in the little fleet
of canoes. The prisoners were divided, some being placed in the canoes
with the plunder, and treated as if they were spoil. Others were
divided among the long canoes, manned by the enemy, whose own wounded
men, even to the worst, did not hesitate to take to a paddle, and fill
their places. Some of the children whimpered, but an apathetic state of
misery and dejection seemed to have affected even them, while in one or
two cases, a blow from a paddle was sufficient to awe the poor little
unfortunates into silence.

As soon as the last man was in his place, a herculean chief waved his
hands; one of his followers raised a great wooden trumpet, and blew a
long, bellowing note; the paddles dipped almost as one into the water,
and the men burst into a triumphal chorus, as, for a few hundred yards,
the great war canoes which they had captured swept with their freight of
spoil at a rapid rate southward along the shore.

Then the sudden burst of energy ceased, the song broke off, the speed
diminished; and the men slowly dipped their paddles in a heavy, drowsy
way. Every now and then one of the warriors ceased paddling, or
contented himself with going through the motion; but still the great
serpent-like vessels glided on, though slowly, while the darkness came
on rapidly, and the water flashed as its phosphorescent inhabitants were
disturbed.

The darkness grew intense, but not for long. Soon a gradual lightening
became visible in the east, and suddenly a flash of light glanced along
the surface of the sea, as the moon slowly rose to give a weird aspect
to the long row of dusky warriors sluggishly urging the great canoes
onward.

Don and Jem had the good fortune to be together in the largest and
leading canoe; and as they sat there in silence, the strangeness of the
scene appeared awful. The shore looked almost black, save where the
moon illumined the mountainous background; but the sea seemed to have
been turned into a pale greenish metal, flowing easily in a molten
state. No one spoke, not a sigh was heard from the prisoners, who must
have been suffering keenly as they cowered down in the boat.

Don sat watching the weird panorama as they went along, asking himself
at times if it was all real, or only the effect of some vivid dream.
For it appeared to be impossible that he could have gone through what he
had on the previous night, and be there now, borne who could say
whither, by the successful