d leaped to
their feet. Well might they be alarmed, for close by were a party
of some twenty Indians who had, quietly and unperceived, come down
upon them. They were standing immovable, and their attitude did not
betoken hostility. Their eyes were fixed upon them, but their
expression betrayed wonder, rather than enmity.

"Lay down your spear again, Tom," Ned said. "Let us receive them as
friends."

Dropping their spears, the lads advanced a pace or two, holding out
their hands in token of amity. Then slowly, step by step, the
Indians advanced.

"They look almost frightened," Ned said. "What can they be staring
so fixedly at?"

"It is the fire!" Ned exclaimed. "It is the fire! I do believe they
have never seen a fire before."

It was so, as Sir Francis Drake afterwards discovered when landing
on the coast. The Patagonian Indians, at that time, were wholly
unacquainted with fire.

When the Indians came down, they looked from the fire to the boys,
and perceived for the first time that they were creatures of
another color from themselves. Then, simultaneously, they threw
themselves on their faces.

"They believe that we are gods, or superior beings of some kind,"
Ned said. "They have clearly never heard of the Spaniards. What
good fortune for us! Now, let us reassure them."

So saying, he stooped over the prostrate Indians, patted them on
the head and shoulders; and, after some trouble, he succeeded in
getting them to rise. Then he motioned them to sit down round the
fire, put on some more meat and, when this was cooked, offered a
piece to each, Tom and himself setting the example of eating it.

The astonishment of the natives was great. Many of them, with a
cry, dropped the meat on finding it hot; and an excited talk went
on between them. Presently, however, the man who appeared to be the
chief set the example of carefully tasting a piece. He gave an
exclamation of satisfaction, and soon all were engaged upon the
food.

When they had finished, Ned threw some more sticks on the fire, and
as these burst into flames and then consumed away, the amazement of
the natives was intense. Ned then made signs to them to pull up
some bushes, and cast on the fire. They all set to work with
energy, and soon a huge pile was raised on the fire. At first great
volumes of white smoke only poured up, then the leaves crackled,
and presently a tongue of flame shot up, rising higher and higher,
till a great bonfire blazed away,