His fate would be sealed, and that night or next morning the savages would have a bukalo feast.
They came from a distant isle, and were a fierce, implacable tribe called the Wah-Poolas.
Our boys were soon at the king’s house, where luckily they found Antonio.
Instant action must be taken; so all hands were summoned, and the king’s best soldiers, in two hours’ time, were ready for the war-path.
It was determined that they should attack the invaders from the woods, while Antonio’s armed boats, with riflemen and war-rockets, should sweep round the point and attack them from the sea.
As for poor, unfortunate Johnnie Smart, with his innocent ways and fat laughing face, his doom would soon be sealed.
In fact these Wah-Poola cannibals would have him for supper, garnished with the fragrant leaves of a kind of bay-tree plentifully to be found in the forest.
Everything was well managed and well timed. Mlada the king, armed with his terrible spear, was to conduct the land forces, and the attack would be made simultaneously, the signal being the firing of a gun from the boats.
By twelve o’clock the forces were on the move towards the sea, and at one the awful conflict began.
But shortly after rounding a green promontory, the five well-armed boats of the Zingara came upon a dreadful scene.