"But I thought I could hear, on the right hand, a sort of sliding noise among the grass. I listened and was on the point of calling out when it suddenly occurred to me that it could not be Mr. Wolston or my brother coming from that side. They would have called to me, and we should have been in each other's arms before that.
"So it must mean that there were animals coming up, or perhaps a serpent.
"I had no time to assume the defensive. Four bodies rose up in the darkness—four human beings, not monkeys, as I thought at first! They sprang upon me, jabbering in a language which I could not understand. It was only too evident that I was dealing with savages!
"Savages on our island! In a moment I was thrown down, and I felt two knees pressing on my chest. Then they bound my hands and made me get up, took me by the shoulders and pushed me in front of them, and I had to walk at a rapid pace.
"One of the men had taken possession of my gun, another of my game-bag. It did not seem as if they had any design upon my life—not just then, at any rate.
"We went all night like that—in what direction I could not discover. But I noticed that the forest was gradually getting clearer and clearer. The light of the moon reached right down to the ground, and I felt sure we were approaching the coast.
"I was not thinking much about myself, my dear people! I was thinking of you, and of the danger which the presence of these natives on our island involved! They would only have to go along the coastline as far as the Montrose River and cross that to reach Cape East, and then come down again to Rock Castle! If they got there before the Unicorn got back, you would not be in force enough to beat them off!"
"But did you not say just now, Jack," M. Zermatt asked, "that these savages must be a long way away from the Promised Land?"
"Yes, Papa, twelve or fifteen miles south of the Montrose, and so about twenty-five miles from here."
"Well, in less than a fortnight, and perhaps in less than a week, the Unicorn will be lying in Deliverance Bay," M. Zermatt remarked, "and after that we shall have nothing to fear. But go on with your story."