this a hard matter. John stood silent for some time.
Then again he walked over the spot, and examined narrowly the ground,
looking among the neighbouring trees.

"Perhaps this was not their house," suggested Arthur; "or if it was,
they may have escaped. Surely we should not give way to despair."

"I think the master is too cautious a man to have been taken by
surprise," observed Domingos. "He is probably not far off, and we shall
see him soon."

Maria did her best to comfort her young mistress.

"Do not cry, Dona Ellen; do not cry. We shall soon see them all," she
said, putting her arms round her as she used to do when she was a child,
and trying to comfort her.

Wishing to ascertain John's opinion, I went towards him.

"We must proceed further on," he said. "I am surprised that our father
has not left any sign by which we might learn where he has gone."

"Perhaps he had to retreat in too great a hurry for that, yet he might
have escaped in safety," observed Arthur.

"Do you think they were attacked by natives, and driven away?" I asked
of John.

"About that I am doubtful," he answered, in a low voice, so that Ellen
should not hear. "Yet had the hut simply been burned by accident, they
would have rebuilt it. Our friend Naro gave the Indians of this part of
the river a bad name. He called them _Majeronas_; and said that they
are cannibals, and attack all strangers. I did not believe the account
he gave of them; and had I done so, I would not have mentioned it, for
fear of unnecessarily alarming Ellen. Still, Harry, I confess I am
very, very anxious."

"So indeed am I, now you tell me about the _Majeronas_," I observed;
"but still we must hope for the best. I cannot believe that anything so
dreadful has happened as our fears suggest. Our poor mother, and sweet
Fanny and Aunt Martha, to have been carried off and killed! Oh, I
cannot think it true!"

"Don't you think it possible they got notice that they were about to be
attacked, and made their escape in good time?" observed Arthur, in a
more cheerful voice. "The natives, when they found that their prey had
escaped them, would very naturally burn the house; and if they found any
signals which Mr Faithful might have left, would have destroyed them
also. I will ask Domingos; I think he will agree with me."

When we told Domingos what Arthur had said, he declared that he thought
that was the most likely thing to have occurred. The suggestion rai