first come in sight,
went towards the spot where the canoe was concealed, and upon seeing its
condition, uttered an exclamation of surprise that quickly brought the
others around him, when they all commenced gesticulating, and talking in
a low key, looking cautiously about every moment, as though apprehensive
that the perpetrators of the mischief might still be lurking near.

The old man, however, neither talked nor gesticulated, but stooping
down, he examined the canoe narrowly, as if to ascertain the precise
extent of the injury done, and whether it admitted of any remedy. When
he had completed his inspection he arose, and shaking his head
sorrowfully, uttered some expression, which, accompanied as it was by a
threatening gesture with his ponderous club, sounded much like an
emphatic imprecation. Morton, who was crouching close beside me,
peering cautiously through the tufts of grass, at what was going on
below, gave a nervous start, as though the consciousness of the leading
part he had taken in the mischief so recently wrought, made him consider
himself the special object of the old giant's fury. One of them having
gone back a little way along the beach, as if to reconnoitre, now
returned in haste, and made some announcement, upon hearing which the
old man waved his hand, and the others immediately started off upon a
full run along the shore towards the south-west; he then followed them
at a somewhat less hurried pace.

"They are certainly pursued, judging from their actions," whispered
Morton, "let us keep quiet, and see what comes next."

But a few minutes had passed, when half a dozen savages, resembling in
their appearance and equipments those we had just seen, came in sight,
running at full speed, but with the air of pursuers rather than of
fugitives. Straggling bands of two or three each followed at short
intervals, all probably belonging to the same party, but scattered in
the heat of the chase. Altogether, there must have been as many as
fifteen or twenty of them. A tall, wild-looking savage, large-framed,
but gaunt as a greyhound, and with a kind of fierce energy in all his
movements, seemed to be the leader of the pursuing party. Just below us
on the beach, he turned and gave some order to a portion of his
followers, speaking with great rapidity, and pointing towards the bluff;
after which he darted off again along the shore at a speed that seemed
really marvellous. Those to whom he had spoken,