“I can walk that distance easily,” said Panton. “The stiffness has gone out of my legs already.”
“Glad of it,” said the mate drily; “but it isn’t the walking down to the sea.”
“What is it, then?” asked Panton, who kept on turning his head in different directions to take great breaths of the warm spicy air.
“The walking back,” said the mate. “There, take care of yourselves, and be very careful; mind, Mr Drew, they are not to go too far!”
“They will not want to,” said Drew, smiling, and the mate gave them all a friendly nod, left them at the edge of the forest, to the south of the plain, and they at once began to move forward beneath the boughs which sheltered them from the ardent sunshine.
It was a glorious morning, and to the prisoners newly escaped from confinement the sight of the forest with the long creepers which draped the boughs with dewy leaf, tendril, and brilliant blossom seemed brighter than ever, and, once more all eagerness, the collecting began.
Panton, who grumbled a little at there being nothing in his way, devoted himself to helping first one and then the other of his companions, picking some fresh leaf or flower for Drew, or bringing down an attractive bird for Oliver.
As for the two sailors, they were as pleased as schoolboys, and had to be kept back from plunging into the forest and complicating matters by losing themselves. They had not gone far before Smith uttered a shout, and on the party hurrying up he was ready to point in the direction of a piled-up clump of rocks.
“What is it?” cried Oliver.
“Deer, sir, two on ’em! They was just by that bit o’ green stone nibbling away at the grass; but as soon as I hailed you they just lifted up their heads, looked at me, and then they were gone.”