The captain and Ralph assisted the two ladies to a ledge of rock near the camp from which they could watch the Englishman on his way.  They saw him reach the beach, and after going on a short distance he fired his gun, after which he pressed forward, now and then stopping to fire again.  Even from their inconsiderable elevation they could see him until he must have been more than a mile away, and he soon after vanished from their view.

As on the previous day darkness came without the two American sailors, so now it came without the Englishman, and in the morning he had not returned.  Of course, every mind was filled with anxiety in regard to the three sailors, but Captain Horn’s soul was racked with apprehensions of which he did not speak.  The conviction forced itself upon him that the men had been killed by wild beasts.  He could imagine no other reason why Davis should not have returned.  He had been ordered not to leave the beach, and, therefore, could not lose his way.  He was a wary, careful man, used to exploring rough country, and he was not likely to take any chances of disabling himself by a fall while on such an expedition.

Although he knew that the great jaguar was found in Peru, as well as the puma and black bear, the captain had not supposed it likely that any of these creatures frequented the barren western slopes of the mountains, but he now reflected that there were lions in the deserts of Africa, and that the beasts of prey in South America might also be found in its deserts.

A great responsibility now rested upon Captain Horn.  He was the only man left in camp who could be depended upon as a defender,—­for Maka was known to be a coward, and Ralph was only a boy,—­and it was with a shrinking of the heart that he asked himself what would be the consequences if a couple of jaguars or other ferocious beasts were to appear upon that unprotected plateau in the night, or even in the daytime.  He had two guns, but he was only one man.  These thoughts were not cheerful, but the captain’s face showed no signs of alarm, or even unusual anxiety, and, with a smile on his handsome brown countenance, he bade the ladies good morning as if he were saluting them upon a quarter-deck.

“I have been thinking all night about those three men,” said Miss Markham, “and I have imagined something which may have happened.  Isn’t it possible that they may have discovered at a distance some inland settlement which could not be seen by the party in the boat, and that they thought it their duty to push their way to it, and so get assistance for us?  In that case, you know, they would probably be a long time coming back.”

“That is possible,” said the captain, glad to hear a hopeful supposition, but in his heart he had no faith in it whatever.  If Davis had seen a village, or even a house, he would have come back to report it, and if the others had found human habitation, they would have had ample time to return, either by land or by sea.