ut it. There's one
comfort. We shall be able to sleep all day tomorrow, and so I sha'n't
think about it. As the Indians did not find our tracks yesterday, they
are not likely to do so today."

They were some time before they found a hiding place, for the descent
was so steep that they had to try several times, before they could get
down far enough to reach a spot screened by bushes, and hidden from the
sight of anyone passing above. At last they did so, and soon lay down
to sleep, after partaking of a mouthful of water each, and a tiny piece
of bread. They passed the day for the most part in sleep, but the
midshipman woke frequently, being now really parched with thirst. Each
time, he chewed a few leaves from the bush in which they were lying,
but derived but small comfort from it.

"It's awful to think of tomorrow," he said, as evening approached.
"Even supposing you find a way down tonight, it must be midnight
tomorrow before we are taken off."

"If I find a way down," James said, "I will, if possible, take you down
with me, and then we can take a long drink at the river; but, at any
rate, I will take the bottle down with me, and bring it up full for
you. The next place to try is the spot where we saw some tents, as we
went up the river. There is no battery there, and the tents can only
have been pitched there because there was some way down to the water.
It cannot be more than half a mile away, for it was not more than a
mile from Fort Samos."

"Can't I go with you?" the midshipman said. "I will be as quiet as a
cat; and, if you find it is a good path, and come up to fetch me down,
you see there will be a treble risk of being seen."

"Very well," James agreed. "Only mind, if you set a stone rolling, or
break a twig, it will cost us both our lives, to say nothing of the
failure of our expedition."

"I will be as quiet as a mouse. You see if I ain't," the midshipman
said confidently; "and I will try not to think, even once, of the water
below there, so as not to hurry."

Together they crept cautiously along the edge of the ridge, until they
came to a clump of some fifteen tents. As they approached they could
see, by the light of the fires, that the encampment was one of Canadian
troops.

James had not intended to move forward until all were asleep, but the
men were all chatting round the fires, and it did not seem to him that
a sentry had, as yet, been placed on the edge of the descent. He
therefore crept fo