“Then you are not a savage?”
“Now do I look like one?” cried the man indignantly.
“Of course; I forgot—I’m an Englishman on a visit to the country, and I’ve adopted their customs, sir—that’s all.”
“Oh, I see,” said the lieutenant, laughing; “ornaments and all.”
“May they come aboard, sir?”
“Oh, yes; if they leave their arms.”
The man communicated this to the occupants of the boat, and there was a good deal of excited conversation for a time.
“That fellow’s a runaway convict for certain, sir,” said the lieutenant. “Shall we get him aboard, and keep him?”
“No. Let him be. Perhaps he will prove very useful.”
“The chiefs say it isn’t fair to ask them to come without their arms,” said the tattooed Englishman. “How are they to know that you will not be treacherous?”