“Of course not!” was the reply. “I didn’t come out to shoot fish!”
“And I left mine at the camp, too!” Jimmie complained. “I’ll never do it again!”
“Well, let’s make a start and see what comes of it!” suggested Carl.
As the boys moved away the savages, men of medium height but apparently very strong and supple, lifted naked arms in gestures which commanded them to remain where they were.
“I wonder if they’ve got guns?” questioned Jimmie.
“They’ve got little short spears!” answered Carl. “I saw one in that fellow’s hand.”
“And I suppose they’re poisoned, too!” Jimmie asserted.
The two savages now advanced from the thicket and stood threateningly before the two boys. Except for breech-clouts, which seemed to be woven of some sort of fiber, the men were naked. In color they were almost as dark as the negro of Africa. Their features seemed to be a cross between the tribes of Asia and Africa. They were armed with short spears which they flourished with many hostile gestures.
“Good-evening!” Jimmie said.
The savages conversed together in a dialect which seemed to the boys to resemble a confidential conversation between two hogs, and then pointed down the river.