Mr. Walker now came up with the remainder of the party and reported that Stiles was missing.  As he could have no difficulty in finding us I merely took the precaution to make the men sit in such positions that he could distinguish us from the summit of the opposite cliffs when he arrived there, and we patiently awaited that moment.  Time however wore on, and some of the men finding a species of geranium with a root not unlike a very small and tough parsnip, we prepared and ate several messes of this plant.  At length, no signs of Stiles having been seen, I sent Mr. Walker, Corporal Auger, and Kaiber to the top of the cliffs we had descended to try if they could discern anything of him or his tracks.  During their absence I expressed, in the hearing of some of the men, my anxiety lest he should have lingered behind and have fallen in with the natives; upon which they smiled and said that “Tom Stiles was a man who did not care about the natives; and that only that morning he had said he didn’t mind for all the natives in the island, d—–­ them;” and that they thought he had stopped behind on purpose.

Gathering of natives.  Scene with natives.

The absence of Mr. Walker and his party continued much longer than I expected, and just at the moment that I had become rather alarmed about it Coles reported to me that he saw natives on the opposite cliff, jumping about and running up and down brandishing their spears in the manner they do before and after a fight.  Coles was at this time posted as sentry on a terrace just above where we were, and the ascent to which was very difficult.  I got up on this as fast as I could; it was only two or three yards broad and ran apparently along the whole length of the valley.  The natives used it as a path, and a very steep hill rose behind it.  I could not however make out the natives, and as the opposite cliffs were a long way off I thought that Coles might have been mistaken.  When I told him this he merely said “Look there, then, Sir,” and pointed to the top of Mount Fairfax, distant about 400 yards due north of us, and sure enough there were a party of natives, well armed and going through a variety of ceremonies which the experience of centuries had proved to be highly efficacious in getting rid of evil spirits.  In the present instance however their wonted efficacy failed, but the natives appeared every moment to be getting more vehement in their gestures.

Our situation by no means pleased me:  Stiles and a separate party of our own men had mysteriously disappeared in the direction where Coles had first seen the natives, by whom we were in a manner surrounded, and that in an abominable position, for they could steal amongst the underwood close above us in our rear, and annoy us with missiles of all sorts; whilst from the extent and thickness of the scrub it was impossible to occupy it effectually against treacherous (or rather, bold and skilful) enemies.  On the other hand