se by where
Dick Roberts was sleeping so heavily.

But no, he was not sleeping so deeply now, for he was not snoring.

And then there was the snake, or snakes, that had been rustling about so
heavily. It or they were quite silent now. They had not bitten the
midshipman, for of course he would have shrieked out in pain or fear.
So perhaps the reptiles had crept right away, and it was quite time that
he, Frank Murray, started upon his quest to find Tom May and Bill
Titely. He ought in fact to have gone before, but he was so wearied-out
that he felt obliged to rest for a few minutes; and now the moon was
shining so brightly that it would be much better and easier to make a
start through the forest lit-up by the soft yellow rays of the tropic
night.

"Yes," he muttered to himself; "it will be much better. What a
beautiful night!"

And then he sat up; and again another moment and he had crawled out of
the hut doorway with his eyes widely open from wonder.

"Why, it isn't the moon, nor night!" he exclaimed, half aloud. "It's
morning, with the sun glowing through the shades of the forest, and I
must have been asleep for hours.--Or else," faltered Murray, after a
pause, "I'm off my head with fever, and don't know what I'm about."

CHAPTER FORTY TWO.

WITHOUT A DOCTOR.

Fever? Brain heat? The poor fellow turned cold with horror, and
hurried back, careless of any impending danger that there might be, into
the rough hut within whose shades he could dimly make out the figure of
his comrade, who appeared to be sleeping heavily, but not well, for he
was muttering.

"I say, Dick," he whispered, "how's your wound?"

There was no reply.

"Dick," he continued, "your wound doesn't hurt much, does it?"

Still there was no reply, and beginning to realise now that his own
brain was clear, and that he really had been fast asleep, wearied-out
beyond the power of watching by the previous night's exertions, he sank
down upon one knee to lay his hand upon Roberts's forehead, when,
feeling that it was burning, and that at the slightest touch the poor
fellow started with pain, he began to master himself.

"What fancies one does get into one's head at a time like this! Of
course I've been asleep, and no wonder. I was done up; but, thank
heaven, I'm all right and able to think and act, while poor Dick's
feverish and bad with his wound."

"Asleep, Dick?" he whispered again; and once more he laid his hand upon
the poor f