"Ah! looks nasty," said Briscoe; "but it isn't obliged to be dangerous to human beings. You see, they use their arrows principally for small game. I don't believe, mind you, that your brother's going to be much the worse for his trouble." "I sincerely hope not," said Brace, with a sigh. "So does everybody, sir," said the mate. "But come: it's our turn now. Let's see if we can't stop this game before some of us are hit." "Yes," said Briscoe, who had taken up, examined, and then smelt the arrow-head, ending by moistening a paper which he drew from his pocket and rubbing the arrow-point thereon, with the result that the paper received a brownish smear and the soft iron became clear. After a few moments he said: "There is no doubt about the arrows having been dipped in something, and we must not run any more risks." Brace experienced a chilly feeling as he thought of his brother, but he made an effort to master the nervous dread by devoting himself to the task they had in hand. "The arrows seem to come from the foot of that great tree," he said, pointing to where a giant rose high above the heads of its neighbours and sent forth huge boughs, the lowermost of which swept the surface of the river. "I fancy they come from some twenty feet up," said Briscoe thoughtfully. "You're right, sir," said his servant. "Look at that," and he drew his master's attention to a shaft which just at that moment rose from out of the densest part of the tree, described an arch, and fell upon the deck. "I can't see him," cried Lynton, who was crouching in the shelter of the bulwark; "but I fancy I can make out where he is." "Try," said the mate, and the next minute Lynton fired, his bullet cutting the leaves of the pyramid of verdure, and the report startling a flock of bright green birds, which flew screaming across to the opposite bank of the river. "A miss," said the mate. "Now you try, sir. It's random work though." Brace felt a shrinking sensation, but he knew that the time had come for action, and rested his rifle upon the bulwark and sent the bullet hurtling through the densest part of the tree. "Bravo! Well done!" cried Briscoe. "What is it?" said Brace eagerly. "I couldn't see for the smoke." "I could," said the mate. "There was somebody there, and, hit or no, your shot startled him, for I saw something go crashing down through the boughs. I believe you've finished him, and we shall have no more arrows from there." "Think there was only one of them then?" said Lynton. "Oh, no, my lad; there's no knowing how many there are of the beauties, but I fancy there's one the less." The mate had hardly spoken before another arrow stuck in the deck, its inclination showing that it had come from an entirely fresh direction. But it had hardly touched the deck with a dull rap before the American's rifle uttered its sharp crack, and the bullet sent the leaves of a tree some distance farther to the left pattering down.