I asked.

"Why, they shut me up, and would not let me out till I promised to be
good."

"Then you really think we are prisoners here!" I exclaimed.

"Indeed I do," he answered. "I did not mention it before, because there
is a good deal in the fancy of the thing. When you thought that you
were waiting for a vessel to carry you off, you were content; now that
you discover that you are likely to be detained by force, you grow
indignant."

"It will never do to remain here," I said. "We must forthwith find some
means of escaping."

"I have been considering the same subject very seriously, I can assure
you," said Blount in a cheerful voice. "In the meantime let us make
ourselves as comfortable as we can--I always do; I never heard of any
man gaining anything by fretting."

My friend's reasoning was so sound that I could not but agree with him.
We found the chiefs and the people very civil, and the women seemed very
much inclined to be kind to Eva.

"Come," said Blount, one evening as we sat talking in the cottage;
"there is to be a dance at the house of the chief in honour of the
victory. It is worth seeing, and will amuse you and your sister, if she
is prepared for a little shrieking and brandishing of swords."

We both agreed, and following him, walked to the house of the chief, at
the farther end of the kampong. We entered a large room, with seats
arranged round it, and lighted up with dama torches. We had places
reserved near the chief; and the room soon began to fill, till it was
crowded with eager spectators. There were musicians ready, who played
on the _tom-tom_, or drum, and the gong, which they beat either slow or
fast, according to the measure of the dance.

The people were dressed, it must be remembered, in their gayest
costume--in scarlet jackets, in coats of shell armour, with cloaks of
skin, and caps of feathers, or turbans of gay-coloured native cloth,
their spears being in their hands, and their swords, with ornamented
handles, by their sides. The dancers, however, outshone them all in the
gayness of their costume.

The first dance performed was called the _Mancha_, or sword dance. Two
swords were placed on a mat in the centre of the room. The music began
to play very slowly, and two men advanced from opposite sides in time,
now bending the body, now turning round to watch and listen, now lifting
one leg, now the other, then the arms, in grotesque but not ungraceful
attitudes. One t