silence reigned all around us, and while I was still peering into the
heavy shadow of the trees, I heard a sound which resembled a deep, and
long-drawn sigh, followed by an exclamation, as of a person in bodily
pain.

"We must get round to the other side," whispered Morton, "and see what
this means."

We backed out of the mangroves with the utmost caution, and inch by
inch: when we had got to such a distance as to render this extreme
circumspection no longer necessary, we commenced a wide circuit around
the inlet, which proved to be only a small cove, or indentation in the
shore, extending less than a hundred yards inland. In approaching it
again on the opposite side, we resumed all our former stealthiness of
movement, feeling that our lives in all probability depended upon our
caution.

When, at last, we had got, as we supposed, quite near the place where we
had seen the boat, we proceeded, by creeping on our hands and knees
through the bushes for short distances, and then rising and looking
about, to ascertain our position.

It was so dark, and the undergrowth was so dense--the moonlight scarcely
penetrating the thick foliage--that nothing could be distinguished at
the distance even of a few yards, and there was some danger that we
might come suddenly, and before we were aware, upon those whom we
supposed to be already so near us. While thus blindly groping our way
towards the edge of the inlet, I heard a voice almost beside me, which
said--

"Will they never come back?--Are they going to leave us here to starve?"

The voice was that of Johnny's beyond the possibility of mistake.
Turning in the direction from which it proceeded, I saw a little to the
right three figures upon the ground at the foot of a large casuarina.
Another voice, as familiar, almost immediately answered--

"I only fear that they will return too soon: have patience! in a little
while I shall have gnawed through this rope, and then I do not despair
of being able to get my hands free also."

This was enough to show how matters stood.

"Are you alone?" said I, in a low voice, but loud enough to be heard by
those beneath the casuarina.

There was an exclamation of joyful surprise from Johnny; then Arthur
answered, "If that is you, Archer, come and help us, for we are tied
hand and foot. You have nothing to fear; our captors have left us quite
alone."

We now came forward without further hesitation. They were all bound
fast, their ha