-abused
us in the most violent manner. Of course, I don't know exactly what
their language meant, but I do know that they treated us shamefully, and
struck us from time to time. I gathered that they were jealous of the
attention shown to us by the big chief.

"We afterwards learnt that the island on which the terrible tragedy took
place was not really inhabited, but the blacks on the coast had, it
appeared, seen our boat far out at sea, and watched it until we landed
for water. They waited a little while in order to lull the crew into a
sense of fancied security, and then, without another moment's delay,
crossed over to the island and descended upon us.

"We passed a most wretched night. Never--never can I hope to describe
our awful feelings. We suffered intensely from the cold, being perfectly
naked. We were not, however, molested by any of our captors. But horror
was to be piled on horror's head, for the next day a party of the blacks
returned to the island and brought back the dead bodies of all the
murdered sailors. At first we wondered why they went to this trouble;
and when, at length, it dawned upon us that a great cannibal feast was in
preparation, I think we fainted away.

"We did not actually see the cooking operations, but the odour of burning
flesh was positively intolerable; and we saw women pass our little grass
shelters carrying some human arms and legs, which were doubtless their
own families' portions. I thought we should both have gone mad, but
notwithstanding this, we did keep our reason. Our position, however, was
so revolting and so ghastly, that we tried to put an end to our lives by
strangling ourselves with a rope made of plaited grass. But we were
prevented from carrying out our purpose by the women-folk, who thereafter
kept a strict watch over us. It seemed to me, so embarrassing were the
attentions of the women, that these pitiable but cruel creatures were
warned by the chief that, if anything befell us, they themselves would
get into dire trouble. All this time, I could not seem to think or
concentrate my mind on the events that had happened. I acted
mechanically, and I am absolutely certain that neither Gladys nor myself
realised our appalling position.

"In the meantime, it seems, a most sanguinary fight had taken place among
four of the principal blacks who had assisted in the attack upon our
sailors, the object of the fight being to decide who should take
possession of u