rmed with a
bow, a quiver full of arrows, and a most formidable-looking war club,
the head of which was thickly studded with bone spikes, and which
promised to be terribly effective at close quarters--the latter being a
quite recent addition to their armoury invented by Bowata's son, whose
imagination had at last been stimulated by the persistent attacks of the
apes.

The return passage to Eden--half of which was a dead beat to windward,
with the boat loaded to her utmost capacity--occupied so long a time
that I was in a perfect fever of anxiety lest the junk should arrive
before us; but upon rounding the south-east point of Cliff Island I was
somewhat relieved to see that she had, so far, not entered the lagoon,
nor did I see any sign of her during the remainder of the passage; for,
low down in the water as we were, the spray of the surf breaking upon
the reef effectually veiled from our view everything outside.

There was still no sign of the junk when at length the boat entered the
little cove that was our usual landing-place, and grounded on the beach.
Ten minutes later we surmounted the crest of the ridge, on the far side
of which stood the bungalow, and I once more got a view of the open sea
outside, over the curtain of everlasting spray that had obstructed my
view from the boat. The junk was visible, clearly enough, hove-to at a
distance of about a mile to windward of the reef; and I hurried to the
house for the telescope, that I might obtain a nearer view of what was
happening aboard her. Seizing the telescope I proceeded to the veranda,
from which I brought the instrument to bear upon the craft.

I now saw that she had lowered a boat that, manned by a crew of five,
was heading for the opening in the reef immediately opposite our island.
This boat I watched, keeping the telescope bearing upon her as she
alternately topped and disappeared behind the long ridges of swell,
until at length she passed through the opening and entered the lagoon.
Once through the reef, she headed straight for Eden, and it looked as
though the men in her contemplated landing on the beach at the foot of
the slope upon which the bungalow was built; whereupon I thought it well
to hoist the brigantine's ensign upon the flagstaff I had set up in
front of the bungalow, as a hint to the intruders that the island was
British territory, and that its inhabitants expected that territory to
be respected.

The boat, approaching cautiously, at