ty behaved better than we had expected, so that we had learned to
trust them. The necessary work of the camp was all we could do, and
when night came we were glad to turn in at an early hour, for we had
not yet fully recovered from the fatigues of the previous day and
night.

It was ordered by the general-in-chief that the watch during the night
should be relieved every two hours, and that three should be on duty
at once. A sufficient number of the company were detailed for this
purpose, and a tent apart from the rest assigned to them, that others
might not be disturbed when the watch was changed. How faithfully this
watch performed their duty we learned from the developments of the
next day.

I turned out about five o'clock in the morning, intending to try my
hand at fishing with Bob Hale and Tom Rush. We went down to the inlet
where the squadron had been secured, to obtain one of the row-boats.

There was not a boat there!

Even the old scow had disappeared, and the Splash was nowhere to be
seen!

CHAPTER XVII.

IN WHICH ERNEST FINDS THERE IS TREASON IN THE CAMP.

What had become of the boats? I was a commodore without a squadron,
and I felt so cheap that I would have sold out my commission for
sixpence, and thrown myself in. The boats had been carefully secured,
under my own direction, in the little inlet, and they could not have
drifted away, I looked at Bob Hale, and Bob Hale looked at me; but
neither of us could explain the disappearance of the fleet.

"An enemy hath done this," I began, in Scripture phrase.

"Of course it couldn't have been done by a friend," added Tom Rush.
"It's lucky we have a good stock of provisions on hand."

"But the stock won't last forever," suggested Bob.

"We are not going to be starved out in a week, or a year, for that
matter," I interposed. "We are not to be broken up by any such
accident as this."

"The commodore is spunky," laughed Bob, who was always good-natured,
whatever happened.

"I am not to be put down by any such expedient as this taking away the
boats. When I want to visit the main shore, I shall do so, boat or no
boat," I replied; for I already saw how I could counteract the
misfortune of the loss of our squadron.

"Parasyte has snuffed us out, I suppose, and sent a party up here in
the night to take the boats," continued Bob Hale. "He means to starve
us out."

"He will discover his mistake. But let us take a look round the
island; perhaps we