Van caused their horses to lie down on the logs, and then all hands dropped from sight behind the timbers that had been piled up for that purpose.
A crowd of the natives were already at the edge of the water, and by their actions they seemed to be in a great state of excitement.
As our friends rapidly neared them, a shout went up from the crowd, and they proceeded to push off a number of canoes.
The next minute fully a dozen were making for the raft.
The natives were armed with spears and ugly-looking knives, so our friends thought it best not to allow them to land upon the raft.
As the foremost canoe neared them, Jack Howard fired a shot from his rifle, taking a lock of hair from the head of one of the men.
In an instant a wild howl went up from the occupants of the canoes and those on the shore.
The rifle shot was evidently too much for them to understand, since they were unable to see our friends.
The canoes put back for shore with all possible speed.
"I guess they won't trouble us much," remarked our hero. "But I believe we are drifting into danger, for all that."