They returned to camp, disheartened and depressed. This new loss had
something terrible in it. What it meant no one could conjecture. There
was no reason why Maka should run away, for there was no place to run to,
and it was impossible that any wild beast should have removed the oars
and carried off the negro.




CHAPTER IV

ANOTHER NEW FACE


As the cook had gone, Mrs. Cliff and Miss Markham prepared breakfast, and
then they discovered how little water there was.

There was something mysterious about the successive losses of his men
which pressed heavily upon the soul of Captain Horn, but the want of
water pressed still more heavily. Ralph had just asked his permission to
go down to the beach and bathe in the sea, saying that as he could not
have all the water he wanted to drink, it might make him feel better to
take a swim in plenty of water. The boy was not allowed to go so far from
camp by himself, but the captain could not help thinking how this poor
fellow would probably feel the next day if help had not arrived, and of
the sufferings of the others, which, by that time, would have begun.
Still, as before, he spoke hopefully, and the two women, as brave as he,
kept up good spirits, and although they each thought of the waterless
morrow, they said nothing about it.