know there were
cannibals on the island?

"When did you learn that?" asked Harry.

"Yesterday," was his reply.

"What did you find that makes you believe that?"

"I discovered a bone which was once part of a human body."

"But how would that be any indication that the people here are
cannibals?"

"When you see a bone that has on it the unmistakable markings of human
teeth, it is pretty safe to infer that the animal which scratched the
bone was a cannibal."

From the report of Muro it was evident that there was a large number of
people on the island, and, if Muro's observations were correct, they now
had some captives, or, at least, were preparing to celebrate a feast in
which human beings were to be the victims.

"That satisfies me of one thing," said Harry.

"And what is that?" asked John.

"Why, that there must be other tribes on the island," he answered.

"Why do you infer that?"

"Well, where would they get the victims?"

"From their own people," answered John.

"What! eat their own people?" asked George.

"That is not at all strange. Many people are known to sacrifice their
own, and among the most degraded, they are known to kill and eat their
own."

"That is the first time I have heard of such a thing."

"Don't you remember that the Bible tells about Abraham about to offer up
his own son as a sacrifice?"

"Yes; but not to eat him."

"Of course not; but it is not an uncommon thing for tribes in Africa to
sell their own children for this purpose. One of the greatest
sacrificial rites of the ancient Mexicans, was to offer up the most
handsome youth each year, as a propitiation to the gods."

"So they do not always depend on their enemies to furnish the feast?"

"By no means. Many of the tribes have a superstition that if they eat a
brave enemy it will impart to them his spirit of valor, and the fact
that they are to have sacrifices here does not mean that there are
various tribes on the island; but that is something we shall have to
investigate. It is my opinion that we shall find other tribes, but that,
I am inclined to think, depends upon the size of the island."

* * * * *

The preceding volume, "Adventures Among Strange Islands," states the
conditions under which the two boys, Harry and George, found themselves
on a strange island, in the southern Pacific. Accompanying them were
John L. Varney, and about sixty natives from Wonder Island, together
with