unco with a grin.

"Then, shiver my timbers, why don't ye shove yer helm hard a starboard
an' lay yer right coorse? Come, lads, _I'll_ go to the wheel now for a
spell."

Will Osten was about to object to this, but Bunco gave him a peculiar
glance which induced him to agree to the proposal; so Muggins went ahead
and the rest followed.

At the place where this dispute occurred there chanced to be a stretch
of comparatively open ground leading away to the left. Into this glade
the hardy seamen turned with an air of triumph.

His triumph, however, was short-lived, for at a turn in the glade he
came to a place where the underwood was so dense and so interlaced with
vines and creeping plants that further advance was absolutely
impossible. After "yawing about" for some minutes "in search of a
channel," as Larry expressed it, Muggins suddenly gave in and
exclaimed,--"I'm a Dutchman, boys, if we ha'n't got embayed!"

"It's let go the anchor an' take soundin's 'll be the nixt order, I
s'pose, Captain Muggins?" said Larry, touching his cap.

"Or let the tother pilot take the helm," said Old Peter, "`he's all my
fancy painted him,' as Milton says in Paraphrases Lost."

"Right, Peter," cried Will Osten, "we must dethrone Muggins and
reinstate Bunco."

"Ha! you's willin' for to do second fiddil _now_?" said the native,
turning with a grin to Muggins, as he was about to resume his place at
the head of the party.

"No, never, ye leather-jawed kangaroo, but I've no objections to _do_
the drum on yer skull, with _this_ for a drumstick!" He flourished his
club as he spoke, and Bunco, bounding away with a laugh, led the party
back on their track for a few paces, then, turning sharp to the right,
he conducted them into a narrow opening in the thicket, and proceeded in
a zig-zag manner that utterly confused poor Muggins, inducing him from
that hour to resign himself with blind faith to the guidance of his
conqueror. Well would it be for humanity in general, and for rulers in
particular, if there were more of Muggins's spirit abroad inducing men
to give in and resign cheerfully when beaten fairly!

If the sailors were disappointed at not meeting with any wild creatures
during the first part of their walk, they were more than compensated by
the experiences of the afternoon. While they were walking quietly
along, several snakes--some of considerable length--wriggled out of
their path, and Larry trod on one which twirled round