ay. The men slept and watched by
turns. On the afternoon of the second day, a native was seen moving
cautiously from tree to tree along the edge of the forest. As soon as it
was dark, Dick, whose watch it was, crawled cautiously from hut to hut.

"That fellow we saw today may come at any moment," he said. "If one of
you see him coming, the other must place himself close to the door, and
if he enters, throw himself upon him and hold his arms tightly till the
others come up to help. Keep your rope handy to twist round him, and
remember these fellows are as slippery as eels."

Having made the round, he returned to the hut in the center of the
others that he and Harry occupied. Half an hour later, they heard a
sudden outcry from the hut next to them, and rushing in, found the two
men there struggling with a Malay. With their aid he was speedily bound;
then the men were called from the other huts, and the whole party ran
down to the water's edge, where Harry hailed the ship. A boat put off
at once, and they were taken on board. The prisoner was led to
the captain's cabin, and there examined through the medium of the
interpreter. He refused to answer any questions until, by the captain's
orders, he was taken on deck again and a noose placed round his neck,
and the interpreter told him that, unless he spoke, he was to be hauled
up to the yard's arm. The man was still silent.

"Tighten the strain very gradually," the captain said to the sailors
holding the other end of the rope. "Raise him two or three feet above
the deck, and then, when the doctor holds up his hand, lower him at once
again."

This was done. The man, though half strangled, was still conscious, and
on the noose being loosened, and Soh Hay saying that, unless he spoke,
he would be again run up, he said, as soon as he got his breath, that he
would answer any question. On being taken to the cabin, he said that the
prahus had gone down the river, and had ascended the other arm. They had
only gone a few miles above the town, for one had been so injured that
there had been difficulty in keeping her afloat, and it was necessary to
run her into a creek in order to repair her before going up farther.

Half an hour later steam was up, and before morning the Serpent lay off
the mouth of the creek which the Malay pointed out as the one that the
prahu had entered. The second officer was this time placed in command
of the boats, he himself going in the launch, the third o