for warning of the
approach of an enemy; but even they did not help us much, for the island
was but a small one, and the thunder of the surf upon its weather shore,
borne to us with almost startling distinctness, mingled with the sough
of the wind among the trees and the lap of the ripples alongside, making
with these a combination of sound that effectually screened any such
movement as the launching of a canoe or the distant dip of paddles. I
foresaw that this was likely to be a wakeful night for me, for with such
a heavy load of responsibility upon my young shoulders I could not
possibly have slept, even upon a bed of down. I therefore instructed
the men to bring their beds on deck and snatch such rest as might come
to them, while I kept a lookout. Also I made a point of striking the
ship's bell regularly every half-hour, in the faint hope that if the
savages could be brought to realise that we were upon the alert they
might, after all, decide not to risk an attack.

With incredible slowness the laggard moments passed; the second
dog-watch came to an end; and then, still more slowly, as it seemed to
my impatience, first one, then two, three, four, and so on up to eight
bells of the first watch were tolled out, and still there were no signs
of the enemy. And all this while I was continuously padding round the
decks in a pair of old felt-soled slippers, which effectually silenced
my footsteps upon the planking, pausing for a moment at every half-dozen
steps to peer anxiously but in vain into the shadow of the island for
some indication of movement. Finally four bells of the middle watch
arrived, and their passage was duly recorded by the strokes of the
ship's bell. Meanwhile the stress of the day's anxiety, combined with
my continuous and monotonous perambulation of the deck, and no doubt
assisted by the soft coolness of the offshore breeze, laden with the
odours of earth and vegetation, and the constant booming sound of the
distant surf, was beginning to tell upon me; my jarred nerves had become
steady, my breathing had become deep and regular, my limbs were growing
weary, and my eyelids began occasionally to droop; in short, I was
beginning to feel fatigued and in need of sleep.

This, then, was evidently the moment at which to attempt to snatch a
little rest, and I was debating within myself which of the men I should
call to relieve me, or rather which of them I could best trust to keep
an alert lookout, when