he Aryk village. I roused
them to kill you before you could pass above the rapids, but we were
able to slay only one of them."

"And it was a sad mistake that you did that; for he was a good man, who
wished you no evil. Where are Waggaman and Burkhardt?"

The native shook his head. He had picked up his spear, but made no
movement toward taking his departure. Ashman hoped he would not, for
everything said not only convinced him of the first importance of
gaining the fellow's confidence, but encouraged him in the belief that
he was fast doing so. He resolved to leave no stone unturned looking
to that end.

"Why did not your two white friends help you in the fight, to keep us
from going further up the Xingu?"

"_Maybe they did_," replied Ziffak, with a significant glance up
stream, which left no doubt that he referred to the conflict that had
taken place there while the couple were talking on the margin of the
river.

"I don't believe it," Ashman hastened to say, hopeful that such was the
case; for, with two white men and their firearms, the peril of his
friends must have been greatly increased.

"Why do you seek to enter our country?" asked the dusky giant, after a
brief pause.

"We want to learn about your people; but I pledge you we wish not to
harm a hair of their heads."

It was not to be expected that a savage who has heard nothing else for
years except that any penetration of his territory by white men meant
destruction, could give up that belief simply on the pledge of one of
the race accused.

But it was equally clear that this particular savage was favorably
disposed toward Ashman. It may have been that his good will was won by
the neat manner in which he had got the best of Ziffak, the most
terrible warrior ever produced by that people. A brave man respects
another brave man.

"Why did Waggaman and Burkhardt visit your villages and make their home
with you for so many years?"

"I do not know," replied Ziffak, with another shake of his head; "but
they have proven they are friends. They do not want to go back to
their people, who are all bad."

The thought occurred to Ashman, though he did not express it, that the
strange white men were criminals. They may have escaped from the
diamond mines, which were at no great distance, and naturally preferred
the free, wild life of the interior to the labor and tyranny which the
miserable wretches condemned to service in those regions undergo.

"Z