was the
most disfigured of all, the blows he had received having caused his face
to swell up till he was hardly recognisable--and then devoted his
attention to Mr Russell, who lay senseless.

It seemed terrible to have him once more lying helpless in the bottom of
the boat, and as the lad gazed at his companion, he began to think it
would be wise to study surgery, ready for acting in an emergency like
this.

Mark did what he could with Tom Fillot's help, doubling up a jacket for
a pillow, and laying the lieutenant at his ease, before taking advantage
of the mist beginning to disappear beneath the powerful rays of the
morning sun to try and make out their position.

This was soon done. They were about a couple of miles from the shore,
and the tide was carrying them southward right away from the river at
whose mouth the schooner had been ashore, for the water was perfectly
clear here, while there it had been muddy and discoloured.

Getting a clear view northward as the sun rose higher, both Mark and Tom
Fillot carefully scanned the horizon in search of the _Nautilus_, but
she was not in view. There was a possibility of her being round a
headland which stretched out some ten miles away, but that was all.

The next search was for the schooner; and, as she was nowhere in sight
seaward, they had to content themselves with the possibility of her
having taken refuge in some river or creek, such as were plentiful
enough on the low-lying shore.

Mark thought of his previous experience in an open boat, as he looked at
their position, lying there with a crew suffering from the effects of
their encounter--two men seriously injured, and neither provisions nor
water. As to weapons, some of the men had preserved theirs, but others
were unarmed.

Tom Fillot watched his officer as he looked round, and then ventured an
observation.

"Looks lively, sir, don't it?"

"It's horrible, Tom; but we must act, and at once."

"Right, sir, and we're ready. Four on us can take an oar well enough,
if you'll give the word."

"We must row in shore and coast along till we come to a stream."

"Not row out after the ship, sir?"

"Without food or water? Have you forgotten our last trip?" cried Mark.

"No, sir, and never shall forget it," said the man, with a shiver.
"You're right, sir, of course. Water we must have, victuals if we can
get any. Nothing like having an officer with you, clever as you may
think yourself."

Five minute