Harry promptly complied, not a moment too soon, for with a crash, the branch now gave way.
The young man would have gone with it, in spite of the bowline hitch, which he had not yet been able to properly secure, but for his throwing up both hands and grasping the rope.
Turk, who had taken a turn round the upper branch, was thus enabled to draw him safely up.
In a few seconds both men were on the ground, about to move in the direction of the base of the cliff to meet Mary and Brand, when they beheld the forms of the natives, stealing along from their canoe.
"Ay, ay, now!" whispered Turk, "this is calamitous."
"We must save Mary at all hazards," exclaimed Harry, impulsively, as he bounded forward.
"S—sh!" whispered Turk, "jest see there! They have got the poor gal and that Brand already," pointing to the natives, lugging of their prisoners.
Harry would have sprang onward unarmed as he was, to attack the two savages, but for the cooler and more prudent Turk.
"Hold!" he whispered, grasping his friend's jacket, "can't do anything in a hurry, which do you see, will salle all."
Even as he spoke, another party of savages were observed, approaching them.