briskly up and
down for a couple of hours, and then, his brain calmed by the exercise,
he stood still under the shadow of a great palm, with whose trunk, as he
stood back close to it, his form so assimilated in the darkness that, at
a couple of yards distance, he was invisible.

His post was close to the river, so close that he walked upon the very
edge of the bank, which was in places undermined by the swift current.
This post had been cleared from the thick jungle. It was but a narrow
piece, some two yards wide, and forty long, and this it was his duty to
pace during his long watch, to guard that side of the island from a
landing foe.

Midnight had passed, and all was very still. There was a splash from
time to time in the stream, telling of the movement of some reptile or
great fish, and now and then, from the far-distant parts of the jungle
across the water, he could hear the cry of some wild beast. Now and
then he watched the fire-flies scintillating amidst the leaves, and
thought of how different life was out in this far-off tropic land to
that in dear old England.

He had been thinking quite an hour without stirring; but though his
memory strayed here and there, his eyes were watchful, and he scanned
from time to time the broad smooth surface of the stream in search of
passing boats.

At last he fancied he detected something dark moving along, but it went
by so smoothly that it might have been the trunk of some tree, or even
the back of a great crocodile, for there was no splash of oars.

He had almost forgotten the incident, when he started slightly and
listened, thinking he could hear a whispering, and this was repeated.

He listened intently, but though he felt sure that he could hear voices,
still that need not mean danger, for sound passes so easily across the
water, that the noise might have come from down lower in the island, or
even from the shore across the river.

The whispering ceased, and then he listened in vain for a time, and at
last he was just thinking of pacing up and down once more, when
certainly there was a faint splash, and on looking in the direction he
could see on the dark water what seemed like a dim shadow gliding along.

It might have been a boat or the shadow of a boat, he could not be sure.
In fact, there were moments when he doubted whether it was not some
ocular illusion, brought about by too intently gazing through the gloom.

And there he stood, hesitating as to whe