e was a sleeping-room. Round the walls were
arranged shelves, on one of which were a considerable number of books,
with a variety of other articles. In one corner was a pile of nets and
harpoons, and some spears and other weapons for the chase; in another
stood an Indian mill for grinding flour, and several jars and other
articles, apparently for preparing or preserving food. Against the
walls stood several chests. Though the table was large enough for the
whole of us to sit round it, yet there was but one stool, showing that
our host, as he had told us, was unaccustomed to receive guests. He,
however, pulled the chests forward, and by placing some boards between
them, we all found seats.

"If you have not brought provisions, I will supply you while you stay
with me," he observed; "but my own consumption is so small that I have
but a limited amount to offer you."

"We would not willingly deprive you of that, sir," said John; "and we
have enough to last us till we can supply ourselves with more."

"That is fortunate," remarked the recluse. "While your servant gets it
ready, I will prepare my room for the young lady and her attendant. I
have no cooking-place under shelter, and while the rain is pouring down,
as it will begin to do presently, a fire cannot be lighted outside. You
must therefore be content with a cold repast."

While the recluse--so I may call him--was absent, we for the first time
had an opportunity of asking Ellen what had occurred to drive her and
her attendants away from the camp.

"I was indeed unwilling to do so," she said, "till urged by Domingos.
He had gone to shoot at a short distance from the hut, when he came
hurrying back with a look of alarm, and told me that he had caught sight
of some savages making their way through the forest. He insisted that
they were trying to find us out, and that our only hope of safety was by
instant flight. I pleaded that you would come back, and finding us
gone, would fancy we had been carried off or killed. He argued that on
your return, finding the raft gone, you would know we had embarked on
it. At length he agreed, that if we would assist to carry the goods
down to the raft he would again search round the camp, and should the
natives appear to be going in a different direction, we might carry them
back again. He had not gone long, when he returned with dismay on his
countenance, asserting that they were coming towards us, and that if we
did no