rning to the wider spaces of Eden by starting off at
full gallop the moment his pads touched the sand, rushing out of sight
and appearing no more until we reached the house, where we discovered
the beggar squatted on the top steps of the veranda awaiting our
arrival.

On the following morning, after breakfast, Billy and I got the boat
under way and, with the punt in tow, sailed for Cliff Island. Running
the boat in on the beach, we were quickly joined by Bowata, who informed
us that four days earlier the apes, to the number of nine, had attempted
another raid which, he proudly added, had been successfully repulsed,
but at the expense of many lost arrows; and he hinted pretty broadly
that a further gift of those very useful missiles would be highly
appreciated. Whereupon I informed him that I intended to do even better
than continue to furnish him and his people with bows and arrows--I was
going to present them with means whereby they might procure the
materials wherewith to make for themselves as many of those weapons as
they pleased; and therewith I led him down to the beach and directed his
attention to the punt.

Bowata looked at the craft and grunted his approval of her; but it was
evident that he had not the remotest notion of how she was to be the
means of providing him with bows and arrows; so, casting off her
painter, Billy and I stepped into her and, paddling along close to the
beach, showed the savage in a very practical manner how to handle her.
Next, landing Billy and taking Bowata into the punt with me, I handed
him a paddle, and, first directing his attention to the manner in which
I manipulated my own, invited him to try his hand. He proved an apt
pupil, and within the hour was able to manoeuvre the punt single-handed.
Then, beaching the punt and securing her to a stake firmly driven into
the beach, I invited Bowata and his son to enter the sailing boat,
informing them that, having given them the means to navigate the
channels, I now proposed to show them where to obtain the wherewithal
from which to make as many bows and arrows as they desired.

The pair entered the boat with a distinct suggestion of trepidation;
they could understand the punt, apparently, but they had evidently not
yet grasped the fact that it was the wind that endowed the boat with
mobility, and they seemed to regard her with distrust, as a magical
craft that might as likely as not fly away with them, never to return.
They were u