d under the influence of a mingled feeling of hope and fear; but when
he heard the cry the third time, he dismissed his fears, and, leaping
up, hurried forward in the direction whence the sound appeared to come.
The bushes were thick and difficult to penetrate, but he persevered on
hearing a repetition of the wail, and was thus led into a part of the
island which he had not formerly visited.

Presently he came to something that appeared not unlike an old track;
but, although the sun had not quite set, the place was so shut in by
tangled bushes and trees that he could see nothing distinctly. Suddenly
he put his right foot on a mass of twigs, which gave way under his
weight, and he made a frantic effort to recover himself. Next moment,
he fell headlong into a deep hole or pit at the bottom of which he lay
stunned for some time. Recovering, he found that no bones were broken,
and after considerable difficulty, succeeded in scrambling out of the
hole. Just as he did so, the wail was again raised; but it sounded so
strange, and so unlike any sound that Cuffy could produce, that he was
tempted to give up the search--all the more that his recent fall had so
shaken his exhausted frame that he could scarcely walk.

While he stood irresolute, the wail was repeated, and, this time, there
was a melancholy sort of "bow-wow" mingled with it, that sent the blood
careering through his veins like wildfire. Fatigue and hunger were
forgotten. Shouting the name of his dog, he bounded forward, and would
infallibly have plunged head-foremost into another pit, at the bottom of
which Cuffy lay, had not that wise creature uttered a sudden bark of
joy, which checked his master on the very brink.

"Hallo! _Cuff_, is that you, my doggie?"

"Bow, wow, _wow_!" exclaimed Cuffy in tones which there could be no
mistaking, although the broken twigs and herbage which covered the mouth
of the pit muffled them a good deal, and accounted for the strangeness
of the creature's howls when heard at a distance.

"Why, where ever have 'ee got yourself into?" said Jarwin, going down on
his knees and groping carefully about the opening of the pit. "I do
believe you've bin an' got into a trap o' some sort. The savages must
have been here before us, doggie, and made more than one of 'em, for
I've just comed out o' one myself. Hallo! _there_, I'm into another!"
he exclaimed as the treacherous bank gave way, and he slipped in
headlong, with a dire crash,