that his warning was not unnecessary. The creature was over seven feet
long, and a bite from its fangs would quickly have proved fatal.

Still, Lejoillie insisted on going forward, and we were ashamed of
deserting him. At length the island for which we were aiming was
reached. It extended for several miles, in a crescent form, from north
to south-west, rising abruptly eight or ten feet above the plain. It
was composed entirely of coral, though covered over thickly with
creepers of various sorts. On the summit grew enormous trees mostly of
the palm species, such as I have before described.

We halted on the top to refresh ourselves with the provender we had
brought. Not until then did we discover how large a portion of the day
had gone by. We lighted a fire to boil our kettle, and were seated
round it, the smoke partially keeping at bay the mosquitoes and other
stinging creatures, when Tim, who had gone a short distance from the
camp, came running back.

"We had better be afther puttin' our best foot foremost, gentlemen!" he
exclaimed. "As I was lookin' away to the westward, my eye fell on a
number of creatures moving among the grass. I stopped until they came
to an open space; then I saw that they were Redskins, with feathers on
their heads and firelocks in their hands. I counted twenty of them, at
least; and there were more behind. Maybe they have seen the smoke of
our fire, and are coming to see who we are and what we are about. They
may be friendly; but I'm afther thinkin' that if they find they
outnumber us, they'll be for taking our scalps, if they can get them.
I'm an old soldier, and I wouldn't be afther sayin' `run' from an enemy
if there was a chance of driving him back; but still the best thing we
can do is to beat a retreat in time."

"I believe that Tim's advice is good," observed Carlos.

"I am sure it is," I added. "If we were to stop here and try to defend
ourselves, the Indians would starve us out, at all events. What do you
say, Lejoillie?"

"_Ma foi_! that we had better retreat," exclaimed the naturalist.

"Well, then, gentlemen, we will throw a few more sticks on the fire, to
cause plenty of smoke; and that'll make the Redskins fancy that we have
a large party encamped, so that they will approach more cautiously, and
we shall have time to get well ahead," said Tim.

The old soldier's advice was therefore acted upon. We gathered up our
rifles and the various articles which lay o