asures have
escaped; it would be heartbreaking to lose them. Send up Walter as soon
as possible. The knowledge that they are safe would bring me round
quicker than anything else, and recompense me for what we have gone
through."

"Depend on me," answered his brother naturalist. "I hope it will be all
right; though probably, had the pirates not found their way to the fort,
they would have discovered our stores."

We now hurried down the hill, and made the best of our way along our
river road to the shore. As we passed the spot where the house had
stood, a heap of cinders alone remained, still smouldering. It was
surprising, indeed, that the trees had escaped. Had they caught fire, a
large portion of the forest, if not the whole of the woods on the
island, might have been burned. We were thankful we had escaped such a
fearful calamity. On our way we found the apparently dead body of a
pirate. I was going up to him, when Mr Thudicumb called me back.

"Stay, stay, Walter!" he cried. "If he is not dead, he may take his
revenge on you, even though at the last gasp."

I drew back just in time, for I thought I saw the man's eye move. Dick
Tarbox came on the next moment, when the seemingly dead Malay started
up, and made a rush at me, with his sharp kriss in his hand. But the
exertion was too much for him: just as he reached me he fell back, his
wound bursting out afresh, and the next instant he gave a gasp, and was
dead. It showed the desperate character of the men with whom we had had
to contend, and increased our gratitude that we had escaped falling into
their hands. Two more we found close to the beach, who had been left
behind by their companions in their hurry to embark. One was already
dead; the other, though badly wounded, still breathed. We approached
him cautiously. Roger Trew was on the point of lifting up his musket to
give him his quietus, when Mr Hooker called to him.

"He knows no better, poor wretch!" he said. "If he were our greatest
enemy, we should do our best to save him; only let us take away from him
the power of doing mischief."

"You are right, sir; I forgot that," said Roger Trew.

The pirate's kriss was in his hand, but his arm was too weak to lift it.
We removed his weapon, when Mr Hooker addressed some words to him,
which made the pirate open his eyes wide with astonishment.

"I have told him we will not hurt him," said our friend, "and if we can
do him any good, we will.