sands.

The sight which met his eye took from him the power of action for the
moment, and he stood there panting, gazing straight away.

Out at sea lay the great _Petrel_ with a couple of praus alongside, and
as far as he could see, in his quick glance, the deck was covered with
swarthy figures. But there was a scene being enacted close at hand
which made him turn giddy, and the blood seemed to run to his eyes.

Mr Morgan had always been a pleasant friend to him from the time of his
joining the ship; and now as Mark gazed it was to see him in a peril
that promised instant death.

Out there in the bright sunshine on the glancing sea lay the gig in
which they had come ashore, and every detail in those brief moments
seemed to be photographed on the lad's active brain. The gig was
anchored as the men had said, but it was at some distance from the shore
to which the men must have waded; and he recollected now how wet they
had been. There before him was a small boat of Malay build coming from
one of the praus, full of men, some rowing, some standing up with spears
in their hands. They were swarthy-looking savages, in plaid sarongs of
bright colours, these being twisted tightly about their waists, and in
the band thus formed each had a kris stuck, above which the man's dark
naked body glistened in the sun.

They were so near that the sun gleamed on their rolling eyes as well as
flashed from their spears, two of which were now poised and held by
their owners as if about to be hurled.

Mark shuddered as he saw all this, and the rest of the picture before
him has yet to be described.

The boat was evidently coming to secure the gig, and to save this, and
to prevent their being left alone and helpless upon this island without
the means of communicating with the ship, Mr Morgan was straining every
nerve. As Mark came out through the bushes, it was to see the
second-mate reach the edge of the water, the sea having gone down some
distance, and then he had a hundred yards to wade.

How it all happened Mark only knew afterwards from what he was told, but
as he grasped the position he stood, as has been said, paralysed, and
then in his agony of mind his power of action returned. Running down
over the hard sand as quickly as he could, he watched the progress of
events, and saw that the second-mate was still some distance from the
gig, while the Malays were nearing fast. He was evidently so exhausted
that he would not be a