“Not here, but plenty at Ngati’s place. I’m glad to see you both safe, my lads. It gave me quite a turn when he told me he’d hidden you in here.”
“Why?” said Don sharply.
“Well, I’ll tell you, my lad. There’s a kind o’ bad steam lies along the bottom farther in, and if a man was to lie down on the floor and go to sleep, I don’t s’pose he’d ever wake again. Come along!”
“Where are the men from the ship?”
“Gone off with their mates. Didn’t you hear the gun?”
Don nodded.
“They’ve been searching all over for you. Can’t make out whether you two got to shore, or were chopped up by the sharks out yonder. They won’t come again till to-morrow, and you’ll be safe till then. You must be hungry.”
“Hungry?” said Jem, with a mocking laugh. “Hungry? Lookye here: you’d better take me where there’s something, or it won’t be safe. I heard tell as people ate one another out here, and I didn’t believe it, but I do now. I’m ready for anything or anybody; so come along.”
Ngati took possession of Don, and led the way, evidently very proud of his young companion; whilst Jem followed with the Englishman down the gully slope, and then in and out among the trees, ferns, and bushes, till the dangerous hot and mud springs were passed, and the whare was reached. Then the weary fugitives were seated before what seemed to them a banquet of well-cooked fish, fruits, and roots, with a kind of hasty pudding preparation, which was far from bad.
“Feel better, now?” said the Englishman, after he had sat and smoked till they had done.