“Man—kill—gone,” repeated Ebo, shaking his spear angrily, and then he kept repeating the word Owé—boat, as we went down to the shore.
“Let’s see if they have left anything in the hut, Nat,” said my uncle. “We must have food even if we are stripped.”
We turned through the bushes and made our way into the little arbour-like spot beside the stream where Ebo had built our hut beneath a splendid tree, when, to our utter astonishment, we found that the savages had not seen our little home, but had caught sight of the boat, landed and carried it off, without attempting to look for its owners. No one had been there since we left, that was evident; and pleased as we were, our delight was more than equalled by Ebo’s, for laying down our specimens, this time more carefully, he refreshed himself with a dance before lighting a fire, where a capital meal was prepared, which we thankfully enjoyed as we thought of the benefits we received by having the forethought to carry everything out of the boat and placing it under cover for fear of rain.
The savages then had taken nothing but our boat, and the next thing was to set to work to construct another, for my uncle said he should not feel satisfied to stay where we were longer, without some means of retreat being ready for an emergency.
Before lying down we managed to ask Ebo what he thought of our being able to build a canoe that would carry us and our luxuries. For reply he laughed, pointed to our axes and to the trees, as if to say, What a foolish question when we have all the material here!
I was so wearied, and slept so heavily, that I had to be awakened by my uncle long after the sun was up.
“Come, Nat,” he said, “I want you to make a fire. Ebo has gone off somewhere.”
I made the fire, after which we had a hasty breakfast, and then worked hard at skin making—preserving all our specimens.
The day glided by, but Ebo did not come, and feeling no disposition to collect more, in fact not caring now to fire, we had a look round to see which would be the most likely place to cut down a tree and begin building a boat.
“It is lucky for us, Nat,” said my uncle, “that Ebo belongs to a nation of boat-builders. Perhaps he has gone to search for a suitable place and the kind of wood he thinks best; but I wish he would come.”