"Yes; I was coming to that. We were both hungry, and we wandered first along the seashore, and then finding nothing that would answer for food, went inland, and noticed all about us different kinds of vegetables, none of which we recognized, and finally some berries. We were so hungry that we ate and ate as fast as we could gather them, and felt much better for a time; but along in the afternoon, we heard voices, and soon a number of savages came in sight. We were paralyzed with fear. They were almost entirely naked, and what gave us the greatest fright was the appearance of a captive they were dragging along, with his hands bound behind him."
"Was it a white man?"
"We did not know it at the time, but we afterwards learned, as I will tell you, that he was a white man, and that he was taken over to the main camp to be offered up as a sacrifice."
"Did you recognize the particular tribe that had the captive?"
"Not at that time, because we did not know that each tribe had its own distinctive dress. But later on we learned which tribe it was."
The Professor drew up the mattress and brought out two different articles of headgear that had been taken four days before. "Do you recognize either of these?"
The boys started. "Yes; this belongs to the tribe that first captured us. See that row of shells, and this colored band. That is the principal distinguishing feature aside from the hair. This hair is a dark brown, and all of the tribe wear that kind because their bitterest enemies have that kind of hair, and they seem to take a delight in slaying an enemy solely for the purpose of getting the hair necessary to make up the head ornament with."
"I noticed that the hair of the people who are around us now is very black and curly."
"Yes; this other headdress is made principally from the hair of our enemies outside. Where did you get it?"
"We captured it," answered the Professor, "in one of the fights we had several days ago."