nd Sambo exercising their nautical knowledge for the purpose. It
required no small number of poles, but the little forest afforded an
abundant supply. Before the end of the day the platform was completed.
We then built a hut on it, devoted to Marian's use. The only thing
wanting was a quantity of clay to form a hearth; but clay, while the
waters covered the earth, it was impossible to obtain. We had therefore
to light our fire, as before, on the thick branch, on which it had as
yet made no impression, beyond burning off the bark and blackening it.
As soon as our platform was finished we moved on to it, though Kallolo
and Sambo preferred sleeping among the boughs. I was very glad to get
so comparatively comfortable a place for poor Marian; whose health,
however, notwithstanding the hardships she had endured, remained
unimpaired.

Our first work being finished, we erected a lookout place at the end of
a long bough, clearing away the branches which intercepted our view up
and down the stream. Here one of us took post during daylight, that we
might watch for any craft navigating the river. Should a Spanish vessel
appear, we agreed that we would let her pass without making a signal;
but should a Dutch or English one come in sight, though it was not
likely that any of our own countrymen would visit the river, we
determined to do our best to attract the attention of those on board.

All this time there had been scarcely a breath of wind, and though our
lookout place had been occupied, we knew that no vessel could pass up,
and it was very unlikely that any would venture down the stream at the
mercy of the current. Two days after the lookout post had been
established, as I took my watch at daybreak, the bright sun rising above
the distant horizon, I felt the breeze fan my cheeks. Every instant it
increased, rippling the hitherto calm surface of the broad river into
mimic waves. As I watched, now turning my eyes up, now down the stream,
I saw, emerging from behind a projecting point of the forest, a white
sail. From the progress it made towards me, it appeared to be that of a
large boat, and was certainly not such as was likely to be used by
Indians. At first I had hoped that it might be the sloop, but I soon
saw, from the cut of the sail, and its size, that it was not such as she
would carry. If the people on board were Spaniards, I was not to make a
signal to them. How tantalising it would be to see her pass by, a