n nodding their beads, began
to talk together. They soon seemed to be agreed as to what we wanted,
and signing to us to remain quiet, one of them again crept cautiously
towards the monkeys, still frisking about within sight, while the other
sat down with Arthur and me. We eagerly watched the Indian. He first
selected an arrow, the point of which he scraped slightly and wetted.
Presently he placed his blow-pipe within the loop of a sipo.

"Why, he's going to kill one of the poor creatures after all!" exclaimed
Arthur.

"It looks very like it," I answered. "But we shall see."

The Indian waited for a few seconds, and then out flew his tiny dart
with a loud pop. One of the monkeys was hit. "Oh dear! oh dear!" cried
Arthur. "They could not have understood us." The monkey had been
struck when hanging to one of the lower branches; it fell before it had
time to save itself with its long tail, and the Indian instantly
springing forward, caught it, and pulled out the dart. He then took
something out of the bag hanging at his waist, and put it into its
mouth, which he kept closed to prevent it from spluttering it out. The
poor creature seemed so stunned or bewildered by its fall, and at
finding itself suddenly in the grasp of a strange being twenty times its
own size, that it made no resistance. The Indian brought it to us in
his arms, much as a nurse carries a baby, and showed us that it was not
much the worse for its wound. As we went along we observed that its
eyes, which were at first dim, had quickly recovered their brightness,
while its tail began to whisk about and coil itself round the native's
arm. We were at a loss to account for the wonderful way in which it had
so speedily recovered; nor did the Indians seem disposed to tell us
their secret.

"I should so like to carry the little creature, it seems already so tame
and gentle," said Arthur.

"You had better not take it from the Indian, or it may give you an ugly
bite, and be off and up a tree in a twinkling," I answered. "It has no
cause to love us as yet, at all events."

Arthur still insisting that he could carry the monkey, asked the Indian
to let him have it. The native shook his head, and signified that the
monkey would to a certainty escape if he did. At last, however, he and
his companion stopped, and fastened the creature's tail tightly to its
back, then they wound a quantity of fibre round its front paws, and
finally put a muzzle over it