About midnight Dalim, who was on guard, woke them up; the canoe was pushed in mid-stream and carefully guided through the soengei. Close to the mouth our fugitives observed an open space in the forest surrounded by some charred trunks of trees, which had been placed to command the soengei as well as the main stream. They were the remains of a Dayak fort built along the borders of that river. It was the first fortification raised after the outbreak of the insurrection on the south coast of Borneo. All the while that the fugitives were sailing out of the soengei Basarang they carefully scanned the broad surface of the waters of the river. Only a few lights were visible in the south-east, and the dark outlines of the fortress at the mouth of the Kapoeas. Nothing else was perceptible to the naked eye. The river was safe and with strong efforts they pursued their journey. But alas! after their two days’ travelling they were now only at the same spot whence they had originally started. If there, where those lights shone so brilliantly, it were only known how near the reach of their guns the fugitives were! But all remained silent; the fortifications continued lost in the gloom; the midnight calm was only disturbed by two beats of a gong indicating two A.M., and the low cry of the sentries which proved that however quiet everything appeared to be, the necessary vigilance was not neglected. A few more strokes only and the fortress was lost behind Cape Koempai, the first curve in the Kapoeas. La Cueille, who with eager eyes had been looking at his former residence, now dropped his oar and heaved a deep sigh. Johannes heard it and said: “Are you sorry? Speak, it is not too late yet. We can land you at this corner. A pretended drunken bout will sufficiently account for your absence. You are at liberty to plead that excuse or any other you fancy as long as you do not betray us. Say—shall we land you?” “Return to those cheeseheads? Sacré nom de tonnerre! never!” the Walloon cried energetically. “Then stop your sighing; leave that to the women and children; men have to act.” “C’était plus fort que moi,” La Cueille muttered. “The stories I have heard during the last two days come before me, and pardieu! when I saw that fortress where we might repose as safely as on our mother’s lap, far away from spectres, head-hunters, blood-drinkers, and so forth—that fortress which we might have reached with only a few strokes; yes, I own it, I did feel tempted just then. But it is all over now.” And taking his oar again he vigorously assisted to make the boat spin onward as fast as possible, so that the fortification was soon altogether lost to view. The fugitives passed a group of small islets called Poeloe telloe, and at day-break found themselves near the island Kanamit.