Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/507

] land; for the other party, who proceeded towards the north-west, also arrived on its banks. Some of them came to our rendezvous to acquaint us, that they had observed on the very edge of the lake, towards the part farthest from the sea, the prints of shoes, which left no doubt that Riche had passed that way; but that the marks of naked feet which appeared near his, gave grounds for apprehending that he had been dragged by the savages into the interior country. What tended to give still more probability to this conjecture was, that they soon found his handkerchief upon the sand, and a little farther on, one of his pistols. At a small distance, they saw a little smoke from a deserted fire, around which they found some bits of paper, on which they recognized the handwriting of Riche; and besides, the sand still bore the marks of one who had been resting himself on the spot.

We returned towards the landing place, lamenting the fate of our unfortunate mess-mate, and had very nearly reached the shore, in a hopeless state of mind, when we saw one of those who had been left to take care of the boat, running to meet us with the pleasing intelligence, that Riche was still alive, and that he had just arrived at the landing-place, extenuated with hunger and fatigue. He had been above fifty-four hours on shore,