reeking fogs and putrid smells with hot sunshine, that a shady
day would have been a relief: but it there should come a tempest, what
could be done with the sick members of the party? It was dangerous to
stand under the trees in a thunderstorm; and the poor tent would be
soaked through with a quarter of an hour's rain. He thought it would be
best to take down the tent, and wrap up Mildred and Roger in the cloth;
and to pile the mattresses, one upon another, at the foot of the
thickest tree they could find; so that there might be a chance of one
bed being left dry for poor Mildred.

While arranging this in his mind, Oliver had been anxiously looking
abroad for any moving speck on the grey waters. Seeing none, but
perceiving that the clouds were slowly mounting the sky, and moving
onwards, he felt that he ought to be going to the hill, to make such
preparations as were possible before the first raindrops should fall.
Slowly and sadly he turned away to do so, when, casting one more glance
eastwards, he perceived something moving--a dark speck, leaving the
ruined roof of a dwelling which stood about half-way between himself and
the hamlet.

There could be no doubt that this speck was a boat; and as it came
nearer, Oliver saw that it was--a large boat, but quite full. He could
distinguish no figures in it, so heavy seemed the mass of people, or of
goods, with which it was crowded. It came on and on, however; and
Oliver's heart beat faster as it came. How he wished now that he had
kept a flag flying from the spot on which he stood! How he wished he
now had a signal to fix on this height! Though the boat-people were
still too far off to distinguish figures, a signal might catch their
eye. If he went to the Red-hill for a flag, the boat might be gone away
before his return. Trembling with haste, he stripped off his shirt, and
swung it in the air. He even mounted the top stone, which, surrounded
by no wall, or other defence, hung over the waters below. Oliver would
have said, half an hour before, that he could not have stood alone on
this perilous point: now, he not only stood there, but waved his white
signal with all his strength.

Did anybody notice it?

He once thought he saw what might have been an oar lifted in the air;
but he was not sure. He was presently only too certain of something
else--that the boat was moving away, not in the direction in which it
had approached, but southwards. He tried, as long