s taste. The gunner and Jerry
Bird, it must be confessed, did not trouble their heads much about the
matter.

At length a group of trees, seemingly of unusual magnitude, standing
apparently on the top of a hill, appeared ahead, but almost an instant
afterwards the bows of the boat touched a bank with a few willows or
alders growing on it. As far as Jack could judge, it was the very spot
he would have chosen for landing, as the bushes would afford sufficient
concealment to the boat during his absence.

"Remember my orders," said Jack, as he sprang on to the bank, followed
by Dick and Jerry. They had not gone many yards when they found
themselves floundering in the mud, at which the two latter began to
grumble, as seamen will grumble, not at the work before them, but at the
mud, which prevented them from advancing as rapidly as they desired.

"Never mind," said Jack, as he led the way, "we shall get on the firm
ground presently; those in the boat are much less likely to be taken by
surprise than they might have been by the side of a hard bank."

The marsh, however, was broader than Jack expected, but, as they ran
lightly over it, their feet did not sink down very deep. They at length
reached firm ground. According to the commander's calculation, they had
about two miles to go before they could get to their destination. A
pocket compass, and a small lantern which threw its light on it, enabled
him to steer a direct course. The country was unpopulated and open, the
chief impediments in the way of the party being the streams and marshes
and rivers. They got on rapidly over the hard ground, but found it
heavy work wading amid the expanse of rushes which bordered the streams.

"No crocodiles or alligators about here, I hope, sir?" whispered Jerry
to the gunner.

"If there are, it's our business not to mind them," answered Dick, with
a low growl, intended as a rebuke to Jerry; "if there was a shoal of
sharks, either, we should have no business to cry out till we were
caught."

They dropped a few feet behind while thus speaking, but quickly again
overtook the commander, who was wading across the stream, the water
gradually getting deeper and deeper, till it rose up to his waist.

"Maybe we shall have to swim for it," whispered Dick; "but where's the
odds, provided we get across at last?"

Jack led on, not listening to the low, whispered remarks of his
companions. One river was thus crossed; still there was ano