“No, sir; I saw that,” replied the middy.
“Then why have you left your men?”
“To tell you, sir, that we are being followed very closely by a body of blacks who are hemming us in.”
“Hang it! You don’t mean that!”
“I do, sir. Twice over we have seemed to pass through men who are hanging back on either side to let us pass, and who then close in behind us and follow up silently.”
“Humph! Unarmed, I suppose?”
“No, sir; I have not had much opportunity, but I am pretty well sure that, some of them have muskets, while all have those clumsy hangers with which they clear away the canes and growth from the forest paths.”
“Well, we are in for it now, Mr Murray. But look here, they are not many, I suppose?”
“They are, sir, and keep on increasing in numbers.”
“But they seem peaceable?”