Fatigued with our previous walk, we now sat down to rest. I turned my eyes in the direction of the reef,—which, however, was not visible,—and saw Ben looking in the same quarter.
“I wonder if we could repair the raft, and make our way to one of the settlements to the southward,” I said. “We might land if we saw bad weather coming on; and we should not, at all events, be worse off than we now are.”
“That’s just what I have been thinking about, sir,” observed Ben. “But then, do you see, we should not have fresh water, and we should have nothing to eat; and besides, I don’t know whether there is enough of the raft remaining to make it fit for use—though, to be sure, we might pick up some more pieces along the beach.”
“We need not give the matter much thought,” said Boxall. “We are several hundred miles from the nearest settlement, and the want of fresh water alone would make the voyage impossible, even should we succeed in putting our raft to rights. All we can do is to push boldly on to the southward; and if we can obtain oysters or anything else for food, and retain our health, we may hope, with God’s mercy, to succeed.”
We were, it must be understood, seated on a sandy mound facing the sea, the light air coming from which enabled us to bear the heat of the sun. As we were about to get up and proceed on our journey, I caught sight of some objects moving among the sand-hills in the far distance. I told my companions, who threw themselves down on the ground; while, unslinging my telescope, I turned it towards the moving objects, which I at once made out to be two camels with riders on their backs.
The strangers drew nearer, and stopping, looked about them. “I am afraid their quick eyes have caught sight of the gold on our caps or the brass on my spy-glass,” I observed. “What are we to do?”
“Remain perfectly quiet,” answered Boxall. “We
might possibly improve our condition by joining them, but it might become very much worse. We can now calculate pretty well what we shall have to go through; but if we place ourselves in their power, we may be ill-treated, or compelled to labour for them, if we are not murdered.”
“Well, by all means let us keep out of their power. I for one have no wish to be reduced to slavery,” said Halliday.