the villagers who
were on the mission with Muro. They were the heroes to their friends.
They knew their duty to their Chief, however, and the latter had a most
animated conversation with them, and particularly so after he had
noticed the array of trinkets which Muro had bestowed on them.

While this was going on the boats returned and bundles and packages were
brought out of the ship and deposited in the boats. After they had been
taken from the boats, John said: "With your permission I will take these
things to your house."

The Chief assented, and on his orders the men in the village gathered up
the assortment of gifts and the procession filed along the path to the
village.

The feast that evening reminded them of the welcome which the Chief
Beralsea extended to them the second night after their arrival at
Venture Island. Besides the clams referred to there was an abundance of
fish, several varieties, besides game and meats, and the only thing
which they seemed to lack, or which was rather meager in quantity, was
fruit.

Like all natives of these islands, they were experts at spitting the
meats. The most delicious was a species of ground hog, that the boys
frequently caught on Wonder Island. The boys had watched the method of
roasting these animals.

A strong green tapering stick, about four feet long was selected, and
the bark was peeled off, so as to give it a smooth surface. The small
end of this was sharpened, and driven through the animal, from end to
end, so that it was held firmly on the stick, midway between its ends.

[Illustration: _Fig. 5. Spitting the Roast._]

Two forked posts were then driven into the ground, about three feet
apart, and the stick laid in the forks. A fire of wood, previously built
between the posts was permitted to accumulate a quantity of coal, and
when a hot fire was thus generated, one of the natives would
continuously rotate the stick, so that the heat affected all sides
evenly, and the result would be the most tempting roast imaginable. This
is a practice common with savages all over the world, varying only in
the details of the preparations.

All the vegetables were roasted, in hot coals. In this respect their
custom was different from the practice followed in Venture Island, for
there they knew how to make stews. Here they knew nothing about pottery,
but like all islanders in the South Seas, the wrecks would, occasionally
cast cooking utensils, like pots, or pans, ashore