ned shortly,
with his arms full of large bunches of a round juicy berry. "Here," he
said, "these will quench your thirst, and are perfectly wholesome." We
found the taste resembling that of grapes. He called it the _puruma_.
We were too eager to find Arthur to rest long, and were once more on our
journey.

"From the account you gave me, I hope we may soon meet with your
friends," observed the recluse, "unless they have turned back in despair
of finding you."

"Little fear of that," I observed. "I am sure Arthur will search for us
as long as he has strength to move."

Still we went on and on, and Arthur did not appear; and we asked our
companion whether he did not think it possible that our friends might
have tried to make their way along the bank of the river.

"No," he answered, "the jungle is there too thick; and if we find signs
of their having made the attempt, we shall speedily overtake them; for
though we have made a considerable circuit, they by this time could
scarcely have progressed half a mile even with the active employment of
sharp axes."

This somewhat comforted me; for notwithstanding what the recluse said, I
felt nearly certain that Arthur would attempt to examine the whole
length of the bank, in hopes of discovering what had become of us. We
went on and on till we entered a denser part of the forest, where we
were compelled to use our axes before we could get through. At length I
caught sight through an opening of what looked like a heap of boughs at
a distance. The recluse, quickening his pace, went on towards it. We
eagerly followed. It was a hut roughly built. Extinguished embers of a
fire were before it. We looked in eagerly. It was empty, but there
were leaves on the ground, and dry grass, as if people had slept there.
It had been, there was little doubt, inhabited by Arthur and his
companions. It was just such a hut as they would have built in a hurry
for defence against the storm. But what had become of them?

"I believe you are right," said the recluse at last, having examined the
bushes round; "they certainly attempted to make their way along the
bank. I trust no accident has happened to them, for in many places it
is undermined by the waters, and after rain suddenly gives way." These
remarks somewhat alarmed me. "This is the way they have taken, at all
events," he added; "though they have managed to creep under places we
might find some difficulty in passing." Again he