nable me to join
you. Leave your muskets behind, lads; they would only be in the way
in the jungle, and you have your pistols and cutlasses. You take the
lantern, Winthorpe, and Harper, do you take the rope. Fasten one end to
the thwart before you start, or, without knowing it, you might drag it
after you."

Dick led the way, the others following close behind, but as soon as
they were among the trees, he was obliged to take the lantern, for the
darkness was so intense that he could not see an inch before him and
would have been torn to pieces by the thorny creepers had he tried to
penetrate without a light.

As it was, he received several nasty scratches, and could hear muttered
exclamations from the men behind him. Creeping under some of the
rattans, making detours to avoid others, and cutting some of the smaller
ones in two with his cutlass, he made his way forward, and was delighted
indeed when, after proceeding some twenty yards, he came upon the edge
of what looked like a ditch, but which was, he knew, the native path.

"Here we are, lads," he exclaimed in a low tone; "thank goodness we have
not had to go farther."

"So say I, sir," one of the men grumbled; "if it had not been for your
lantern I should have been torn to pieces. As it is, I aint sure whether
my eyes aint gone, and my nose and cheeks are scratched as if I had been
fighting with a mad cat."

"Here, Winthorpe, take the lantern and make your way back; darken it as
soon as you get through to the edge of the creek. You cannot go wrong
with the cord to guide you."

Two or three minutes later Dick saw the light approaching again, and the
lieutenant, the coxswain, and two bluejackets joined him, Winthorpe and
another having been left as boat keepers.

"Now, Harris, do you and one of the others go on ahead; we will follow
fifty yards behind you. If you hear anyone coming, give a low whistle;
we will then turn off the light. You can walk on confidently, for there
is no chance of any of these prickly creepers running across the path.
When you see the trees are getting thinner, or that there is an opening
before you, stop and send back word to us, so that we can shut up the
lantern before joining you."

The lieutenant headed the party now, followed by Dick. He held the
lantern close to the ground; the bottom was, like all jungle paths, worn
perfectly smooth by the passage of the barefooted natives.

"Nothing could be better," he said in a low voice to