CHAPTER IX.
The party landed at the village the next morning, but found it
entirely deserted.
"It is most important that we should take a prisoner, Ferguson," the
captain said, as he and the first lieutenant paced up and down the
quarterdeck; "we must catch the two prahus if we can. At present
we don't know whether they have gone up or down the river, and it
would be absolutely useless for us to wait until we get some clew
to their whereabouts. After we have finished with them, we will
go up the other branch, and try to find the two we know to be up
there. I should not like to leave our work unfinished."
"Certainly not, sir. I am afraid, though, it is of no use landing
to try to get hold of a prisoner. No doubt the woods are full of
them. There are the townspeople and those who came to help them;
and though many of those who tried to swim ashore from the sunken
boats may have been taken by the alligators, still the greater
portion must have landed all right."
"I should think, Mr. Ferguson, that it would be a good plan to send
a party of twenty men on shore after nightfall and to distribute
them, two Men to a hut. Possibly two or three of the Malays may
come down to the village before morning, either to fetch valuables
they may have left behind, or to see whether we are still here.
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