"Ah, master dear, won't you take my word for the money, or wait till I arn it?"
"Just as I always thought," grumbled our host; "an Irishman will promise any thing in distress, even while he knows that he has no means of performing his engagements."
"But isn't it better to do so, master dear, than to make no promises and die?" asked the Irishman, and I rather thought that he had him on that question.
"Perhaps you are right," our host answered, and extending his hand, he helped Mike to terra firma, and landed him just as Kala informed us that the ford was ten or twelve rods down the stream.
Mike recovered his spear, and we once more started, under the guidance of the natives, and quickly gained the spot that we had spent so much time in searching for.
The ford had been used but seldom, and resembled the rest of the creek, with the exception that the bushes and underbrush had been cut from the banks of the stream, so that horses, and other cattle, after fording, could gain the plain without trouble.
Kala threw himself upon his hands and knees, and carefully examined, by the lightning flashes, the various footprints which marked the spot, and which the heavy rain had failed to wash away.
"Well, Kala," Mr. Wright said, impatiently.
"No come yet," answered the native, quietly.