hose
in the first, and he observed that the sixth house in the back line was
opposite the eighth in the front. Having gathered this information he
descended the tree.

"What news, sir?" the sailor asked, as Stephen dropped from the bough to
his side.

"There is one of our comrades lying by the huts, Wilcox. I can tell by his
white ducks that it is either Mr. Towel or Joyce; whether he is alive or
dead, of course I can't say. I did not see him move, but no doubt he would
be tied hand and foot. I saw nothing of the others, and there would be no
reason why he should be treated differently from them if he were dead."

"You may be sure of that. Well, that is better than I had hoped. If we can
save one it will be something."

"I have been examining the ground," Stephen went on, "and we could work
round close up to the second row of huts. We must count six of them, then
go along by the side of the sixth and cross the street to the hut
opposite. The prisoner is lying in front of that, I mean on the river side
of it. Of course, there is no doing anything until the sun has set, except
that we might work round to that hut. It will be easier to get through
this horrid swamp before it gets dark than afterwards, and there will be
less fear of our stumbling and breaking a branch. What time do you think
it is now?"

"I don't think it is more than eight bells yet," Wilcox said. "It is a lot
of hours to wait, and I would give a good bit to be out of the swamp
before it gets dark. Howsomever, if we keep along by the river coming back
we can't lose our way, that is one comfort. Well, let us work round at
once, and then we shall see how the land lies. It is like enough that as
soon as they have got a big fire made up, and the cooking begun, they will
most of them turn in for a sleep till the heat of the day is over, and
begin their feast after sundown. They generally do sleep half the day, and
then keep it up half the night."

Accordingly they started through the wood, and in a quarter of an hour
found themselves at the foot of the rising ground on which the village
stood. They had counted the huts, and now crawled up through the thick
bushes and stood within a few yards of the sixth hut. The swamp had been
very deep on the way, and they had had the greatest difficulty in getting
through it. Stephen had once sunk below his waist in the mud, and would
have been unable to extricate himself, had not the sailor held on by a
young tree wi