nd. Won't these naked fellows follow us up and
kill us, mayhap, when we're asleep?"

"Doubtless they will try," answered Bladud, "but we land-faring men are
in the habit of troubling our heads on that score, and guarding against
it. Do you see yonder stream, or, rather, the line of bushes that mark
its course?"

"Ay, plainly."

"Well, when we reach that, you shall see and understand without
explanation."

On reaching the stream referred to, they found that it was a small,
shallow one, with a sluggish current, for the plain through which it
flowed was almost flat.

"You see," said Bladud, pausing on the brink, "that it flows towards the
sea in the direction we have come from. Now step into the water and
follow me down stream."

"Down?" exclaimed the captain in surprise, and with some hesitation.
"We don't want to return to the sea whence we have just come, do we?"

"Captain Arkal," returned Bladud, sternly, "when you give orders on
board ship, do you expect to have them questioned, or obeyed?"

"Lead on, guide," returned the captain, stepping promptly into the
water.

For about a quarter of a mile the prince led his followers in silence
and with much care, for it was growing very dark. Presently they came
to a place where the banks were swampy and the stream deep. Here their
guide landed and continued to walk a short distance down the bank,
ordering his followers to conceal their track as much as possible, by
closing the long grass over each footprint. The result, even to the
unpractised eyes of the seamen, did not seem satisfactory, but their
leader made no comment. After proceeding about fifty yards further, he
re-entered the stream and continued the descent for about a mile. Then
he stopped abruptly, and, turning round, said, "Now, comrades, we will
land for a moment, then re-enter the stream and ascend."

The astonishment of Captain Arkal was so great, that he was again on the
point of asking an explanation, for it seemed to him that wandering down
the bed of a stream for the mere purpose of turning and wandering up it,
when haste was urgent, could only be accounted for on the supposition
that the prince had gone mad. Remembering his previous rebuff, however,
he kept silence.

On reaching the swampy part of the bank their leader did not land, but
held straight on, though the water reached nearly to their armpits.
They were somewhat cooled, but not disagreeably so, for the night was
warm.

In