ly unfit for navigation. Even had water
travel been easier, it could not have been long continued--perhaps not
beyond a single day; and it was not deemed worth while to bring the
pinnace with them. So thought the captain, and the others agreeing, the
boat was left where they had long since concealed her--under the
banyan-tree.

The captain's conjectures proved correct. The evening of the first
day's march brought them to the base of the mountain-ridge, down whose
rocky flank the stream poured with the strength and velocity of a
torrent. No boat could have further ascended it.

As the path leading along its edge, and hitherto comparatively level and
smooth, now changed to a difficult ascent up a rough rock-strewn ravine,
they encamped at the mountain-foot for the first night of their journey.

Next day was spent in ascending the mountain; following the ravine up to
its head, where were found the sources of the stream. Staying only for
a short noon-tide rest, they kept upward, and reached the highest point
of the ridge just as the sun was again sinking into the depths of the
forest before them.

At their camping-place on the second night no water was near; and they
might have suffered from the want of it, had they not taken the
precaution to provide against such a deficiency. Their experience as
castaways, especially the memory of their sufferings from thirst, had
rendered them wary of being again subjected to so terrible a torture.
Each of the three men carried a "canteen" strung to his waist--the joint
of a large bamboo that held at least half a gallon; while the boy and
girl also had their cane canteens, proportioned to their size and
strength. All had been filled with cool clear water before leaving the
last source of the stream, a supply sufficient to serve during their
transit of the dry mountain-ridge.

The remainder of that night was spent upon its summit; but as this
proved of considerable breadth, and was covered with a thick growth of
jungle-trees, it was near sunset the next day before they arrived at the
edge of its eastern declivity, and obtained a view of the country
beyond.

The sun was descending behind the crest of another mountain-ridge,
apparently parallel with that upon which they were, and not less than
twenty miles distant from it. Between the two extended a valley, or
rather a level plain, thickly covered with forest, except where a sheet
of water gleamed in the setting sun like a di