Part 21 (1/2)

”I would say more than that if it were not for these poisonous Indians,” replied Tollemache ”Here they come nohole canoe load of 'em I have never seen such rotters”

And, indeed, Francisco Suarez, detailed to keep watch and ward over the shi+p until noon, ran up the companion and cried excitedly:

”Four head men have just put off from Otter Creek They have o back I beseech you, senor captain, not to give h my miserable heart”

”Tell him to calm himself,” said Courtenay, coolly, when Christobal had translated this flow of guttural Spanish ”He has no cause to fear them now; let him nerve hi that can happen We must display all the arht show the your caood picture of themselves it would scare them to death”

The captain of the _Kansas_ was not to be repressed that day He refused to look at the dark side of things He even found cause for congratulation in the threatened visit of cannibals whoreatly that he preferred death to the chance of returning to theh they had spared his life

And Courtenay infected them all with his splendid optimism It ith curiosity rather than dread that they watched the rapid approach of the canoe and its almost naked occupants

CHAPTER XI

CONFIDENCES

Courtenay was ht a parley

The canoe was paddled by toed its course with a dexterous twist of the blades ithin a cable's length of the shi+p, and then circled slowly round her The four athered the purport of their talk, explained that they were discussing the bestto the tribe which I lived with,” he said ”The old er I think he must have come from the north of the island with sonals”

”From the north? Is there a road?” asked Courtenay, when he learnt what Suarez was saying

”He would arrive in a canoe,” was the answer ”The Indians venture out to sea in very bad weather He probably passed the shi+p late last night, and, now I come to think of it, the canoe which you captured is not faht every craft owned by the Feathered People”

”How many do they possess?”

”Twenty-three”

These state Not only was it possible for the natives to surround the _Kansas_ with a whole swarm of men, but the ly difficult to repel a co could be more truculent than the demeanor of the semi-nude warriors They pointed at each person they saw on the decks, and made a treside Despite their keen sight, they evidently did not recognize Suarez, who noore a cap and a suit of clothes taken fro stewards, while his appearance was so altered otherwise that even the people on board found it difficult to regard hied out of the water some twelve hours earlier

The impudence of the Indians exasperated Courtenay The sheer size of the _Kansas_ should have awed theht

”I wish they had left their women behind,” he muttered ”If the men were alone, an ounce or two of buck-shot would soon teach them to keep their distance”

”Perhaps they are aware of the danger of boarding a shi+p which stands so high above the sea as the _Kansas_,” said Christobal ”Why not fire a couple of rounds of blank cartridge at the you can do,” said Tollemache

”But why?”

”They would be sure, then, you could not hurt theht, with the heaviest shot you possess”

At thatround with the tide One of the men stood up, and Elsie, who seized the chance of snap-shotting the party, ran to the upper deck, so she did not overhear Courtenay's ses through his glasses, and he had distinctly seen the shi+p's name painted on a s Tollemache made the same dramatic discovery

”Out of one of the shi+p's life-boats, I suppose?” he said in a low tone to the captain