g the
absence of the others. She made straight for the small subsidiary
creek, in the first instance, but re-appeared in about a quarter of an
hour, when the second luff hailed to say that it was a mere _cul de
sac_, only some half-a-mile long, and with very little water in it, the
banks being of soft, black, foetid mud, of a consistency which rendered
landing an impossibility. Having communicated this intelligence, the
cutter next proceeded up stream and quickly vanished round a bend. She
had been out of sight fully half-an-hour, and the captain was just
beginning to manifest some anxiety, neither sight nor sound having
reached us to indicate her whereabouts, when thin wreaths of light brown
smoke appeared rising above the bush and trees about a mile away, the
smoke rapidly increasing in density and volume, and darkening in colour,
until it became quite apparent that a serious conflagration was raging
at no great distance. When the smoke at first appeared, there was some
question in the mind of the captain whether it might not be the work of
the people who had effected their escape from the craft during the
darkness, they having perhaps set fire to the bush in the hope of
involving the prizes and ourselves in the ensuing destruction; but a
little reflection revealed the unlikelihood of this, the vegetation not
only being saturated with the rain that had fallen during the night, but
also being so green and full of sap that it would probably prove
impossible to fire it. We had just reached this conclusion when Ryan
and his party appeared returning, and in a few minutes the cutter ranged
up alongside us to enable the second luff to make his report. He stated
that he had proceeded about a mile and a half up the creek, the course
of which he had found to be very sinuous, when he reached a spot at
which the bank on his port hand was clear of bush and trees, with the
soil firm enough to admit of a landing being conveniently effected, and
as there were signs indicating that the place had been very freely used
quite recently, he shoved alongside the bank and stepped ashore. A
single glance about him now sufficed to convince him that he had made an
important discovery; the grass was much worn, as with the trampling of
many feet, and from this well-trodden spot a broad path led into the
bush. Leaving two men in the boat; to take care of her, with orders how
to proceed in the event of an enemy heaving in sight, Ryan at once