but found no more houses, though on all of them we came across
the inevitable fish-traps, and also a good-sized bamboo fishing raft,
lying far up on the beach. This we at once carried off, and were about
to hide in a thicket--little thinking it would prove such a dangerous
acquisition--when Yorke suggested a better course. It would be a
mistake, he said, to leave the raft so far from our sleeping place,
instead of taking it away, when not only should we have it near us in
case of a sudden attack by the natives, but we could utilise it for
fishing, and that by removing it to the southernmost islet, which was
farthest away from the fishing village on the largest island, we could
easily conceal it from view.

The natives, he argued, would be bound to search for it on the islet
where they had left the thing, and would conclude that it had been
washed away in the hurricane, and therefore were hardly likely to come
down to the southern islet, the inner beach of which could be seen from
nearly every point on the lagoon.

"So," he went on, "you see that if the black gentry do think that their
raft might have been carried down to the inner beach of the south islet,
they will only need to use their eyes to show them it isn't there. But
it will be snug enough on the outer side of the island, where they won't
dream of looking for it, and where we can use it whenever we like--for
we'll shift our camp down there to-day.... God knows how long we may
have to live here if anything has happened to the _Fray Bentos_ and the
_Francesca_ and so we must run no needless risks."

"Right," I assented, "and see, the wind is falling steadily, and there's
not much of a swell inside the lagoon now. Why not let us try and
take the raft away with us at once, instead of coming for her in the
morning?"

We cut down a couple of young saplings for poles, carried the raft to
the water, and launched it. It was big enough to support five or six
people, but floated like a feather, and, to our delight, we found that
we could pole it along in shallow water with the greatest of ease. By
four o'clock we reached the island, and carried our craft up from the
inner beach into a clump of trees. This spot, we thought, would make a
good camp, as from it we commanded not only a good view of the lagoon,
but of the sea to the south and west, and we felt certain that if Guest
turned up all right, he would look for us at this end of the atoll--even
if he made it from t