Fortunately he was not forced to travel very much further without a plentiful supply of this most precious liquid.
After passing about half-way through the grove, he came upon a small natural spring which apparently gushed out of the coral rock, and here he made a long halt, satisfying his thirst gradually because of the intense pleasure of drinking when his tongue was so parched.
The thing which struck him as most strange was the fact that during all his travels he had not seen a sign of human beings.
From what he had noticed of the island while on the brig, it did not appear to be very large, and he failed to understand how it could be populated and this portion so completely deserted.
“I mustn’t sit here thinkin’ about it,” he muttered, rising to his feet. “It’ll be night before I strike the hospital if I don’t keep moving.”
Straight through the grove he went, then on the other side within sight of the water, but seeing no signs of life, save when the birds swooped down past him as if trying to find out what sort of creature this was who had come among them so suddenly.
He quickened his pace, and continued on with grim determination until the sun sank behind the waste of waters, and the shadows of night were gathering more rapidly than he had ever seen them before.
“I have surely walked three miles an hour,” he said to himself, “and if it was two o’clock when I started, I’ve got over not less than twelve miles. Say it was three across from where I landed to the grove, and that makes nine I’ve footed it around the shore with——”
He ceased speaking very suddenly, and stood silent and motionless staring in front of him on the sand near the water’s edge.
He had returned to the very place where Mr. Stout put him ashore, for here were the packages just as he had left them.