nd, as he supposed, mortally hurt by the
fall, he had climbed again to the higher ground, and reached it at a
very critical moment.

Morton was struggling at disadvantage with the same formidable
antagonist from whom he had before been for a moment in such imminent
danger; and Max was dodging about among the bushes, sorely pressed by
another of the enemy with one of those long spears, against which he
entertained so violent a prejudice. I had just been disposed of in the
manner above hinted at, by the savage who had been wounded in the neck
by Morton, at the very commencement of the affray, and he was now at
liberty to turn his attention either to Max or Morton, each of whom was
already hard bested.

Browne immediately fell upon my conqueror, almost as unexpectedly as the
latter had attacked me, and by a sudden blow stretched him senseless
upon the ground. He next relieved Morton, by disabling his adversary.
The two, then, hastened to Max's succour, but the savage who was engaged
with him, did not deem it prudent to await the approach of this
reinforcement, and made off into the forest. They then gathered up all
the weapons of the enemy, permitting Morton's recent antagonist to limp
off without molestation. The man whom I had wounded was by this time
sitting up, wiping the blood from his face and eyes; the other, also,
manifested signs of returning consciousness; but having been deprived of
their clubs and spears, no danger was apprehended from them. My three
companions had then carried me to the spot where we now were, from
whence they had witnessed the departure of the rest of our foes. Even
the man whom Browne had left dying on the shore, as he supposed, had
managed to crawl off at last.

As soon as Max and Morton returned, we set out at once, weary as we
were, for the islet in the brook, without any very definite notion as to
what was to be done next. The prudence of removing from our present
neighbourhood was obvious, but we were still too much discomposed and
excited by what had just taken place, to have been able to decide upon
any further step, even had not the momentary apprehension of the return
of the savages in greater numbers rendered every thing like calm
deliberation entirely out of the question.

We took the precaution to choose our path over the hardest and dryest
ground, in order to afford the savages the fewest possible facilities
for tracing our course. By the time we reached the islet, w