Leave your muskets behind, lads; they would only be in the way in the jungle, and you have your pistols and cutlasses.

You take the lantern, Winthorpe, and Harper, do you take the rope.

Fasten one end to the thwart before you start, or, without knowing it, you might drag it after you." Dick led the way, the others following close behind, but as soon as they were among the trees, he was obliged to take the lantern, for the darkness was so intense that he could not see an inch before him and would have been torn to pieces by the thorny creepers had he tried to penetrate without a light.
As it was, he received several nasty scratches, and could hear muttered exclamations from the men behind him.

Creeping under some of the rattans, making detours to avoid others, and cutting some of the smaller ones in two with his cutlass, he made his way forward, and was delighted indeed when, after proceeding some twenty yards, he came upon the edge of what looked like a ditch, but which was, he knew, the native path.
"Here we are, lads," he exclaimed in a low tone; "thank goodness we have not had to go farther." "So say I, sir," one of the men grumbled; "if it had not been for your lantern I should have been torn to pieces.

As it is, I aint sure whether my eyes aint gone, and my nose and cheeks are scratched as if I had been fighting with a mad cat." "Here, Winthorpe, take the lantern and make your way back; darken it as soon as you get through to the edge of the creek.