which was the only thing in the
boat they could eat without cooking, Ailie broke off some branches from
the low bushes that covered the little rocky islet, and spread them out
on a flat rock for a couch; this done, she stood on the top of a large
stone and gazed round upon the calm surface of the beautiful lake, in
the dark depths of which the stars twinkled as if there were another sky
down there.

"Now, Ailie," said Glynn, "come along and have supper. It's not a very
tempting one, but we must content ourselves with hard fare and a hard
bed to-night, as I dare not light a fire lest the negroes should observe
it and catch us."

"I'm sorry for that," replied the child; "for a fire is _so_ nice and
cheery; and it helps to keep off the wild beasts, too, doesn't it?"

"Well, it does; but there are no wild beasts on such a small rock as
this, and the sides are luckily too steep for crocodiles to crawl up."

"Shall we sleep here till morning?" asked Ailie, munching her hard
biscuit and drinking her tin pannikinful of cold water with great
relish, for she was very hungry.

"Oh, no!" replied Glynn. "We must be up and away in an hour at
farthest. So, as I see you're about done with your luxurious supper, I
propose that you lie down to rest."

Ailie was only too glad to accede to this proposal. She lay down on the
branches, and after Glynn had covered her with a blanket, he stretched
himself on a leopard-skin beside her, and both of them fell asleep in
five minutes. The mosquitoes were very savage that night, but the
sleepers were too much fatigued to mind their vicious attacks.

Glynn slept two hours, and then he wakened with a start, as most persons
do when they have arranged, before going to sleep, to rise at a certain
hour. He rose softly, carried the provisions back to the canoe, and in
his sleepy condition almost stepped upon the head of a huge crocodile,
which, ignorant of their presence, had landed its head on the islet in
order to have a snooze. Then he roused Ailie, and led her, more than
half asleep, down to the beach, and lifted her into the canoe, after
which he pushed off, and paddled briskly over the still waters of the
star-lit lake. Ailie merely yawned during all these proceedings; said,
"Dear me! is it time to--yeaow! oh, I'm _so_ sleepy;" mumbled something
about papa wondering what had become of Jim Scroggles, and about her
being convinced that--"yeaow!--the ship must have lost itself among the