“We are cut off!” cried Neb.

“No,” replied Herbert, “it is only a stream, and we can easily swim over.”

“What would be the use of that?” returned Harding.  “This creek evidently runs to the sea.  Let us remain on this side and follow the bank, and I shall be much astonished if it does not lead us very quickly to the coast.  Forward!”

“One minute,” said the reporter.  “The name of this creek, my friends?  Do not let us leave our geography incomplete.”

“All right!” said Pencroft.

“Name it, my boy,” said the engineer, addressing the lad.

“Will it not be better to wait until we have explored it to its mouth?” answered Herbert.

“Very well,” replied Cyrus Harding.  “Let us follow it as fast as we can without stopping.”

“Still another minute!” said Pencroft.

“What’s the matter?” asked the reporter.

“Though hunting is forbidden, fishing is allowed, I suppose,” said the sailor.

“We have no time to lose,” replied the engineer.

“Oh! five minutes!” replied Pencroft, “I only ask for five minutes to use in the interest of our breakfast!”

And Pencroft, lying down on the bank, plunged his arm into the water, and soon pulled up several dozen of fine crayfish from among the stones.

“These will be good!” cried Neb, going to the sailor’s aid.

“As I said, there is everything in this island, except tobacco!” muttered Pencroft with a sigh.

The fishing did not take five minutes, for the crayfish were swarming in the creek.  A bag was filled with the crustaceae, whose shells were of a cobalt blue.  The settlers then pushed on.

They advanced more rapidly and easily along the bank of the river than in the forest.  From time to time they came upon the traces of animals of a large size who had come to quench their thirst at the stream, but none were actually seen, and it was evidently not in this part of the forest that the peccary had received the bullet which had cost Pencroft a grinder.

In the meanwhile, considering the rapid current, Harding was led to suppose that he and his companions were much farther from the western coast than they had at first supposed.  In fact, at this hour, the rising tide would have turned back the current of the creek, if its mouth had only been a few miles distant.  Now, this effect was not produced, and the water pursued its natural course.  The engineer was much astonished at this, and frequently consulted his compass, to assure himself that some turn of the river was not leading them again into the Far West.

However, the creek gradually widened and its waters became less tumultuous.  The trees on the right bank were as close together as on the left bank, and it was impossible to distinguish anything beyond them; but these masses of wood were evidently uninhabited, for Top did not bark, and the intelligent animal would not have failed to signal the presence of any stranger in the neighborhood.