ained concealed at
a distance of forty or fifty yards apart, lest she should be missed.
Two of the savages, armed with blow-pipes, were near the border of the
forest on the side nearest to the village, and one of them, observing a
motion in the foliage of a tree, ran swiftly and cautiously towards it
to try and catch a glimpse of the enemy. And he did see her no doubt, as
she was there watching both him and his companions, and blew an arrow at
her, but even while in the act of blowing it he was himself struck by
a dart that buried itself deep in his flesh just over the heart. He
ran some distance with the fatal barbed point in his flesh and met his
comrade, who had mistaken him for the girl and shot him. The wounded man
threw himself down to die, and dying related that he had fired at the
girl sitting up in a tree and that she had caught the arrow in her hand
only to hurl it instantly back with such force and precision that it
pierced his flesh just over the heart. He had seen it all with his own
eyes, and his friend who had accidentally slain him believed his story
and repeated it to the others. Rima had seen one Indian shoot the other,
and when she told her grandfather he explained to her that it was an
accident, but he guessed why the arrow had been fired.

From that day the Indians hunted no more in the wood; and at length one
day Nuflo, meeting an Indian who did not know him and with whom he had
some talk, heard the strange story of the arrow, and that the mysterious
girl who could not be shot was the offspring of an old man and a Didi
who had become enamoured of him; that, growing tired of her consort, the
Didi had returned to her river, leaving her half-human child to play her
malicious pranks in the wood.

This, then, was Nuflo's story, told not in Nuflo's manner, which was
infinitely prolix; and think not that it failed to move me--that I
failed to bless him for what he had done, in spite of his selfish
motives.

CHAPTER XVI

We were eighteen days travelling to Riolama, on the last two making
little progress, on account of continuous rain, which made us miserable
beyond description. Fortunately the dogs had found, and Nuflo had
succeeded in killing, a great ant-eater, so that we were well supplied
with excellent, strength-giving flesh. We were among the Riolama
mountains at last, and Rima kept with us, apparently expecting great
things. I expected nothing, for reasons to be stated by and by. My
belief