ts jaws, while Billy lay sprawling on the ground where he had fallen,
his foot having caught in a supple jack, as he was making chase after
the depredator. The whole party followed, but the tiger, if tiger it
was, quickly bounded out of sight. Tom and the other midshipmen had a
sincere regard for honest Peter, and were grieved to think that they had
lost him. Rushing on, they caught sight of Peter in the monster's jaws.
But the black was not inactive, for having been seized by the left
shoulder, with his right hand, which was free, he was punching the tiger
furiously in the eyes. Tom was afraid of firing, lest he should hit
Peter; at the same time it seemed scarcely possible that the poor fellow
would escape being torn to pieces. Suddenly, however, the tiger gave a
spring forward, when the midshipmen saw that Peter was no longer in the
creature's mouth. Tom and Desmond both fired together, but the tiger
bounded away. On getting up, what was their surprise to find Peter
rising to his feet, and, although his left shoulder was very much torn
and he looked somewhat confused, he was well able to accompany them back
to the camp. He knew no more about the matter than they did. Suddenly
he had felt himself carried off in the jaws of a big animal, and as he
said, "naturally made the best use of his fists to get free."

Billy looked very much ashamed of himself, and was compelled to
acknowledge that he must have been dozing, as he certainly did not see
the tiger coming.

"It shows that we must keep very wide awake, or none of us will reach
the end of our journey," said Tom. "Now, the sooner we get away from
this the better; for the sound of our shots may have attracted the
attention of the natives in the neighbourhood."

Casey, who had been accustomed to see all sorts of wounds, assisted to
bind up the hurt of poor Peter, who declared that he was perfectly ready
to continue the march. As they were afraid of lighting a fire and had
no food, they pushed on during the cool hours of the morning, intending
to take a substantial meal as soon as it was too hot to proceed. They
had no little difficulty, however, in making their way amid the creepers
and climbing plants, which, hanging from tree to tree, interlaced each
other in a perfect network. They often, therefore, had to hunt about
until they could discover a more open place, through which they could
advance.

They calculated that they had pushed forward about ten mi