s light we began again to cut off the top
at the length we intended to have our boat, a task this which saved the
labour of chopping off the branches. I worked hard, and the labour was
made lighter by Uncle Dick's pleasant conversation. For he chatted
about savage and civilised man, and laughingly pointed out how the
latter had gone on improving.

"You see what slow laborious work this chipping with our axes is, Nat,"
he said one day, as we kept industriously on, "when by means of
cross-cut saws and a circular saw worked by steam this tree could be
soon reduced to thin boards ready for building our boat."

Birds came and perched near us, and some were very rare in kind, but we
felt that we must leave them alone so as to secure those we had
obtained, and we worked patiently on till at the end of a week the tree
began to wear outside somewhat the shape of a boat, and it was just
about the length we required.

It was terribly hard work, but we did not shrink, and at last, after
congratulating ourselves upon having got so far without being interfered
with by the savages, we had shouldered our guns and were walking back to
the hut one evening when we caught sight of a black figure running
across an opening, and we knew that our time of safety was at an end.

"It is what I have always feared, Nat," said my uncle quickly. "Quick;
put big-shot cartridges in your gun. We will not spill blood if we can
help it, but it is their lives or ours, and we must get safely back
home."

"What shall we do now?" I said huskily.

"Wait and see what the enemy mean to do, and--"

"Hi, yi, yi--Hi, yi, yi--Hi, yi, yi. Hey. Nat, mi boy. Ung-kul!" came
shrilly through the trees.

"Hooray!" I shrieked, leaping out of my hiding-place. "Ebo! Ebo! Hi,
yi, yi--Hi, yi, yi. Hooray!"

We ran to meet him, and he bounded towards us, leaping, dancing, rolling
on the ground, hugging us, and seeming half mad with delight as he
dragged us down to the sea-side, where a new surprise awaited us.

For there upon shore, with her anchor fixed in the sands, lay our boat
apparently quite uninjured.

As Ebo danced about and patted the boat and then himself, it was plain
enough to read the cause of his disappearance. He had gone off along
the shore following the savages to their village, and then watched his
opportunity to sail off. And this he had of course done, placing the
boat safely in its old moorings.

He made signs for something to ea