He thought at first that perhaps the negro had gone down to the sea-shore to get some water for washing purposes, but an hour passed, and Maka did not return.

The whole party went down to the beach, for the captain insisted upon all keeping together.

They shouted, they called, they did whatever they could to discover the lost African, but all without success.
They returned to camp, disheartened and depressed.

This new loss had something terrible in it.

What it meant no one could conjecture.