It was a guess at the time, but all being perfectly still, and as if the enemy had gone right away, it was determined to make a venture in search of water.
“Shall we go together, Tom?” asked Murray.
“It’s like making half the chance, sir,” replied the man. “I think I’d take one way and me the other.”
“Very well; but let’s go very carefully; and we ought to cut or mark the trees if we could, so as to find our way back.”
“It’s like showing the way we’ve gone, sir,” said the man; “but there, we must run some risks.”
“Whatever you do, Tom,” said the midshipman, “be careful about finding your way back.”
“I’ll do my best, sir,” replied the man.
“Water! For goodness’ sake, water!” moaned Roberts; and those words started the pair off at once, each feeling perfectly despairing of success, in opposite directions, and each with the same precautions, till sick at heart and hopeless after marking his way step by step either by blazing the sides of the trees or cutting the cane in a way that he felt pretty sure of following back, Murray sank down faint and exhausted, to rest for a few minutes before deciding whether he should persevere a little more or return to his unfortunate companion in despair.
“It seems so cowardly to give up,” he said to himself; “but Tom may have succeeded, and even if he has not, it would be better to try in a fresh direction.”
He sat motionless listening for a few minutes in indecision, feeling that if he did not find water or food he would be in as bad a plight as his companion, when he suddenly caught at the nearest tree, drew himself up, and stood trembling. The next minute what had seemed to be an utter wilderness assumed a different form from that which he had observed before. He realised that some form of cultivation had been carried out, and following up the track, he passed on through a narrow, trampled patch, to find himself in an opening where, roughly hacked out of the forest, a clearing had been made, along one side of which ran a grip of water, cleared out for reasons connected with irrigation, and there stretching out before him were a few dozen of banana trees, Indian corn, and what he directly after made out to be the succulent yam plant.