"See those dark spots ahead? They must be the first of the thousand
islands that stretch away right up to the Loanda river. If we can
get into them we are safe."

"Can I help?" asked Venning, having set out the rifles in the well,
with the ammunition handy.

"Whistle for a wind. That's all. Fix your eyes on the islands,
Compton, and slip in where they are thickest."

"Ay, ay," muttered Compton, frowning under the stress of his
excitement.

Venning searched for the field-glasses, and as the island they had
passed sank low astern, he swept the river for sign of the pursuing
launch.

"By Jove!" he muttered, with a start.

"Well?"

"She has shifted her course. I can see the white of her hull right
under the trees on the south bank."

"She must have gained a lot, then," grunted Mr. Hume, "if you can
see her hull."

"She's making out again. Perhaps she put in to speak a native
village, and maybe they have not seen us; we are low in the water."