lumber, for when he awoke
the sun was shining almost directly over him, showing that the day was
well advanced. He stood up, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and decided
he would like a drink of water. From where he stood he could see
several little brooks following winding paths through the forest, so he
settled upon one that seemed farthest from the brushwood villages, and
turning his indicator in that direction soon floated through the air to
a sheltered spot upon the bank.

Kneeling down, he enjoyed a long, refreshing drink of the clear water,
but as he started to regain his feet a coil of rope was suddenly thrown
about him, pinning his arms to his sides and rendering him absolutely
helpless.

At the same time his ears were saluted with a wild chattering in an
unknown tongue, and he found himself surrounded by a group of natives
of hideous appearance. They were nearly naked, and bore spears and
heavy clubs as their only weapons. Their hair was long, curly, and
thick as bushes, and through their noses and ears were stuck the teeth
of sharks and curious metal ornaments.

These creatures had stolen upon Rob so quietly that he had not heard a
sound, but now they jabbered loudly, as if much excited.

Finally one fat and somewhat aged native, who seemed to be a chief,
came close to Rob and said, in broken English:

"How get here?"

"I flew," said the boy, with a grin.

The chief shook his head, saying:

"No boat come. How white man come?"

"Through the air," replied Rob, who was rather flattered at being
called a "man."

The chief looked into the air with a puzzled expression and shook his
head again.

"White man lie," he said calmly.

Then he held further conversation with his fellows, after which he
turned to Rob and announced:

"Me see white man many times. Come in big boats. White man all bad.
Make kill with bang-sticks. We kill white man with club. Then we eat
white man. Dead white man good. Live white man bad!"

This did not please Rob at all. The idea of being eaten by savages had
never occurred to him as a sequel to his adventures. So he said rather
anxiously to the chief.

"Look here, old fellow; do you want to die?"

"Me no die. You die," was the reply.

"You'll die, too, if you eat me," said Rob. "I'm full of poison."

"Poison? Don't know poison," returned the chief, much perplexed to
understand him.

"Well, poison will make you sick--awful sick. Then you'll die. I'm
f