point so far above the angry waters that there was no danger of being
caught in the furious current.

He was turning over these troublous thoughts, when Bippo, who was
facing the bank they had left, uttered an expression of dismay and
extended his arm toward the shore behind them.

Ashman turned his head, and there in the moonlight he saw Professor
Grimcke and the New Englander standing on the land and motioning to
them to return.

"Yes--dat de way he do--he move arm like _dat_," said Bippo; "we hurry
to go to him, den he ain't here--but _dere_."

Ashman could not doubt that the servant believed the extraordinary
assertion he had just made, and such being the case, the startling
truth was manifest; they had seen two strangers whom they mistook for
their own friends, and these strangers had beckoned them to paddle the
canoe to the other shore where they were awaiting them.

If such were the fact--and he did not doubt it--a new mystery
confronted him.

Who were the white men and strangers? and why had they disappeared when
approached by the canoe and its occupants?

Ashman ordered the servants to turn the craft about and return to the
shore they had left with all speed. While doing so, and while Grimcke
and Long were doubtless wondering what had got into the heads of the
others, the young man wrought himself into a most uncomfortable