They were some time before they found a hiding place, for the descent was so steep that they had to try several times, before they could get down far enough to reach a spot screened by bushes, and hidden from the sight of anyone passing above.  At last they did so, and soon lay down to sleep, after partaking of a mouthful of water each, and a tiny piece of bread.  They passed the day for the most part in sleep, but the midshipman woke frequently, being now really parched with thirst.  Each time, he chewed a few leaves from the bush in which they were lying, but derived but small comfort from it.

“It’s awful to think of tomorrow,” he said, as evening approached.  “Even supposing you find a way down tonight, it must be midnight tomorrow before we are taken off.”

“If I find a way down,” James said, “I will, if possible, take you down with me, and then we can take a long drink at the river; but, at any rate, I will take the bottle down with me, and bring it up full for you.  The next place to try is the spot where we saw some tents, as we went up the river.  There is no battery there, and the tents can only have been pitched there because there was some way down to the water.  It cannot be more than half a mile away, for it was not more than a mile from Fort Samos.”

“Can’t I go with you?” the midshipman said.  “I will be as quiet as a cat; and, if you find it is a good path, and come up to fetch me down, you see there will be a treble risk of being seen.”

“Very well,” James agreed.  “Only mind, if you set a stone rolling, or break a twig, it will cost us both our lives, to say nothing of the failure of our expedition.”

“I will be as quiet as a mouse.  You see if I ain’t,” the midshipman said confidently; “and I will try not to think, even once, of the water below there, so as not to hurry.”

Together they crept cautiously along the edge of the ridge, until they came to a clump of some fifteen tents.  As they approached they could see, by the light of the fires, that the encampment was one of Canadian troops.

James had not intended to move forward until all were asleep, but the men were all chatting round the fires, and it did not seem to him that a sentry had, as yet, been placed on the edge of the descent.  He therefore crept forward at once, followed closely by the midshipman, keeping, as far as possible, down beyond the slope of the descent.

Presently, he came to a path.  He saw at once that this was very different from the others—­it was regularly cut, sloping gradually down the face of the sharp descent, and was wide enough for a cart to pass.  He at once took his way down it, moving with the greatest caution, lest a sentry should be posted some distance below.  It was very dark, for, in many places, the trees met overhead.

About halfway down he suddenly came to a stop, for, in front of him, rose a bank breast high.  Here, if anywhere, a sentry should have been placed, and, holding his companion’s arm, James listened intently for some time.