At this information the Chief told Tarra that he lied, and that he had been taken for the purpose of being sacrificed. He was assured that such was not the case, as they did not believe in sacrificing human beings.
The Chief then demanded that they leave the island at once, or they would kill all of them. Tarra laughed at this announcement, and his demeanor was such as to astound the natives. "You do not know what you say," said Tarra. "The white people who are with us have fire guns, which kill when they speak," and he held up one of them, and the boys were amused to see how quickly they began to waver and look about for shelter.
"We have not come here to injure you," said Tarra. "We want to be friends."
This appeal did not affect the Chief, but seeing his men disappear he silently withdrew to the north. They had scarcely gone before Uraso and his men appeared in the tall grass beyond, and were most heartily welcomed by the boys.
Uraso laughed as he related their experience. He said that the band came up, after John and the party left, and in order to make as big a showing as possible he and his companions hid in the grass, being separated from each other twenty feet or more, thus making a line over a hundred feet in length.
The savages did not know that the entire line was occupied only by seven men. To all appearances the waving of the grass at the different points along the line, indicated to them the presence of a large force. As a result they started for the east, instead of going to the south, as Uraso had calculated they would do, and which indeed they would have done had they not heard the peculiar savage-made signals of the party which was hunting Muro.
The movement of the band in that direction drove them directly toward the watchers who had been left behind by John, and for them to meet a second party, immediately after they left Uraso, must have been a most astonishing thing to them.
But the savages were still more confounded, when, after leaving the boys, they learned from the signals that a third party (the one with John), was still further to the east.
The first evidence the boys had, that the last party had reached the main band of savages, was the re[p. 33]currence of the same peculiar sounds that were heard during the night.