had been full of the
warmth of the sun. This, I put to the account of evening, which was
drawing on apace; and also, it must be borne in mind, that there were but
the two of us.

We came to the spring; but George was not to be seen, and I saw no sign
of my sword. At this, the bo'sun raised his voice, and cried out the
lad's name. Once he called, and again; then at the second shout we heard
the boy's shrill halloo, from some distance ahead among the trees. At
that, we ran towards the sound, plunging heavily across the ground, which
was every-where covered with a thick scum, that clogged the feet in
walking. As we ran, we hallooed, and so came upon the boy, and I saw that
he had my sword.

The bo'sun ran towards him, and caught him by the arm, speaking with
anger, and commanding him to return with us immediately to the vessel.

But the lad, for reply, pointed with my sword, and we saw that he pointed
at what appeared to be a bird against the trunk of one of the trees.
This, as I moved closer, I perceived to be a part of the tree, and no
bird; but it had a very wondrous likeness to a bird; so much so that I
went up to it, to see if my eyes had deceived me. Yet it seemed no more
than a freak of nature, though most wondrous in its fidelity; being but
an excrescence upon the trunk. With a sudden thought that it would make
me a curio, I reached up to see whether I could break it away from the
tree; but it was above my reach, so that I had to leave it. Yet, one
thing I discovered; for, in stretching towards the protuberance, I had
placed a hand upon the tree, and its trunk was soft as pulp under my
fingers, much after the fashion of a mushroom.

As we turned to go, the bo'sun inquired of George his reason for going
beyond the spring, and George told him that he had seemed to hear someone
calling to him among the trees, and there had been so much pain in the
voice that he had run towards it; but been unable to discover the owner.
Immediately afterwards he had seen the curious, bird-like excrescence
upon a tree nearby. Then we had called, and of the rest we had knowledge.

We had come nigh to the spring on our return journey, when a sudden low
whine seemed to run among the trees. I glanced towards the sky, and
realized that the evening was upon us. I was about to remark upon this to
the bo'sun, when, abruptly, he came to a stand, and bent forward to stare
into the shadows to our right. At that, George and I turned ourselves