“It’s you, then, who has been hailing,” cried Oliver. “Why didn’t you answer when we shouted?”
“Did yer shout, sir? Never heerd yer till just now. Thought I should never hear no one again. Got lost and skeered. But I’ve found you at last.”
“Found us, yes, of course. What made you leave Smith and come after us?”
“Didn’t, sir. He left me and lost hisself, and I couldn’t find him. It was soon after we’d lit a fire. He went off to get some more wood and there was an end of him.”
“What, Smith gone?”
“Yes, sir. He’s swallowed up in some hole or another, or else eat up by wild beasts. I couldn’t find him nowhere, and I couldn’t stand it alone there among them sarpents.”
“Serpents? What, near our camp?” said Drew, who began to think of their adventure in the cabin.
“Yes, sir,” said Wriggs, who was all of a tremble from exertion and dread. “I stood it as long as I could, with ’em hissing all round me, and then I felt as though if I stopped alone much longer I should go off my chump.”
“What?”
“Go raving mad, sir, so I shoved some more stuff on the fire, and as soon as it began to blaze and crackle there was a bigger hissing than ever, and the serpents all came rushing at me, and I ran for my life and to try and find you.”