ranch of the river which they might descend. No opening
appeared either on one side or the other. After paddling on for another
hour, they again stopped. At first no sounds were heard except the
cries of night birds and the strange shrieks of animals in the forest.

"We might pull in now to one bank or the other, and rest until it is
time to slip down again," observed Desmond.

They were on the point of doing as proposed, when again the sound of the
natives' voices was heard coming up the stream. The enemy had probably
by this time been joined by the other canoes which had been seen on the
banks, and Tom confessed that he considered the risk of attempting to
escape by the way they had come very great. The only thing they could
therefore do was to keep on until Tom and Desmond had good reason to
believe that they had completely distanced their pursuers, and then as
soon as it was daylight they might hope to strike across the country and
regain the coast, where they were sure that the boats would be on the
look-out for them.

For some time they had seen no lights on the banks or other indications
that the country was inhabited, and the further they got up the river
the less risk there was of being discovered. They had not correctly
calculated the distance they had gone. There had been for some time
little or no current against them, but this they had not discovered
while they were paddling on. The tide was setting up the river, and had
thus sent them on much faster than they had supposed. Nick and Pipes
urged them to continue their course.

"All right; we get away!" cried Nick.

"No fear," cried Pipes. "Paddle, boys, paddle!" Thus hour after hour
they paddled on, until Tom declared that it would be folly to go
further, and that they must either land or else secure the canoe to the
trunk of a tree and wait in her until daylight. The latter plan was
adopted. Steering to the right bank, where some thick branches overhung
the stream, they secured the canoe to the stem of a small tree.

"We must keep watch," said Tom, "or we may receive a visit from a wild
beast, or be found napping by the natives, and be made prisoners or
killed without an opportunity of defending ourselves."

Gerald agreed to keep the first watch for a couple of hours, and then to
call Tom.

"I wish we had something to eat," said Billy. "I shall grow as thin as
a whipping-post, and never be able to march all the way to the coast,
which