at has
become of him, for I heard he was lost out in the Indian seas."

"That's just where he and I were nearly lost. We were coming home when
a boat was sent away, and we, with six more men and an officer, went in
her, to visit an island on some business or other, I forget what, and I
didn't know it's name.

"There are wild sorts of chaps out in those parts, who go pirating in
their proas, as they call them. While we were just shoving off, a dozen
or more of these proas came round us. We knew if the pirates got hold
of us we should all be knocked on the head, so we began blazing away to
keep them at a distance. We kept on at it till we hadn't a charge left
for our muskets. Two of our men were killed, and our officer badly
wounded. The pirates then came nearer and fired their gingalls into us.
Just then one of their proas caught fire, and sent up such clouds of
smoke that for some time, as we were near her, we could not be seen.

"`Now, lads,' said the officer, `those among you who are not wounded try
and swim to shore. It's your only chance. The rest of us must die like
men.'

"Our oars, you see, were shattered, and by this time all hands except
Jack and me were more or less hurt. We followed our brave officer's
advice, and leaping overboard reached the beach before we were seen by
the pirates. Some gingalls were fired at us, but we got away among the
bushes, and ran as hard as our legs could carry us in shore. We did not
know where we were going, or what sort of people we should meet.
Whether the pirates landed or not we did not stop to learn, but as we
ran for three or four hours there was not much chance of being
overtaken.

"We saw at last a river before us, and as it was too broad to cross, and
we were afraid, should we attempt to swim over, that we might be picked
off by one of those big scaly beasts they call crocodiles, we kept down
along the bank, as we knew that it must lead us to the opposite side of
the island to where we had landed.

"`Cheer up,' said Jack to me. `Maybe our ship will come round there and
take us off. Our fellows are sure to be searching round the coast on
the chance of finding us.'

"`I hope you're right, Jack,' said I, `for it will be a bad job for us
if we can't get away, as how we are to find food is more than I can
tell, and it's very clear we can't live without it.'

"There were plenty of trees growing on the bank, though not so thickly
but that we could manage