asant does run against us and ask questions, so much the worse
for him."

The others agreed, and they at once started across the country, which
was only cultivated here and there. They laid their course so as to
strike the canal at a point some miles higher up than that at which they
had left it. They only saw a few peasants in the fields, and made
detours so as not to come near any of these. On the way they picked a
dozen heads of maize, but were too thirsty to attempt to eat them. After
three hours' walking the vegetation became brighter and greener, the
cultivated fields thicker, and in another half hour they stood on the
bank of the canal. They went down to the edge, knelt down and took a
long drink.

"Shouldn't I like a dip!" Arthur Hill said.

"We will have one, Arthur, when it gets dark; it would never do to bathe
now. I do not see a soul about, but still someone might come up on the
further bank at any moment, and our white skins would betray us at once.
Now we have had a good drink we can hold on. We will go back again now,
and sit down among the bushes and eat our corn."

When they had finished their meal the boys agreed that maize eaten raw
was not by any means desirable food; however, it satisfied their hunger,
and they sat discussing their plans until evening. They agreed that
Arthur Hill's plan was certainly the best.

"We will give them one more day," Jim Tucker said. "I vote we stop here
to-night, then have a good drink in the morning and then start back
again, keeping along the canal here until we are close to the lake; then
we will have another good drink and start out and walk along the lake
until we find a boat, then we will hide away somewhere near it and cross
after it gets dark."

It was agreed that this plan should be carried out, and after a good
night's rest they started again next morning. They kept down by the foot
of the bank of the canal, and followed it until they saw the lake
stretching away on the left, then they went up and had another drink.

"Hurrah!" Arthur Hill exclaimed, as he picked up a broken earthenware
pot, which had apparently been thrown out by some passing boat; "this
will hold a quart of water. That will give us a drink each to-night."

As they walked they had heard the heavy guns still booming over the sea,
and felt by no means certain that the troops had yet landed. However,
they determined not to put off their expedition across the lake if they
could find a boa