n
I caught the now familiar phosphorescent gleam of water which indicated
the presence of a moving object.

"Yes," I said, "it certainly is a canoe, Murdock; but she seems to be
only a very small affair, such as need give us no very serious amount of
anxiety. We will keep an eye upon her for a minute or two and see what
she is after. Perhaps it is a messenger from the natives coming off to
treat with us for the surrender of the wounded. I hope it may be,
because then we shall perhaps learn what has become of the skipper and
the rest of the missing men."

As the canoe continued to approach, we observed a certain eccentricity
in her behaviour, for instead of progressing in a straight line her
course was a decided _zigzag_, now heading one way and now another, to
the extent of about four points of the compass; still it looked as
though she was aiming for the schooner, for her general direction of
approach was toward us. I procured the night glass and brought it to
bear upon her, and was then able to distinguish that she was indeed an
exceedingly diminutive craft, containing only one figure, who seemed to
be sitting in her stern, and was paddling somewhat awkwardly, first on
one side of her and then on the other, which probably accounted for her
eccentricity of movement. Furthermore, as I continued to watch, a
certain suggestion of familiarity grew upon me in connection with the
appearance and actions of the paddling figure; and finally, when the
canoe had approached to within about a hundred fathoms of the schooner,
I put down the glass and hailed:

"Canoe ahoy! what canoe is that?"

"Hillo! is that you, Temple?" came the reply in Cunningham's well-known
voice.

"Ay, ay," I replied, "it is I, right enough. And glad I am to see that
you are all right. Do you happen to know anything about the skipper?"

"Got him here, in the bottom of the canoe," was the reply. "The poor
old chap is rather badly hurt, I'm afraid. Con-found this canoe! Why
won't the wretched thing go straight?"

"It is because you don't understand how to handle her, I expect,"
replied I. "Do you know anything about the three men who took you
ashore yesterday?"

"No," answered Cunningham. "Didn't they return to the ship?"

"They did not; and I am very much afraid that we shall never set eyes
upon them again."

"Phew!" whistled Cunningham; "that's bad news, although I'm not very
greatly surprised to hear it after the way that the beggar