w hailed from
somewhere nearer, and after a few shouts to and fro they heard him
say,--

"Found it!"

A thrill of joy ran through Rob, but it passed away and he felt
despondent again as they started to rejoin their guide, for the thoughts
of poor Joe were uppermost, and he began thinking of the day when they
should go back and join the schooner to announce the terrible accident
that had befallen the captain's son.

But he had to toil hard to get through the trees, and this work took
away the power of thinking much of anything but the task in hand.
Shaddy, too, had stopped short, waiting for them to come to him, and
they had to squeeze themselves between trees, climb over half-rotten
trunks, and again and again start aside and try another way as they
found themselves disturbing some animal, often enough a serpent.

"'Bliged to stop here, gen'lemen, and mark the direction," rang on their
ears all at once. "You see, one can't travel in a straight line, and I
was afraid of losing my way again."

"How far is the river away?"

"Not quarter of a mile if you could go straight, my lad, but it'll be
half a mile way we have to twist about. But come along. Once we get to
the water's edge, we'll soon make the boat."

He turned, and led on slowly and laboriously, the difficulties
increasing at every step, and more than once Rob was about to break
down. The last time he took hold of a tree to support himself, and was
about to say, "I can go no further," when, looking up, there was Shaddy
pointing down at the water, which had flooded over right in among the
trunks.

Rob dropped upon his knees directly, bent down, placed his lips to the
water, and drank with avidity, Brazier following his example.

The discovery of a guide which must lead them to the spot where they had
left the boat, and the refreshment the river afforded, gave Rob the
strength to follow Shaddy manfully along the margin of the flood over
twice the ground they had traversed in the morning--for their wanderings
had taken them very much further astray than they had believed--and the
result was that just at sundown, after being startled several times by
the cries of the jaguar or puma close on their left apparently, Shaddy
suddenly gave a hoarse cheer, for he had emerged upon the clearing at
whose edge the boat was moored.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

A TERRIBLE SURPRISE.

Shaddy looked sharply round as they crossed the clearing, all three
breathing more free