to the place from which
they had started troubled him, others of people wandering about in the
dark and going over the same ground, and of others walking right into
the very spot they sought to avoid. These and similar thoughts made him
break out into a cold perspiration, and wish that Panton had taken the
lead.

But all the time he was steadily walking on in the direction he believed
to be correct, till he felt at last that he must be level with the brig,
then passing it, and again that he must be well on his way now, and that
it was time to turn more sharply round and get up to the other side of
the vessel. Then--_Splash_!

He drew back with a chill of dread running through his frame, for he had
reached the edge of a pool, and there was no water within half a mile of
the spot where the brig lay.

"What is it--water?" whispered Panton.

"Yes, I have come wrong."

"No, you haven't, only kept straight on instead of bearing more to your
right."

"But I thought I was bearing well to the right," whispered Oliver.

"So did I--too much, but you see you were not. This is the
half-dried-up pool, where there are three crocos. I saw them the other
day."

"It can't be."

_Splash, splash, splash, splash_!

Four heavy blows given to the surface of the water by the tail of a
great reptile, for the purpose of stunning any fish there might be close
at hand.

"Yes; you're right," said Oliver. "Then we ought to bear away to the
right now?"

"That's it. Go on."

Fortunately the ground was open now, and there was nothing to dread but
the scattered blocks of coral which it was too dark to see, but Oliver
stepped out boldly, chancing a fall over any of these obstacles, and for
the next ten minutes or so he made pretty good progress, and felt sure
that he was going right, for he every now and then stepped short with
his right foot.

"I must be near the brig now," he said to himself, and after gradually
slackening his pace he stopped short and listened, in the hope of
hearing some sound on board the vessel, and to his great joy there was a
whispering not far away. Reaching out his hand, he touched Panton, and
then placing his lips to his companion's ear he said,--

"Can you hear that?"

"Yes, some one talking."

"Well, I make it out to be on the brig. What are we to do next?"

"Creep a little nearer, and then wait for morning. If we go too close,
the next thing will be a shot in our direction."

"Hark!"