I nodded acquiescence when Mr Ferguson, who had overheard Jack, spoke:
“They certainly do not look very peacefully inclined, yet we ought not to judge them from what we see of them now.”
“I can say, for myself, Sir,” put in Jack, “that I don’t care to see them again. So rather let my verdict stand.”
“No doubt,” laughed the missionary, “yet the ceremony to me seems a harmless one. I fancy it is a rejoicing after a successful hunting expedition. Look yonder how thickly the game lies.”
“By that little fat man,” said Jack. “Lor’! what a sight of good things he must have eaten to have reached such a girth.”
“What do you say, Thompson,” laughed Mr Ferguson, “shall we make a descent on them, or no?”
There was a most eloquent silence on Jack’s part, whereupon the missionary turned to me—
“Well, Galbraith, what do you say? With the few resources we have here, starvation may soon be our lot, if we are not previously devoured by some of the fierce denizens of the bush.”
“That is true, Sir,” I replied, “and I have no desire for either one nor the other. If I had but a rifle and a few rounds of powder and ball, I would not fear, Crusoe-like, living on these shores, despite the animals and those black dancers, till I could hail a ship; but the ocean is not so kind to us as to him, and has not cast up chests containing just the things we want. Still, as to joining those gentlemen in undress below there, I confess I am rather of Jack’s opinion, for those frantic movements with the spear, and demoniacal yells scarcely look friendly.”
“You are probably right, Galbraith; yet were I alone it would be my duty as a true soldier of my Master’s cross to go among them, and try to sow in these ignorant minds the seeds of His Word, and so I would do, only I will not lead others into the danger I would run myself, for if I have not read the disposition of you two wrongly, were I to go you would follow.”