ship with her masts
gone or capsized, or a whale, he could not tell. Several of the
officers went aloft with their glasses, as I also did, to try and
ascertain what it was which had hove in sight. We looked and looked,
however, for some time, without being able to settle the point. The
object was a long way off, and we drew only very slowly up to it. As we
approached it seemed to grow larger and larger. It was pretty clearly
not a ship's bottom, nor a whale, and finally it resolved itself into a
high rock surrounded by a coral reef--so we judged from the line of surf
which every now and then we saw rising up out of the blue sea. It was a
very dangerous-looking place, on which, during the fierce gales of those
latitudes, in thick weather or on a dark night many a fine ship has
probably been cast away.

"There appears to me to be something moving on the rock," observed Mr
D'Arcy, the second lieutenant. "Perhaps there are only birds there."

"No, sir; there is a man, and he is waving a shirt or a flag, or
something of that size," I exclaimed, after looking attentively for some
moments.

Having got as near as we could venture, we hove to, to leeward of the
rock, when a boat was lowered, of which Mr D'Arcy took command, and
very kindly allowed me to accompany him. As we pulled up to the rock,
we found how much we had been deceived by the distance as to its size,
for instead of being