ff the shore.
From this point the sea was dotted with islets so numerous that it was
impossible, at his high speed, to identify them. But he recognized the
deep indentation of Marcella Bay, confirming his observation by the
conspicuous wooded islet rising some hundred feet from the sea at its
northern arm. He knew that the scene of the wreck must be within a few
miles of this point, and reduced his speed so that he might scan the
sea for any sign of the _Albatross_.

For some time he flew up and down, but failed to distinguish a
battered hull, a funnel, or any remnant of the vessel. It was plain
that she had been entirely broken up. This was perplexing. He wondered
how he was to discover the party, if they were yet alive. The island
itself appeared, from his position off the shore, to be an
impenetrable mass of forest. Flying in a little nearer, and going
dead slow, Rodier presently caught sight of a square fenced enclosure
within a few yards of the edge of the cliff. Smith steered directly
over it, descending to a height of about fifty feet, and then saw in
the middle of the space a long piece of navy tarpaulin, several
biscuit tins, a hammer, two or three hatchets, and other objects,
which only white men could have placed there. It flashed upon him in a
moment that the shipwrecked party had encamped here. But there was not
a human being in sight, and he felt a stabbing conviction that he had
come too late.

Sick at heart, he made up his mind to descend and examine the place
and its surroundings more closely. There was plenty of room for the
aeroplane within the enclosure. Coming to the ground, he stepped, with
Rodier, out of the car, each carrying his revolver. Now he saw, in
addition to the articles before mentioned, a good number of arrows at
various points, a few broken spears, a tomahawk of a rude kind. Here
and there, on the barricade and below it, there were dark stains.
These signs only increased his anxiety, but at the same time awakened
wonder. Why had the party left their fort? It seemed scarcely likely
that they had been overpowered in an assault, for there were no marks
of a struggle within the barricade, and if the savages had succeeded
in an attack they would certainly have appropriated all that they
could lay hands on; even the most trivial objects would be precious to
unsophisticated children of nature. Rodier suggested that the
castaways had been taken off by some passing vessel, and Smith,
catchin