r them. Ah! before
that first day of their experiences in Madagascar was over they would
have a very different tale to tell, as you'll see.

"So thinking, and, as luck would have it, anticipating exactly what
happened, though perhaps this was more owing to the melancholy frame of
mind I was in than any pretence of being able to foretell the future, as
some folks set up for doing, I went from the little clearing in the
bush, where we had been assembled, down to the sea, the glimmer and
shimmering of which, from the sun shining on it, could be seen through
the openings in the foliage of the trees--first directing my footsteps,
being now able to walk easily and well, to the bank at the foot of the
twin cocoa-nut trees where I had rested for the night, and from thence
to the place where I had crawled ashore; for, I could trace my way
without any difficulty by the tracks and marks I had made in the clear
white sand, which being above high-water mark had not been washed out by
the tide, as would otherwise have been the case.

"From this spot, I followed along the beach the whole curve of the bay,
a good two mile or more, to where it ended in a precipitous cliff,
without finding the mouth of any stream or river emptying itself into
the sea; but I found one thing of some service, for, attached to an oar,
which must have formed part of the raft I had made and abandoned to
Russell and Bellamy, was the comforter that I had taken off my neck and
bound the spars together with. It came in now even handier than ever;
as, wrapping it round my loins I converted the old comforter into a sort
of petticoat that did duty for my missing `unmentionables,' as delicate
people call them, and I confess I felt more comfortable with this
apology on, even though I was in those savage wilds with but my own
messmates to see me.

"Only the oar had been cast up by the waves; neither the pork breaker,
which had contained one or two junks of meat that might have been useful
to us, nor the stern-sheet grating, which I had lashed together with it,
being observable anywhere on the strand, so they must have been carried
by the current round the cape.

"I retraced my way sadly to our meeting-place; for, as I argued, if I
couldn't see the mouth of any river there they wouldn't find one in the
bush, as the ground shelved down gradually towards the sea in the
neighbourhood, so if there was any water stream, it was bound to find
its way there, not being able