be extinguished. Their destination was the creek in the eastern
shore of Tierra Bomba in which the longboat had lain hidden when Dick
and Marshall had reconnoitred the town together; and they reached it
about midnight, secreted the boat beneath the well-remembered bushes,
and then composed themselves to sleep as well as they could in her
stern-sheets.

The sun was a full hour above the horizon when his beams, piercing the
thick canopy of foliage which overhung their place of concealment,
awakened the two fugitives, who arose from their hard couch refreshed
but hungry. A plunge into the shallow waters of the creek washed the
lingering remains of sleep out of their eyes, and further refreshed
them, when, having allowed their bodies to dry in the brisk warm breeze,
they dressed and scrambled ashore to hunt for food. Of this they
obtained without difficulty as much as they required; for Tierra Bomba
was at that time densely overgrown with trees and bushes of various
kinds, among which several fruit-bearing varieties flourished wild,
particularly plantains and bananas. Upon these, then, they satisfied
their hunger, at the same time taking the precaution to secure a bunch
of sufficiently generous dimensions to meet all their needs for several
days to come. Then, their immediate wants satisfied, they retreated to
their place of concealment and, seating themselves in their boat,
proceeded to discuss their plans for the future.

The information respecting the doings of the _Adventure_, communicated
to them by their fair friends the Senoritas Clara and Dolores, left
little doubt in their minds that the crew, thoroughly discouraged at the
disastrous result of their adventure in Cartagena, had decided to rest
satisfied with the treasure which they had already acquired--and which,
indeed, was considerable enough to satisfy most reasonable people--and
had sailed direct for England upon quitting the harbour, too hastily
concluding, perhaps, that all the missing were dead; or, if not dead, at
least captive beyond all hope of deliverance. This assumption seemed to
Stukely and Chichester to be the only one at which they could reasonably
arrive; and since its acceptance shut them out from all hope of ever
again seeing the _Adventure_ and being able to rejoin her, the question
that naturally arose in their minds was: What were they to do now?

It was Dick who first put this question into words; and by way of reply
Stukely put anoth