e disclosed the dinghy half way to the beach, while in her
stern, sculling her swiftly along with practised hand, stood the
wooden-headed young savage who didn't know how to manage a boat.

"Come back here, you sneak thief, or I'll fill you full of lead,"
yelled Cabot, and as the Indian paid not the slightest attention he
drew his revolver and fired. He never knew where the bullet struck,
but it certainly did not reach the mark he intended, for Arsenic merely
increased the speed of his boat without even looking back.

So angry that he hardly realised what he was doing, Cabot cocked his
pistol and attempted to fire again, but the lock only snapped
harmlessly, and there was no report. Then he remembered that he had
expended several shots the day before in a fruitless effort to attract
attention on board a distant vessel seen from the lookout, and had
neglected to reload.

As he started for the cabin in quest of more cartridges he came into
collision with White hurrying on deck.

"What is the matter?" inquired the latter, as soon as he regained the
breath thus knocked out of him.

"Oh, nothing at sill," replied Cabot, with ironical calmness, "only
we've been played for a couple of hayseeds by a wooden-faced young
heathen who don't know enough to go in when it rains. In his childish
folly he has gone off with the dinghy, taking our provisions along as a
souvenir of his visit, and he didn't even have the politeness to look
round when I spoke to him. Oh! but it will be a chilly day for little
Willy if I catch him again."

"I am glad you only spoke," remarked White. "When I heard you shoot I
didn't know but what you had murdered him."

"Wish I had," growled Cabot, savagely. "Look at him now, and consider
the cheek of the plain, every-day North American savage."

It was aggravating to see the young thief gain the beach and lift from
the boat the provisions he had so deftly acquired. It was even more
annoying to see the embryo warrior's grateful family pounce upon the
prizes of his bow and spear, and to be forced to listen to the joyous
cries with which they greeted their returned hero. Filled now with a
bustling activity, the Indians quickly divided the spoil according to
their strength; and then, without one backward glance, or a single look
towards the schooner, they started up the narrow trail by the
waterfall, with the triumphant Arsenic heading the procession, and in
another minute had disappeared.

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