their search were borne down to
the boat, which was cast loose, the poles were seized, and they began to
stem the current.

The work proved easier than they had anticipated so long as they kept
close inshore; but this, they felt, was incurring the greatest peril,
for an occasional voice warned them of the presence of enemies close at
hand; and after one narrow escape, consequent upon their being hailed by
some one in the Malay tongue, they pushed off in despair, to make for
the farther bank of the river.

This portion of their journey was not achieved without losing ground,
for out beyond the middle there were times when, in spite of the length
of the long bamboo poles, they could not touch bottom. But once more
close inshore, they began to make better progress, and as they paused
for a few minutes' rest in the thick darkness in a place closely
overhung by trees, the question arose as to how long it would be before
daybreak, for both felt that the night must be pretty well spent.

"What do you say, Pete?" said Archie.

"Don't want to say nothing, sir," was the reply.

"Why?"

"Don't want to put you out of heart."

Archie was silent for a few moments.

"You mean that it must be nearly morning now. Speak out."

"Something of the kind, sir; and I was thinking that it seems too bad to
have to make a mess of it at the end."

"Ah! You think that though we may get across and land with our load on
our side of the river, we should have daylight upon us before we could
get anything like back to the Residency?"

"Wish I was as clever as you are, Mister Archie," said Peter in a low,
grumbling tone, as he thrust with all his might at the end of his pole.

"What do you mean?"

"You saying just exactly what I was thinking about, sir. How you come
to see it all I don't know."

"Oh, never mind that, Pete. It's very horrible, and when we are missing
in the morning there will be no end of an upset, and they will think
that we have deserted."

"Haw, haw!" grunted Peter, with another thrust of his pole which
hindered the straight course of the sampan. "Them thinking you had
deserted, sir? Likely! You ain't me."

"Well, Pete, let's get as high as we can past the place where we got the
boat, and then the moment we think that daylight's coming let's get
across, tie the boat up somewhere under the trees, and lie in hiding
till night."

"Won't do," said Peter shortly. "Boat belongs to somebody as ain't our
friends