The day passed quietly. That the Indians were searching for him, far
and wide, James Walsham had no doubt, and indeed, from their hiding
place he saw several parties of redskins moving along on the river
bank, carefully examining the ground.
"It's lucky we didn't move along there," he said to his companion, "for
the ground is so soft that they would assuredly have found our tracks.
I expect that they think it possible that we may have been taken off,
in a boat, during the night."
"I hope they will keep on thinking so," the midshipman said. "Then they
will give up looking for us."
"They won't do that," James replied; "for they will be sure that they
must have seen our tracks, had we passed along that muddy bank.
Fortunately, they have no clue to where we really are. We might have
gone east, west, or north, and the country is so covered with bush that
anything like a regular search is absolutely impossible."
"I hope we ain't going to be very long, before we get on board again,"
the midshipman said, as he munched the small piece of bread James
served out to him for his dinner. "The grub won't last more than two
days, even at this starvation rate, and that one bottle of water is a
mockery. I could finish it all, straight off.
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