f-circle was gradually becoming narrower.
He fancied that their silent movements were checked when he began to
smoke, and this suggested to him that an appeal to their curiosity
might hold them intent or awestruck until Rodier had finished his
task.

"How much longer, Roddy?" he asked quietly.

"Three minutes."

Smith did the first thing that occurred to him. He took a letter from
his pocket, tore it slowly into small pieces, and let the fragments
float away on the breeze. This device appeared to be successful for a
few seconds; but when the scraps of paper had disappeared or fallen to
the ground the pigmies resumed their stealthy silent advance. Smith
had another idea. Whistling the merry air of the "Saucy Arethusa," he
took two backward steps towards the aeroplane, seized a half-empty
petrol can, and strolled unconcernedly with it to the bank of the
stream, which at this point formed a slowly moving pool. As he went he
unscrewed the stopper, and on reaching the brink, he poured some of
the petrol into the water. Then taking two or three matches from his
box, he struck them together, and flung them into the petrol floating
on the surface.

The effect of his stratagem was immediate. The spectacle of water
apparently on fire was too much for the simple savages. For the first
time they broke their silence, and were seen rushing up the wooded
slope, uttering shrill cries of alarm. Only then did Smith become
aware how numerous they were. The whole forest seemed to be alive with
them.

"Done, mister," cried Rodier.

Smith hurried back to the aeroplane, noticing as he approached several
small arrows sticking upright in the ground close to it.

"They shot at you when you turned your back," said Rodier. "Shall we
fire at them?"

"No; leave them alone. I think they're scared now. But it's lucky I
thought of setting fire to the petrol, or they would certainly have
been upon us, and there's such a crowd of them that we might have been
done for. Set the engine working. The noise will keep them away."

With some difficulty they turned the aeroplane round to face down
stream, where there was a fairly level stretch of a few yards for
running off. Vaulting on board, they started, and in five or six
seconds the aeroplane was humming along a hundred feet above the
trees.

CHAPTER XIII

THE RESCUE

Smith had taken no account of the time he had lost, first by the
storm, then by the overhauling of the engine; but,