side, and my American knife--with my mind made up for another conflict
if necessary--I crept stealthily along, with my eyes awake to the
slightest motion, and my ears open to the slightest sound, till I
approached the scene of my late unequal struggle.

I must own I began to draw my breath rather rapidly, and my heart beat
more quickly, as I came near the place where I had left my terrible
enemy. To my extreme surprise the python had disappeared. There was
the tree still standing, though its foliage and branches strewed the
ground, and a great portion of its bark was ground to powder. At the
base of the trunk was a pool of blood, mingled with fragments of bark,
broken arrows, leaves, and mould. The reptile had escaped. But where
was he? Not altogether without anxiety I began to look for traces of
his retreat; and they were easily found. With my arrow ready for
immediate flight, I followed a stream of blood that was still visible on
the grass, and led from the tree, accompanied by unmistakeable marks of
the great serpent's progress, in a direct line to the sea. There it
disappeared.

When I discovered this, I breathed again. There was no doubt if the
monster survived the conflict, he was hundreds of miles away, and was
not likely to return to a place where he had received so rough a
welcome. It may readily be believed I lost no time in taking the
agreeable news to my companion.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO.

I had become tired of looking out for a ship. Though day after day, and
week after week, I made the most careful scrutiny with my glass, as I
have said, it brought no result. I sometimes fancied I saw a vessel
appearing in the line of the horizon, and I would pile up fagots and
light them, and throw on water to make them smoke, as Jackson had done;
but all without avail. Either my vision had deceived me, or my signals
had not been observed, or the ship's course did not lay in the direction
of the island.

We had had storms, too, on several occasions, but no wreck had been left
on our coast. I began to think we were doomed to live out our lives on
this rock, and frequently found myself striving very manfully to be
resigned to my fate, and for a few days I would cheerfully endeavour to
make the best of it. But the increasing desire I felt to get to
England, that I might seek out my grandfather, and put him in possession
of his diamonds, always prevented this state of things enduring very
long. I had ob