The savage who lay there grinning like a Cheshire cat, and peeping
through the long grass not ten feet from where the brother and sister
sat, was a huge man, tattooed all over, so that his face resembled
carved mahogany, his most prominent feature being a great flat nose,
with a blue spot on the point of it.

Suddenly Otto caught sight of the glitter of this man's eyes and teeth.

Now, the power of self-restraint was a prominent feature in Otto's
character, at least in circumstances of danger, though in the matter of
fun and mischief he was rather weak. No sign did Otto give of his
discovery, although his heart seemed to jump into his mouth. He did not
even check or alter the tone of his conversation, but he changed the
subject with surprising abruptness. He had brought up one of the
dinghy's oars on his shoulder as a sort of plaything or vaulting-pole.
Suddenly, asking Pauline if she had ever seen him balance an oar on his
chin, he proceeded to perform the feat, much to her amusement. In doing
so he turned his back completely on the savage in ambush, whose cattish
grin increased as the boy staggered about.

But there was purpose in Otto's staggering. He gradually lessened the
distance between himself and the savage. When near enough for his
purpose, he grasped the oar with both hands, wheeled sharply round, and
brought the heavy handle of it down with such a whack on the bridge of
the savage's blue-spotted nose that he suddenly ceased to grin, and
dropped his proboscis in the dust!

At the same instant, to the horror and surprise of the brother and
sister, up sprang half a dozen hideous natives, who seized them, placed
their black hands on their mouths, and bore them swiftly away. The
war-canoe, putting off from its concealment, received the party along
with the fallen leader, and made for the reef.

High on the cliffs of Big Island Dr John Marsh had been smilingly
watching the proceedings of the queen and her brother in the dinghy.
When he witnessed the last act of the play, however, the smile vanished.
With a bound that would have done credit to a kangaroo, and a roar that
would have shamed a lion, he sprang over the cliffs, ran towards the
beach, and was followed--yelling--by all the men at hand--some armed,
and some not. They leaped into the largest boat on the shore, put out
the ten oars, bent to them with a will, and skimmed over the lagoon in
fierce pursuit.

Soon the savages gained the reef, c