d get down
and reach the log was now the question. Captain van Dunk and my father
stood in as close as they could venture. Their fear was that the mast
might be caught by some of the overhanging branches, or that some
submerged bough might strike the log and upset it. Both dangers had to
be guarded against. The log was moving very slowly. The skipper
therefore hailed the men, telling them to come down and that he would
pick them up. The Indian, Maco, was the first to follow his advice.
Descending to the lowest branch, which was nearly thirty feet above the
surface, he plunged headlong in; and though he disappeared for nearly a
minute, he rose again, and soon reached the log. The skipper then told
him to take the remaining piece of the rope, and, if possible, carry it
up to the branch, so that Peter might have the means of descending. He
willingly undertook the task, but expressed his fear that he would not
succeed. Suddenly his eye fell on the axe.

"I will do it now," he said, "without fear." Taking the implement in
his hand, and the rope, which he fastened round his waist, he swam back
to the tree. He was soon seen cutting notches in the trunk, one above
the other, and clinging to them with his toes and one hand. He quickly
ascended, dragging the rope up with him. Peter had, meantime, descended
to the lowest branch, and by stooping down helped him up the last few
feet. The rope was secured; then the Indian, giving the axe to Peter,
told him to swim off with it to the log. Peter quickly descended,
having only a few feet to drop into the water; and as he was a fair
swimmer, though not a diver, he soon reached the log, and my father and
the skipper hauled him up. The gallant Indian then casting off the rope
plunged with it into the stream, towing it off to the log. He was not a
minute behind Peter, and was hauled up somewhat exhausted by his
exertions.

The two men told my father and the skipper that, on being left behind,
they had swum to a branch at some distance from where they had been
left, and having climbed the tree to which it belonged, had wandered, by
means of the sepos interlacing the boughs, some way through the forest,
till they reached the tree on which my father and the skipper saw them.
They had obtained an abundance of food; but having no means of lighting
a fire, they had been compelled to eat it raw. Their animal food
consisted chiefly of young birds, lizards, tree-frogs, and grubs;