at a great distance from their own country, and to foretell
their advent. Not long since they had foretold the coming to the island
of a Spanish fleet, when the whole Amazon population had taken refuge
in subterranean caves until the Spaniards had left, which they did
under the belief that the island was deserted. It was by means of this
second sight that the "Golden Seahorse" had been located, and that I
had been selected from among the crew to carry out a project which the
wise men had in view, and the particulars of which I was about to
learn.

The chief of the wise-ones, who acted as spokesman, now informed me of
the reason I had been brought to the island.

"You must know, Signor," said he, addressing me as though I was a
Spaniard; an appellation which I felt inclined to resent, "that we are
troubled by a demon we have found it impossible to slay. Many of our
girls have fallen victims to the monster, while the men from the Male
Island have repeatedly attacked it during the months of their residence
here, without being able to overcome it. In length the creature is
thirty feet, and of great bulk. It has two forelegs near the head,
armed with claws. The head is very big, and the eyes stand out from it
on knob-like excrescences. The mouth is big enough to swallow a man
whole, and is armed with pointed teeth. In short, the monster is so
fierce that all stand in fear at the sight of it. Now it is known that
the men of your race are brave, and possess weapons of which we have no
knowledge, so, when it was revealed to us that your ship was close by
on the other side of the Great Barren Island, we resolved to bring you
here; who seemed, in our eyes, to be a brave man, so that you may rid
us of the demon which threatens our peace, if not our very existence."

"Alas! oh, wise-one," I answered. "How much better to have brought the
ship also! On board of her, it is true, we possess weapons against
which even such a monster as you tell me of could not prevail. But
these weapons I have not with me. How then can I, single-handed, hope
to overcome so terrible a creature as you describe? Rather send me back
to my ship, when I promise to bring her here, so that a party of us,
well armed, may attack the demon, when no doubt we shall be able to
destroy it." But at this the wise-one shook his head.

"To bring the ship here," said he, "would be easy. But how do we know
we could be rid of her without injury to our people?"

"I would