oremost. I've a canoe ready on the banks of the river, and
we may be far away before our flight is discovered."

We lost no time in words, but taking each other's hands that we might
not be separated, we ran as fast as we could across the square, guided
by the sailor, who had taken the bearings of some lights he told us to
steer by. Owing to the stormy weather and the late hour, no one was
crossing the square; indeed, even the most callous were probably
inclined to avoid the spot where the Indians had been executed in the
morning. We must have passed close to it. At last we reached the side
of the river, but had not hit the place where the sailor had left the
canoe. Here was another difficulty. Could any one have removed it? We
groped about for some time in vain.

"Can you both swim?" asked the sailor.

"Yes; but it's a long way across, and there are perhaps crocodiles in
the water," I answered.

"Better be drowned or swallowed up by a crocodile, my lads, than retaken
by those land-sharks," he observed. "It must come to that if we cannot
find the canoe."

Pedro and I agreed to this; and, though we had not our full strength, we
prepared to take the swim, trusting to the brave fellow's assistance.

"Well, I see there's some risk, so we'll have another hunt for the canoe
first," he observed. "Stay, I think it's lower down the stream."

He was right. Directly afterwards, to our great satisfaction, we
stumbled upon the canoe. To launch it was the work of a moment; but
though we hunted in every direction, we could only find one paddle.

"One must do," said the sailor. "I can manage. No time to be lost,
though."

Saying this, he stepped in first, and seated himself in the stern, with
the paddle in his hand. He then turned the head of the canoe to the
bank, and told Pedro and me to creep in carefully over the bow. We did
so, and placed ourselves by his direction along the bottom. A stroke of
his paddle then turned the canoe round, and we floated rapidly down the
stream. I listened for any sound to indicate that we were followed, but
nothing could be heard above the howling of the wind in the trees.
Neither of us uttered a word, not that there was much chance of being
heard by any one on shore. The water bubbled and hissed round us, and
the wind threw it in sheets of spray over our heads. At times it came
rippling over the sides of the canoe, and there seemed a prospect of its
being filled; but the s