thod of cooking after a
fashion without fire. Of course you will understand that the only
cooking we had to do was when we were able to obtain a morsel of meat,
which was by no means every day. When we succeeded, we used to look
about for a rock that had been exposed to the sun's rays for several
hours, and when we had succeeded in our search we cut our meat into thin
slices and laid it upon the rock, which was hot enough to so far broil
our meat as to render it quite eatable.

"We dared not camp out at night, even on the open beach. The beasts
were certain to discover us, somehow, and came prowling round, giving us
not a minute's peace; and many a narrow escape we had from them. Thus
we were compelled to get what sleep we could during the day-time,
keeping watch and watch, while at night we did such travelling as was
possible. But that was not much, for more often than not we were driven
to take refuge in trees, or to retreat into the water, sitting in it up
to our necks, with sharks cruising round within a few fathoms of us and
occasionally making dashes into the shallow water and running themselves
aground in their efforts to reach us. Ah! those were lively times and
no mistake; and often enough we used to tell each other that life was
not worth living; yet we spared no pains to preserve it.

"Then, as though we had not already enough trouble, Dirk must needs fall
sick of a fever of some sort, and became violently delirious. For three
nights and four days I could do nothing with him; he was simply stark,
staring mad; he would not permit me to approach him, but threatened me
with his knife whenever he saw me. The only thing I could do was to
keep him just in sight, and a pretty dance he led me, following him into
the woods and all over the place--excepting into the water. Luckily for
us both he had sense enough to keep clear of that, or the sharks would
assuredly have had him. But of course that sort of thing could not long
continue, and toward the evening of the fourth day the poor chap
collapsed, and, as luck would have it, I found a comparatively safe
refuge for him among some rocks, where I looked after and attended to
him until he was well enough to be up and about again. But the fatigue,
anxiety, and loss of rest told upon me so severely that no sooner was
Dirk able to look after himself than I fell ill; and then it was his
turn to look after me for about a fortnight.

"Then one day, when I was begi