ascally Arabs that we are not there. I only hope another of those
slaving dhows won't come by and run us down. They're not likely to
treat us with much courtesy if they guess what has happened."

"If a dhow does come by, we must try to board her and take her,"
exclaimed Jerry Bird.

"But we've got no arms," said Archie; "how are we to manage without
them?"

"Take them from the rascals, to be sure, if they show fight," said
Jerry. "As to running us down, we'll show them that they've made a
mistake if they attempt it. If a dhow comes near us, we must make the
canoe fast alongside, jump on board all together, seize the arms of the
fellows nearest us, and then lay about us with right goodwill till we've
driven the crew below or overboard."

Although Jerry's plan seemed a somewhat desperate one, its discussion
served to keep up the spirits of the party, who entered into it
cordially; and all agreed that it should be attempted, should they have
the opportunity. The sun now rose and beat down on their heads with
fearful force, while around them the calm sea shone like burnished gold.
Their hunger increased, while already they began to feel the want of
water. The midshipmen suffered most. "I say, Archie, I'm getting
mighty ravenous," whispered Desmond; "I shall be turned into a living
skeleton pretty soon, with no more flesh on my bones than some of the
unfortunate slaves."

"I've taken in a couple of reefs in my belt, and somewhat stopped the
gnawing I was feeling just now," answered Archie; "you'd better do the
same."

"Faith, I should be after cutting myself in two," said Desmond, "before
I could stop this abominable biting in my inside."

Still the two midshipmen kept up their spirits, and talked away in a
cheerful strain, in spite of the heat and their consequently increasing
thirst. The sea continued calm and the wind so light that it would be
long before a dhow or any other vessel could reach them. As their
thirst increased, their inclination to converse lessened; and at length
they and the two men continued, often for half an hour together, without
uttering a word.

"I wonder what's become of Harry and Bill," said Sam Potts. "I've been
thinking of them. Maybe they're worse off than we are."

"Too likely," said Jerry. "The slaver's crew wouldn't have left them
alive to bear evidence that we were hove overboard; so, depend upon it,
if they didn't send them after us, they knocked them on the head, or