AN EMERGENCY 221 



circled over those lying on the water. " Give 

 them plenty of windage, Gun ! " shouts Bac, 

 when "bang ! bang 1" is followed by Egyptian 

 darkness. " Holy horrors ! " shouts some one. 

 " This is a deuce of a go ! What's the matter ? 

 Stick your pole down, John, and hold the 

 boat. Well! well! well! if this don't beat 

 the Dutch ! " And all burst out laughing at 

 the ridiculousness of the situation. Not to 

 get the lantern lighted, and that very soon, 

 meant to us the loss of our birds. So that 

 while our position was most ludicrous, it was 

 also serious, made more so from the fact 

 that our supply of matches was small, not 

 having prepared ourselves for an emergency 

 like this. 



Jack allowed the boat to swing by the 

 pole before the wind, which was so high 

 that as soon as the match was struck it 

 blew out. This was a dilemma not antici- 

 pated, leaving us in a most absurd, and, we 

 must confess laughable, plight. The only 

 remedy at hand was to get back to Deny 

 Island as speedily as possible before the tide 

 got too low, otherwise we would have to 

 wade hundreds of yards through the mud. 



