"The Karapoona savages on the war-path," replied Dick.
"What! The Karapoonas! A fearful race, and cannibals to boot--"
"You know them then?"
"What, I? I--I--no--no, only what I have heard."
He took three or four whiffs of his cigarette in quick succession, as if afraid of its going dead.
But Dick's eye was on him all the time.
He seemed not to care to meet it.
"Bound for Pará, no doubt," he said at last. "I do wish I were on board."
"No doubt, Mr. Peter, and really we seem to be taking you on this expedition somewhat against your will?"
"True; and I am a man of the world, and have not failed to notice that I am in some measure under the ban of suspicion.