I said that they must be at the point I named last evening.

They were two hours late, though they had paddled their hardest.

As soon as they disembarked I led them to the spot, and the rest was easy.

I knew that the prisoners who had been taken were my two friends, for I saw them on the deck of the prahu; and glad indeed I was to be able to pay my debt to them." "You have paid it indeed most nobly, Hassan," the captain said, holding out his hand, and grasping that of the chief, when, sentence by sentence, the story was translated to him.

"Little did we think, when you were brought on board the Serpent, that your friendship would turn out of such value to us." There was now some discussion as to the proposed meeting of chiefs; and half an hour after, a dozen small canoes started with invitations to the various chiefs to meet the captain at Hassan's campong, with assurances that he was ready to overlook their share in the attack on the ship, and be on friendly terms with them, and that the safety of each who attended was guaranteed, whether he was willing to be on good terms with the English or not.