ning we reached the entrance of Tesbel Bay, and
the wind having died down, we had to work our way in with the oars,
a slow and hard task. Bourbaki yelled and pulled at the oars with
all his might, encouraging the others. These are the joys of sailing.

Tesbel Bay is framed on two sides by high cliffs. Big boulders
lie in picturesque confusion where the surf foams white against
the narrow beach. Wherever there is a foot of ground, luxurious
vegetation thrives. Ahead of us lies a level valley that stretches
far inland to the foot of a high mountain, whose head is lost in grey
clouds. A little creek runs into the bay through high reed-grass,
behind a sandbank. Just before setting, the sun shone through the
clouds and smiled on the lovely, peaceful landscape, seeming to
promise us a pleasant stay. The smoke of many village fires rose
out of the bush at a distance. Two ragged natives were loafing on
the beach, and I engaged one of them for the next day, to guide me
to some villages. Bourbaki and Macao marched gaily off, as they were
to spend the night in Macao's village.

Next morning, while being pulled ashore for my excursion inland, I
saw Macao on the beach, crying, waving and behaving like a madman. He
called out that Bourbaki was dead, and that we must come to the
village. I took him into the boat and we returned to the cutter. Macao
was trembling all over, uttering wild curses, sighing and sobbing like
a child. Between the fingers of his left hand he frantically grasped
his cartridges, and nervously kept hold of his old rifle. We could
not get much out of him; all we could make out was that Bourbaki had
been shot towards morning and that he himself had run away. We guessed
that Bourbaki must have committed some misdemeanour; as there was a
possibility of his still being alive, we decided to go and look for
him; for satisfaction it was idle to hope.

According to Macao the village was quite near, so we took our rifles,
armed the boys, and in ten minutes we were ashore. The youngest,
a fourteen-year-old boy, was left in the whale-boat, so as to be
ready to pick us up in case of need. His elder brother, a tall,
stout fellow, also preferred to stay in the boat; we left him behind,
and this left five of us for the expedition. Macao showed us the
way, and as we followed him we watched right and left for a possible
ambush. It was a disagreeable moment when we dived into the thicket,
where we expected to be attacked any mom