But what could be Harris's secret end? What future, then, awaited the
survivors of the "Pilgrim?" Dick Sand repeated to himself that his
responsibility had not ceased with the shipwreck. It was more than ever
necessary for him to provide for the safety of those whom the waves had
thrown on this coast! This woman, this young child, these blacks--all
his companions in misfortune--it was he alone who must save them! But,
if he could attempt anything on board ship, if he could act on the sea,
here, in the midst of the terrible trials which he foresaw, what part
could he take?

Dick Sand would not shut his eyes before the frightful reality that
each instant made more indisputable. In this juncture he again became
the captain of fifteen years, as he had been on the "Pilgrim." But he
would not say anything which could alarm the poor mother before the
moment for action had arrived.

And he said nothing, not even when, arrived on the bank of a rather
large stream, preceding the little troop about one hundred feet, he
perceived enormous animals, which threw themselves under the large
plants on the brink.

"Hippopotami! hippopotami!" he was going to exclaim.

And they were, indeed, these thick-skinned animals, with a big head, a
large, swollen snout, a mouth armed with teeth which extend a foot
beyond it--animals which are squat on their short limbs, the skin of
which, unprovided with hair, is of a tawny red. Hippopotami in America!

They continued to march during the whole day, but painfully. Fatigue
commenced to retard even the most robust. It was truly time to arrive,