ed skin of some wild animal, and fastened it on
him like a cloak; and this he was compelled to wear with shame and
grief, feeling very strange and uncomfortable in it. But the feeling
of discomfort in that new savage dress was nothing to the sense of
injury that stung him, and in his secret heart he was determined not
to lose his own clothes.

When the children went out next day he followed them, watching and
waiting for a chance to recover anything that belonged to him; and
at last, seeing the little boy who wore his cap off his guard, he
made a sudden rush, and snatching it off the young savage's head,
put it firmly upon his own. But the little savage now regarded that
cap as his very own: he had taken it by force or stratagem, and had
worn it on his head since the day before, and that made it his
property; and so at Martin he went, and they fought stoutly together,
and being nearly of a size, he could not conquer the little white boy.
Then he cried out to the others to help him, and they came and
overthrew Martin, and deprived him not only of his cap, but of his
little skin cloak as well, and then punished him until he screamed
aloud with pain. Leaving him crying on the ground, they ran back to
the camp. He followed shortly afterwards, but got no sympathy, for,
as a rule, grown-up savages do not trouble themselves very much about
these little matters: they leave their children to settle their own
disputes.

During the rest of that day Martin sulked by himself behind a great
tussock of grass, refusing to eat with the others, and when one of
the women went to him and offered him a piece of meat he struck it
vindictively out of her hand. She only laughed a little and left him.

Now when the sun was setting, and he was beginning to feel very cold
and miserable in his nakedness, the men were seen returning from the
hunt; but instead of riding slowly to the camp as on other days,
they came riding furiously and shouting. The moment they were seen
and their shouts heard the women jumped up and began hastily packing
the skins and all their belongings into bundles; and in less than
ten minutes the whole company was mounted on horseback and ready for
flight. One of the men picked Martin up and placed him on the
horse's back before him, and then they all started at a swift canter
up the valley towards that great blue forest in the distance.

In about an hour they came to it: it was then quite dark, the sky
powdered with num