only by the birds as they fluttered from tree to brush. From a distance came the incessant hum of millions of tropical insects, but to this sound I had long since become accustomed.
"Begorra, Oi don't see nothin at all, at all!" came in a rich Irish voice not a dozen yards away from me. "If they be haythins, where are they?"
"Matt Gory!" I burst out. "Matt Gory, is that you?"
"The saints be praised, it's Oliver Raymond!" came from the delighted Irishman, and now he rushed forward and literally embraced me. "I was afther thinkin' ye was one av thim villainous Tagals!"
Gory was followed by Watt Brown and Captain Kenny. The second mate was also delighted to see me. Captain Kenny, however, merely scowled, and then turned to Dawson and Ah Sid.
Our various stories were soon told, and we learned that the newcomers had also intended to hunt up a small boat. "I intended to cut down a sapling and hoist some kind of a sail," said Watt Brown. "Sailing down to Subig Bay will be far better than to make the journey overland, especially during these trying times."
Watt Brown had had one advantage over us. He had met a Spaniard who could speak a little
