g it to his eye. For some eight or ten seconds he peered
intently through the tube, then exclaimed excitedly--

"Ah, now I have it. Yes, by Jove, Fortescue, you are right, there _is_
something out there; and it looks like--like--ay, and it _is_, too--a
body of blacks creeping along toward us on their stomachs! Why, there
must be hundreds of 'em, by the look of it; they reach right across the
spit! Yes, we shall certainly want help, and plenty of it, to keep
those fellows at arm's length. I thought it was only some twenty or
thirty when I first made them out. Yes, cut away to the skipper,
Fortescue, as hard as you can pelt; tell him what you've seen; and say
that I shall be obliged if he will kindly send me as many men as he can
spare. That disturbance down by the boats seems to have ceased, so he
ought to be able to send us a pretty strong reinforcement."

"All right," I said; "I'll tell him, and then comeback with the men."
And away I went back through the heavy sand at racing pace, and
delivered my message.

The captain listened patiently to my breathless and somewhat
disconnected story, and then turned to Mr Purchase, who was standing
close at hand, and said--

"Mr Purchase, have the goodness to take the entire port watch, and go
out to Mr Nugent's assistance. But do not allow your men to fire away
their ammunition recklessly, for we have very little of it. Let no man
pull trigger until he is quite certain of hitting his mark."

"Ay, ay, sir!" answered Purchase. "Port watch, follow me." And away he
and his following trudged into the darkness. I was making to join them,
but the skipper happened, unfortunately, to see me, and called me back.

"No, no, Mr Fortescue," he said; "you and Mr Copplestone will please
remain with me. I may want one or both of you to run messages for me
presently."

So we remained. But I at once ranged up alongside Copplestone, for I
was anxious to hear the news from Marline, down by the boats.

"Well, Tommy," I said, "what was old Marline blazing away at? Whatever
it was, he managed to hit it, for I heard the smash."

"Yes," answered Copplestone. "But it was more a case of luck than of
good shooting, for it is as dark as a wolf's mouth. Some of his men,
however, had eyes keen enough to see that there was a whole flotilla of
boats, or canoes, or something of that sort, hovering in the river and
manoeuvring in such a fashion as to lead to the suspicion that they had
de