after twenty minutes' sharp rowing, the men were ordered to row easy
again, and the lieutenant and Dick kept an anxious lookout ahead.
The creek was here little more than fifty yards across, and,
accustomed as their eyes were to darkness, they presently saw that
it widened out suddenly. The word was passed down for the men to
paddle easily, and in two minutes the pool opened before them. They
could not make out the prahus, lying as they did against the shadow
of the trees on the farther side, but they could see a number of
lights, apparently from swinging lanterns, and hear a loud murmur
of voices.

"Easy all," the lieutenant ordered now; "back her very quietly;
now pull bow."

Noiselessly the boat was brought round, and its head directed to
the right hand bank. They had passed a sharp bend nearly half a
mile back, and the lieutenant said, "Look out for a landing place
at the deepest point of the curve, Harris."

"Aye, aye, sir!" the coxswain said, standing up. A minute later he
brought the boat alongside, at a point which was free from bushes,
and where the bank was but two feet above the water's edge.



CHAPTER VII.


"Now, Mr. Balderson, take Harper and Winthorpe, and make your way
through the jungle as noiselessly as possible. It is probable that