ould be heard
sounds as of a number of people approaching through the jungle. A few
others appeared sleepily at the doors of some of the huts, and crawled
out, yawning and blinking, into the fire-light. Here they remained,
talking in their harsh, unmusical tongue, and chuckling at some
suggestion put forward by the tall man, until the arrival of a party of
men, all armed with spears and krises and, in some instances, bows and
arrows, or blowpipes, who had evidently been out hunting to procure
breakfast for the tribe; for they carried with them a number of small
animals somewhat resembling hares, and a few splendidly-plumaged birds,
all intended for the pot. On hearing what the tall man was saying,
however, their burdens were contemptuously cast on one side, and they
eyed the prisoners with an expression that told Frobisher more plainly
than words that he had fallen into the clutches of cannibals, and the
discarding of the spoils of their night's hunt proved only too clearly
what their intentions were.

How Frobisher prayed and prayed again that the Japanese troops might
pass that way in time! It would, of course, mean the exchanging of one
prison for another, he knew. But the Japanese were civilised, and their
officers gentlemen; and no indignity or other hardship would be
inflicted upon their captives beyond temporary confinement; and the
Englishman felt that he would almost be willing to undergo lifelong
captivity if he might, by so doing, save his comrades and himself from
the dreadful fate that, only too plainly, was in store for them.

The chief having now concluded his harangue, his audience, with shouts
and chuckles of anticipation and ferocity, dived back into their huts,
to reappear a few seconds later with a number of wooden shovels, and
stakes sharpened to a point and hardened in the fire, these being
evidently intended for the breaking up of hard earth for the shovels to
deal with more easily. Then the whole of them, with the exception of a
couple of spearmen left to guard the prisoners, trooped off into the
bush, stopping a little distance away and proceeding to dig eagerly, as
Frobisher could tell by their shouts, and the sounds of shovels and
picks being driven into the ground.

Ah, if only it were possible for either Drake or himself to loosen their
bonds while the savages were away! A few seconds would suffice to
dispose of the guard; a few seconds more would liberate the rest of the
prisoners