I had moored the canoe so firmly to one of the palms, that I felt secure of it being there.

We arrived at the place, and no canoe was there! The mark of the cord which fastened it was still to be seen round the tree, but the canoe had entirely disappeared.

Struck with astonishment, we looked at each other with terror, and without being able to articulate a word.
What was become of it?
"Some animal,--the jackals; a monkey, perhaps,--might have detached it," said Jack; "but they could not have eaten the canoe." And we could not find a trace of it, any more than of the gun Fritz had left in it.
This extraordinary circumstance gave me a great deal of thought.
Savages, surely, had landed on our island, and carried off our canoe.

We could no longer doubt it when we discovered on the sands the print of naked feet! It is easy to believe how uneasy and agitated I was.

I hastened to take the road to Tent House, from which we were now more than three leagues distant.