shrill whistle.

"How long since the launch passed?" queried the skipper, when the man
came aboard.

"S-sh! She no go far, sar," replied the man, with a gesture of caution.
"She right dar, 'longside dat big bush," and he indicated an outjutting
clump of dense jungle that stood on the right bank a hundred yards
ahead.

Barry and Little peered through the gathering dusk in vain for sight of
her; without slanting clear across the river, it was impossible to see
past that point. After a very brief moment of thought, the skipper waved
silently to the oarsmen and headed the boat back to the place whence the
watchman had just come.

"Come, Little," he said quietly, "we'll go and see what's afoot. She's
no doubt waiting to pick up Leyden, and he hasn't stayed behind without
reason."

Like silent shapes they stole through the jungle, creeping along to the
end and crest of the outflung point. Here, or rather beyond, the river
widened out again, and the trees on both banks were farther apart,
admitting more of the waning light to the muddy flats alongshore; and
snug under the very roots of the matted bush lay the schooner's launch,
steam swirling about the brass smokestack, the fire glowing redly as the
engineer put in a stick of wood. All else was quiet; no sound came from
the crew, though they could be plainly seen crouching on the locker
seats and thwarts, some smoking, some dozing.

"Looks innocent enough," remarked Little, a little chagrined. He had
expected to plunge straight into lurid encounters and felt an almost
irresistible impulse to draw two revolvers, let loose a yell of
defiance, and shoot up that tantalizingly peaceful steamboat.

"Hm! Looks!" Barry grunted. "Maybe is, too; but I have my doubts. Keep
still, and we'll soon see. At least we're upsides with the chase."

The darkness dropped down suddenly once the sun had set, and myriads of
fireflies gathered like star-dust to match the galaxy overhead. The
pipes of the smokers in both boats glowed brighter; but neither was in
sight of the other, though from the crest where Barry and Little waited
both were visible. All around the silent watchers the jungle voices
whispered and crooned. In the trees above them monkeys chattered at the
unheard-of intrusion of boats and men on the privacy of their sleeping
places. A belated deer thrust his head through a thicket and gazed
foolishly at Little's astonished face, then, with a whisk and flirt, he
bounded back into