opposite side. `Now,' says Jack, `we won't go farther, but hide
here till the morning; then maybe, if we can climb to the top of a tree,
we shall be able to catch sight of the river and find out what the
pirates are doing.' I thought his idea a good one, so we sat down on
the ground and waited. We could hear no sounds, so we concluded that
all the poor people had been killed. We hoped, however, that the
warriors might come back and beat the pirates off. Not that we wished
to fall into the power of our old masters again, for they would have
kept us prisoners if they didn't lake it into their heads to kill us.

"At last the light returned, and seeing a tall tree near: Jack and I
climbed up to the top. Jack went first. `Hurrah!' he shouted; `there
go the pirates down the river, pulling away with all their oars out!'
Sure enough I saw them also. `But I say, Jack, perhaps the warriors
have come back and put them to flight; if so, we must take care not to
be caught by them.' I said, `I can see where the village stood, but I
don't see any people moving about.' `It's a long way, to be sure, so we
must be careful,' answered Jack. We soon got down the tree and returned
to our boat. The pirates hadn't discovered her, so we got on board, and
cautiously shoved out to the edge of the bushes, stopping just inside
them. We then took a look-out, but could discover no one moving on the
opposite shore, so we pulled across to the village. It was a fearful
sight we saw there. Bodies of old men, women, and children were
scattered about, but the heads were gone.

"We were in a hurry, you may be sure, to get away, but, says Jack, `It
won't do to put to sea without food or water.' So we hunted about, and
found in the bushes several baskets which the poor people had been
trying to carry off with food of all sorts, and some calabashes, which
we quickly filled at the spring where we were accustomed to get water.
We hurried with them back to the boat, and once more shoved off. We
then paddled away down the river. The current was running out, so that
we made good way, and were soon out of sight of the burnt village. Our
craft was not very well suited for a voyage, but anything was better
than stopping to be killed on shore. We pulled on until nearly noon
before we came in sight of the mouth of the river. There was no bar,
and the sea was smooth, so we resolved to pull out at once, in the hope
of being picked up by some passing