buildings, and proceeded to search for the miller and his men; but
neither Mr Mackey nor any of his people were to be found. The mill
appeared to be deserted, so we had our trouble for nothing. Once more
we took to the boats. The river was here, for some distance, very
narrow, but it widened out again as we proceeded upwards. Again and
again we landed, always keeping the most profound silence. I had duly
impressed on the minds of the people the fact that our lives and the
success of the enterprise depended on our so doing. We were all,
however, beginning to get rather vexed at our want of success,
especially as we had no safety-valve in the expression of our feelings.
At times it appeared as if the river flowed through the centre of some
large forest. On either side the tall trees rose up, forming a dark
wall, with the sky overhead and the smooth black current of the river on
which we floated flowing beneath. I trusted that none of the enemy had
discovered us, for I thought to myself, if they have, this is just the
place they will select to attack, and very little chance we shall have,
in that case, of successfully running the gauntlet and getting off
scot-free. However, our business was to push up the river as far as we
could go till we discovered the vessels we were to look for, taking
care, only, that we had time to return before daylight should discover
us to our foes. On we went, till we reached a part of the river called
the West Branch. It appeared to me that the night had become less dark
than at first. Perhaps it was that the banks were freer from trees. We
kept carefully examining either shore. I fancied as we pulled on that I
could distinguish a rough sort of landing-place.

"A house will not be far-off from it," I said to myself, so I gave the
order to pull in for it. My eyes had not deceived me. There was a
regular formal landing-place, and not three hundred yards from it I
thought that I saw a house. Leaving two men in each boat I drew up my
party and gave the order to advance that we might immediately surround
the house, if such, as I suspected, there was. With the same
precautions which we had hitherto used we advanced as rapidly as we
could venture to move towards what I took to be a building. I soon
found that I was not mistaken. The barking of a dog also told me that
the place was inhabited, and at the same time warned us that the inmates
were very likely to be aroused by our appr