exclaimed Mrs. Maguire. "It seems like company just
to look at that boat and the hut, and to know that someone has been here
lately, and will come back."

"Oh, they'll be sure to come back," Russ said. "That's is too good a boat
to abandon. Why, it must be worth a thousand dollars."

He and Paul went down to examine it, while the moving picture girls and
Mrs. Maguire looked about the hut.

"It seems almost like home, after what we have been through," remarked
Ruth.

"I wish there was something to eat here," said Alice, after a stroll
about the vicinity of the hut. "Whoever lives here must get their
supplies in from day to day, and eat them all up."

"Or they may be out after supplies now," added Mrs. Maguire.

The shadows were lengthening, but the sun was still bright, and it would
not be night for several hours. There was a period of anxious waiting.

"I wonder if we hadn't better shout again, and fire a few shots?"
remarked Paul. "We may be near our own steamer now, though it doesn't
seem so. We might be in another country, for all we can tell."

"I believe we will give a few signals," agreed Russ. "And I can spare a
couple of cartridges. I only wish I could see something worth eating to
shoot at. Then I could be killing two birds with one stone--giving a
signal and providing a meal."

But there seemed no suitable mark for the weapon to be aimed at, and,
after they had united their voices in a chorus of calls, Russ fired
twice--at intervals.

Then came a period of anxious waiting and silence.

"Call once more," suggested Ruth.

"Hark!" exclaimed Alice, raising her hand to add to her injunction, for
Russ had been about to speak. "I heard something."

They all listened intently.

"There it is again!" whispered Alice.

Unmistakably now they all heard voices calling--voices that increased in
intensity--coming nearer.

"Oh, they've found us! They've found us!" half sobbed Ruth.

"Call again, boys--I--I can't," faltered Alice.

Russ and Paul shouted.

Again came an unmistakable answer. Now was heard a crashing in the
underbrush that told of the approach of someone, and, a moment later
there came into view, on the far side of the clearing, where stood the
palm leaf hut, two girls, one with a gun over her shoulder, and the other
with a brace of birds hanging from her waist.

The two girls stopped for a moment, and then, with joyful shouts, rushed
forward.

As for our friends, they seemed paralyzed w