there before.

"But if your fire should go out you would not know how to light it
again," I argued.

"I will take care that it does not go out," answered Ackbau.

The cooking also which I had taught them was easily performed by
certain members of the tribe told off for that purpose, and I noticed
that much secrecy was observed in the preparation of food. This secret
was revealed to me in a startling manner when I unexpectedly came upon
Ackbau and some members of the council seated together enjoying a stew
of what I could see was human flesh. For, indeed, what else could it
be, seeing there were no animals upon the island? I mastered my horror
as well as I could, for I was now in great dread of these savages, who,
since they had acquired the taste for meat, appeared to have become far
more ferocious and cruel than before resorting to the dreadful practice
of cannibalism. My discovery, however, made me more than ever
determined to rescue Melannie from the companionship of these wretches
who called her their queen. It was better, I argued, for her to die in
her youth and innocence upon the sea, if Providence so willed, than to
become the wife of such a man as Ackbau.

I did not confide to Melannie my dreadful discovery, but she was not
slow in noticing a change in the demeanour of the men with whom she
formerly had daily intercourse. Those who had become eaters of human
flesh avoided her, and even Ackbau seemed ashamed to intrude himself
upon her.

"What is it, Peter?" she asked me, and I read the questioning fear in
her eyes.

I did my best to pacify her, but I could see that the repugnance with
which she regarded Ackbau now almost amounted to a mania.

"I feel inclined to run from Ackbau when I see him," she said.
"If he touched me I am sure that I would scream."

"You will soon be beyond his power," I answered. "Do not think of him,
and you will not fear him."

"Oh, Peter, take me away, I am frightened!" she sobbed. "Do not let
Ackbau and the others come near me. They have done something. I don't
know what it is. But they are not as they were before they made the
fire. Perhaps a curse is upon them for having stolen the secret from
the smoke mountain."

I tried to comfort her, but I could see that the poor child was greatly
alarmed, and I determined to speak to Ackbau regarding the abominable
practice in which he was engaged.

"Had I known that my fire-making would have made a cannibal of thee,
Ackbau,"