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Having explored with care that part of the cove which Bligh had asked us to examine, we sat down to rest for a moment. Nelson shook his head with a faint smile.

“Mr. Bligh was safe enough in offering me his tot of grog,” he said. “We shall find nothing here, Ledward—neither food nor water.”

“How do you feel about our prospects?” I asked.

“I have not allowed myself to think of them thus far,” he replied. “We can, undoubtedly, find water on the windward side, and perhaps food enough to maintain us for a considerable period. Beyond that ...” He broke off, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently he added: “Our situation is not quite hopeless. That is as much as we can say.”

“But it is precisely the kind of situation Bligh was born to meet,” I said.

“It is; I grant that; but what can he do, Ledward? Where in God’s name can we go? We know only too well what treacherous savages these so-called ‘Friendly Islanders’ are; our experiences at Annamooka taught us that. I speak frankly. The others I shall try to encourage as much as possible, but there need be no play-acting between us two.”