All of the party assembled on deck to see what would happen.
One of the older trio in the canoe stood erect and surveyed the company with expressionless, stolid gaze. Finally he spoke.
“Who doctor?” he asked. They pointed to Jack.
The man nodded, beckoned to Jack. The latter climbed, in his neat, borrowed clothes, into the canoe.
Then the trio waited. “They want the presents,” Bill suggested and he and Tom hurried to secure more gifts with which, if possible, to win the good will of the chief.
When they returned, instead of taking the gifts, the men beckoned and gestured for them to descend into the canoe, and so it was that Tom, Bill and Jack were taken to the island while the others, with what patience they could, mastered their disappointment and waited.
Noon came, and no one returned. Afternoon wore on and still nothing happened, no canoe put off from shore.
Just before dusk the fleet of canoes carrying the women who did the washing, prepared the food and other things on the mainland, came home; still the trio did not return to the cruiser. Cliff and Nicky did not voice their worry for they saw the uneasiness in Mr. Gray’s expression and did not wish to add to his concern.
Just before dark the canoe returned. Tom had hardly gotten on deck with his two companions and the canoe disappeared in the dusk when Nicky and Cliff demanded an explanation.
“Well,” Tom started his explanation, “I don’t think it looks very good. They took us to shore, and the island is fairly packed with the huts they live in, and there is a big, sort of open, hut in the middle, and they took us there.”