the smooth water and now and then the chirp of the rowlocks. For nearly
half an hour we pulled on, pausing at intervals to listen, but nothing
of an alarming nature met our ears. The island was every moment growing
larger, the beach more plain to the eye, and the hill more clearly
defined.

As soon as the boat grounded we sprang out and, leaving one hand to look
after her, made our way ashore. It was a strange experience that landing
on a strange beach on such an errand and at such an hour, but we were
all too much taken up with the work which lay before us to think of
that. Having left the water's edge we came to a standstill beneath a
group of palms and discussed the situation. As the command of the
expedition had fallen upon me I decided upon the following course of
action: To begin with, I would leave the party behind me and set out by
myself to ascertain the whereabouts of the hut. Having discovered this I
would return, and we would thereupon make our way inland and endeavour
to capture it. I explained the idea in as few words as possible to my
followers, and then, bidding them wait for me where they were, at the
same time warning them against letting their presence be discovered, I
set off up the hill in the direction I knew the plateau to lie. The
undergrowth was very thick and the ground rocky; for this reason it was
nearly twenty minutes before I readied the top of the hill. Then down
the other side I crept, picking my way carefully, and taking infinite
precautions that no noise should serve to warn our foes of my coming.

At last I reached the plateau and looked about me. A small perpendicular
cliff, some sixty feet in height, was before me, so throwing myself down
upon my stomach, I wriggled my way to its edge. When I got there I
looked over and discovered three well-built huts on a little plateau at
the cliff's base. At the same moment a roar of laughter greeted my ears
from the building on the left. It was followed by the voice of a man
singing to the accompaniment of a banjo. Under cover of his music I rose
to my feet and crept back through the bushes, by the track along which I
had come. I knew enough to distribute my forces now.

Having reached my friends again I informed them of what I had seen, and
we then arranged the mode of attack as follows: The mate of the yacht,
with two of the hands, would pass round the hill to the left of the
plateau, Wetherell and another couple of men would take the right