nce, but Jack
persuaded him to wait until the next morning.

"We may tumble into deep holes full of mud," he said, "and should get on
very slowly. Let us have a good night's sleep and start with the first
gleam of daylight. We shall be able to get along fast then."

They found, however, that it was not very fast work; for the country had
been cultivated and the soil was now converted into a soft mud, in which
they sank up to their knees. Here and there as they went on they saw
piles of mud and sunburnt bricks, with timbers projecting, and knew that
these marked the site where villages or houses had stood. Among the
clumps of fallen trees they saw bits of colour, and knew that these were
the bodies of some of the natives. Here and there, too, they saw the
carcass of a bullock. At last they found the ground under their feet
much firmer.

"This has been a road," Jack said. "The flood as it went down has left
three or four inches of mud on it, but it is fairly firm underneath. If
we can manage to keep on this we shall get on well."

For six hours they plodded on, sometimes losing the path and floundering
in the deep mud, at others regaining it and going along briskly. At the
end of that time the mud was less deep, and in half an hour they were
beyond the range of the inundation. Here and there a tree was still
standing, and after an hour's walking they came to a village. All the
houses were unroofed and many of them levelled to the ground, but the
walls of a few were still erect; some natives were moving about, and a
few were digging at the ruined houses, apparently searching for the
remains of those buried there. They evinced no interest in the arrival
of the two shipwrecked white boys, being too utterly cowed and broken to
think of anything but their own misery.

"There is a well, Arthur; at least I expect it is that," Jack said,
pointing to a post upon which was a long pole with a rope hanging from
the end in the air.

They hurried to the spot, for both were suffering severely, and Arthur
was scarcely able to speak. They found to their delight that Jack's
surmise was a correct one, and hauling up the rope a bucket full of
water came to the surface. Arthur was about to seize it, when Jack said,
"You had better take this thing, Arthur; the natives might make a row if
you drank from their bucket." Arthur seized the half gourd that Jack had
picked up, dipped it into the bucket, and handed it to Jack.

"Fire away, man