ty, and returned to the boat, I found that during our absence
somebody--presumably my recent host--had sent down several baskets
containing green heads of indian corn, sugar-cane, and fruit, which we
took back with us to Eden; I for my part feeling well satisfied with the
result of my visit.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

A RAID BY THE APES.

Having thus successfully established friendly relations with the natives
I determined to maintain them, and, with this object, made frequent
calls upon the chief, who was most anxious to display the increasing
skill of himself and his subordinates in the use of the bow. And indeed
the progress made was exceedingly creditable, and quite sufficient to
enable them to put up a good defence against the apes which, I with some
difficulty gathered, were prone to swim across the channel, from time to
time, for the purpose of plundering the natives' fields and orchards.
But, if I understood my new friends aright, these raids, though not
perhaps very frequent, were occasionally of a far more formidable and
disastrous character than I had thus far imagined, not infrequently
resulting in a quite serious loss of life on the part of those natives
who were courageous enough to defend their possessions. I accordingly
decided to make and present to the plucky blacks twelve more bows, with
a sufficient supply of arrows to enable them to resist successfully the
incursions of their formidable enemies.

The work of procuring the materials necessary for the manufacture of
those weapons, and the making of them, together with the performance of
sundry odd jobs in the garden, kept me busy for nearly a month, during
which I was afforded ample opportunity to note the progress which Billy
was making in the domestication of his cat. The beast was growing fast,
and it was also developing certain markings which tended to confirm my
original suspicion that it was some species of leopard, or panther, a
circumstance that not only occasioned me considerable uneasiness but
also led me to impart my fears to Billy, and even to hint tentatively at
the advisability of shooting the creature before the full development of
its natural proclivities should render it actually dangerous. But Billy
indignantly scouted the suggestion that his pet could possibly develop
dangerous tendencies, directing my attention to the affection which it
displayed for both of us; and I was compelled to admit that, so far, his
contention was sound