their work at the oars; but an occasional scarcely heard
whisper reaching my ears and suggesting rather than conveying such
fragmentary sentences as "Some of us doomed"--"Lose the number of our
mess," etcetera, etcetera, showed that a very unfortunate impression had
been made by the strange incident.

As we proceeded the second lieutenant began to consult his watch, and at
last, turning to me as he slipped it back into his fob, he whispered:

"A quarter after tea. We ought now to be close to Boolambemba Point,
but the fog keeps so dense that I am afraid there is no chance of our
sighting it."

The insect chorus had been silent for an unusually long time when he
spoke; but as the words left Smellie's lips the sounds burst out once
more, this time in startling proximity to our larboard hand.

"By George! there it is, though, sure enough," continued Smellie. "By
the sharpness of the sound we must be close aboard of the point. How is
her head, coxswain?"

Before the man could reply there came in a low murmur from the men
pulling the port oars:

"We're stirring up the mud here, sir, on the port hand."

And at the same moment, looking up, we became aware that the darkness
was deeper--more intense and opaque, as it were, on our port hand than
anywhere else.

"All right!" answered Smellie; "that is the point, sure enough, and very
prettily we have hit it off. If we can only make as good a shot at the
mouth of the creek I shall be more than satisfied. How have you been
steering, coxswain?"

"South-east, sir, as straight as ever I could keep her."

"That's all right. South-east is your course all the way across. Now
we are beginning to draw off from the point and out into mid-stream, and
there must be no more talking upon any pretence whatever. The noise of
the insects will tell us when we are drawing in with the other bank. On
a night like this one has to be guided in a great measure by sound, and
even the chirp of the grasshoppers may be made useful, Mr Hawkesley."

I murmured a whispered assent as in duty bound, and then all hands
relapsed into silence once more.

The men worked steadily away at the oars, not exerting themselves to any
great extent, but keeping the boat moving at the rate of about four
knots per hour. According to our time-reckoning, and the fact that the
volume of sound proceeding from the southern bank of the river had
overpowered that from the northern bank, we had accomplished rathe