n a leaden medallion,
and fixed into the wood."

"Is that so?" and the hunter looked at the signs with interest. "I
had not seen that. And it means----"

"That Arabs had something to do with the making of the canoe."

"Umph! I doubt very much if it is Arab-built. That talisman may have
been found by a native and fixed on--though that is impossible;" and
Mr. Hume pondered. "The Arabs may have taken the canoe from the
native owner and fixed in the medallion."

"He's awake," said Venning; and the three of them saw that the man,
without so much as a movement of surprise at his awakening under
such altered circumstances, was keenly observing them.

After he had gravely inspected each in turn, he sat up and raised
his hand in salutation. The rug slipped off his shoulders, showing
his bare breast, with every rib exposed, and clearly outlined in
blue was the form of an animal.

"A totem!" exclaimed the hunter.

"Otter," said Venning.

"Ask the steward if he has the porridge ready that I ordered."

Venning ran off, and returned with a basin of thick oatmeal
porridge. The man took it gravely, made another salutation, and ate
the whole.

"There's nothing wrong with him," said Mr. Hume, with a smile. "Now
we'll get him out of that and fix him up comfortably. I like his
looks, and have hopes that he will be useful."

They removed him to a deck-chair, whither he was followed by the
jackal, who was in such a state of suspicion that he declined food.

"What I think," said Mr. Hume, in answer to the boys, who wanted his
explanation, "is this--that the man and the jackal have come from
the interior."

"From the Great Forest?"

"Probably from the Great Forest; for these reasons--that the men who
shaped the canoe had no knowledge of the coast-built craft with
their high bows; that the man is of a different race from the coast
tribes; and because the jackal, from his dark markings, is evidently
from a thickly wooded region. That is merely a theory, which does
not help us much, and certainly does not explain how he came to be
bound and gagged in a canoe at sea hundreds of miles from the
forest. However, the main point is that we have got him, and having
got him, will keep him."

"Against his will, sir?"

"Oh, I reckon he will be only too thankful for our protection."

"I should think, sir," said Venning, "the fact of his totem being an
otter proves that his tribe derives its living mainly from fish."

"That is plaus