ed at it and came
to realize more and more its marvellous power and energy. He had been
seated there for about an hour, when, without the slightest warning that
anyone was near him, he received a sudden blow on the head that rolled him
over unconscious. When he recovered his senses he found himself in the
bottom of a small canoe paddled by three Indians.

Overhead he could see the branches of trees, and knew from this that they
were following the bank of the river. Presently, to his surprise, they
turned sharply off, and were at once in the gloom of the forest. They
paddled for an hour, and then tied up the canoe to a tree. One of them lit
a torch at the fire that smouldered on a flat stone, and the three
gathered round it. Stephen could see that they were closely examining his
rifle, pistols, watch, and money. Few remarks were made, but Stephen
gathered from the tone that they were well satisfied with the capture.

"I have fallen into bad hands this time," he said to himself. "There is no
doubt about their being stranger Indians. I can understand my arms being
regarded by them as a most valuable capture, but why they did not finish
me at once, instead, of taking me away with them, is more than I can
understand, unless it be that they are cannibals."

After examining his bonds and assuring themselves that they were tight,
the Indians lay down to sleep, but in the morning continued their journey
as soon as daylight broke. From the absence of undergrowth and of lianas
stretching from tree to tree anywhere low down, Stephen came to the
conclusion that they were following what was in the dry season a track
through the forest. The Indians were quite young men, and laughed and
talked without any of the gravity that distinguished the older men among
the natives. For some hours they paddled on, then their progress was
stopped by a deep tangle of creepers stretching from tree to tree across
their way. There was an exclamation of surprise and, as Stephen thought,
of apprehension; they began to talk rapidly and eagerly together, one
pointing in one direction and another in quite an opposite one.

"They have lost the path," he said to himself, "perhaps they took the
wrong turn at starting."

The argument between them was an animated one, until one pointed to a ray
of sunlight that penetrated the foliage and fell on the trunk of a tree
near the water's level. All looked surprised and even graver than before.
The head of the cano