topped back."

"It was our fellows, wasn't it?"

"Yes, sir; and I know who one of them was. Didn't you get a crack on
the back?"

"Yes. Drove me forward on my face. I think it was done with a
rifle-butt."

"That was it, sir. You know who it was--Scotch Mac. He always says
`Hech' when he hits out."

"Yes, of course."

"Well, wait a bit, sir. Some day I'll pay him back. I'll make him say
`Hech' out louder. Hurt you much, sir?"

"Only made my arm feel a bit numb. Stop a minute and listen. What's
that?"

"A splash!"

"Some one rowing?"

"Croc, perhaps, sir, with his tail."

"Then we are close to the river."

"Splendid, Mister Archie! Then it's going to be easy, after all."

At the end of a few cautiously taken paces the two lads found their
progress arrested by bushes, and they stopped short, trying hard to
pierce the gloom; but it seemed darker than ever.

"Can you tell where we are, Pete?" whispered Archie, with his lips close
to his companion's ear.

"No, sir; but take care, or we shall step right off the bank into the
water somewhere. Think I might strike a match, sir, and chuck it before
us?"

"No. If you do we shall be having a spear this time instead of a
rifle-butt."

"Right, sir; but I don't see how we are going to find a boat unless we
wade in and chance it."

"Let's get on, and creep through the bushes. It may seem a little
lighter close to the water's edge."

Hand-in-hand they pressed on, the bushes brushing their faces but
yielding easily for a few minutes, and then, as if moved by one impulse,
they checked an ejaculation and stood staring straight before them, for
all at once a bush they had reached sent forth a little scintillation of
light, and as Peter struck out with one hand, he started a fresh sparkle
of tiny little lights, as a flight of fire-flies flashed out for a
moment, and left the surroundings blacker than ever.

"That's done it, sir," whispered Peter. "I saw two quite plain."

"I saw quite fifty, Pete," whispered back Archie.

"Boats, sir! Stuff--fire-flies!"

"Do you mean to say that you saw boats?"

"That's right, sir. Just a glimpse--tied up, not half-a-dozen yards out
in the river. Come on, sir; I'll lead; only keep hold of hands and be
ready to step down into the water. These bushes hang quite over, you
know how. Ready, sir?"

"Yes."

"Then come on."

Two or three cautious steps were taken, which disturbed the occupants of
one of th