rowing before you, and the sooner you get to the other end, the
better. We may have a long night's work before us, and I want to
be able to get to the place where we fished before morning."

The men bent to their oars, and the boat sped swiftly along. The
current was very slight, and after two hours' rowing, the lieutenant
judged that they must be but a short distance from the village
Hassan's messenger spoke of. Accordingly, he told the coxswain to
steer across to the other bank, and warned the men that the slightest
splash of their oars might attract attention, and that they were
to row easier for the present. In a quarter of an hour the wall of
forest ceased, and a hundred yards farther they saw houses. Two or
three dim lights were visible, and the sound of voices could be
heard. The boat's head was now turned out somewhat farther into
the stream, so as to be out of sight of anyone who might by chance
come down late to draw water. After rowing a hundred yards they
could dimly make out the outline of a white house. There was a
break just in the center, and the outline of a tree could be seen
above the roof. Dick leant forward and again touched the lieutenant.

"That must be the house, sir," he whispered.

Mr. Ferguson nodded without speaking; and after the boat had gone
another hundred yards, the line of forest could again be seen,
and the boat was rowed into the bank, and two minutes later shot
through a narrow channel and entered a creek some forty yards wide.

"Now you can give way again, lads."

An hour's paddling in a sampan would mean about three miles, and