ing now to
search the tent.

"Shame!" I said. "You ought to allow those whom you know to be dying of
hunger at least to die in peace. There is not one of us who has left the
tent all night. Why suspect us?"

"Now just look here, Mr. Kazallon," said the boatswain, in a voice which
he was endeavouring to calm down into moderation, "we are not accusing
you of anything; we know well enough you, and all the rest of you, had
a right to your shares as much as anybody; but that isn't it. It's all
gone somewhere, every bit."

"Yes," said Sandon gruffly; "it's all gone somewheres, and we are a
going to search the tent."

Resistance was useless, and Miss Herbey, M. Letourneur, and Andre were
all turned out.

I confess I was very fearful. I had a strong suspicion that for the sake
of his son, for whom he was ready to venture anything, M. Letourneur
had committed the theft; in that case I knew that nothing would have
prevented the infuriated men from tearing the devoted father to pieces.
I beckoned to Curtis for protection, and he came and stood beside me. He
said nothing, but waited with his hands in his pockets, and I think I am
not mistaken in my belief that there was some sort of a weapon in each.

To my great relief the search was ineffectual. There was no doubt that
the carcase of the suicide had been thrown overboard, and the rage of
the disappointed cannibals knew no bounds.

Yet who had ventured to do the deed! I looked at M. Letourneur and Miss
Herbey; but their countenances at once betrayed their ignorance. Andre
turned his face away, and his eyes did not meet my own. Probably it is
he; but, if it be, I wonder whether he has reckoned up the consequences
of so rash an act.

CHAPTER XLIX.

JANUARY 20th to 22nd.--For the day or two after the horrible repast of
the 18th those who had partaken of it appeared to suffer comparatively
little either from hunger or thirst; but for the four of us who had
tasted nothing, the agony of suffering grew more and more intense. It
was enough to make us repine over the loss of the provision that had so
mysteriously gone; and if any one of us should die, I doubt whether the
survivors would a second time resist the temptation to assuage their
pangs by tasting human flesh.

Before long, all the cravings of hunger began to return to the sailors,
and I could see their eyes greedily glancing upon us, starved as they
knew us to be, as though they were reckoning our hours, and alrea