hreat was unnecessary, for Henry and his men were
close at hand; and before the natives could make up their minds what to
do, the whole band came pouring over the hill, with Jo Bumpus far ahead
of the rest, leaping and howling like a maniac with excitement.

This decided the natives. They were now outnumbered and surrounded.
The principal chief, therefore, advanced towards Bumpus with a piece of
native cloth tied to the end of his war-club, which he brandished
furiously by way of making it plain that his object was not war, but
peace!

Naturally enough, the seaman misinterpreted the signal, and there is no
doubt that he would have planted his knuckles on the bridge of the nose
of that swarthy cannibal had not Henry Stuart made use of his
extraordinary powers of speed. He darted forward, overtook Jo, and,
grasping him round the neck with both arms, shouted--

"It's a flag of truce, man!"

"You don't say so? well, who'd ha' thought it. It don't look like one,
so it don't."

With this remark, Jo subsided into a peaceable man. Pulling a quid out
of his pocket, he thrust it into his cheek, and, crossing his arms on
his breast, listened patiently--though not profitably, seeing that he
did not understand a word--to the dialogue that followed.

It will be remembered that poor Mr Mason, after being saved by Henry,
was taken into the gig of the _Talisman_ and put ashore. After the two
vessels had disappeared, as has been already described, Henry at once
led his party towards the native village, knowing that Ole Thorwald
would require support, all the more that the ship had failed to fulfil
her part in the combined movement.

As the almost heartbroken father had no power to render farther aid to
his lost child, he suffered himself to be led, in a half-bewildered
state, along with the attacking party under his young friend. He was
now brought forward to parley with the native chief.

The missionary's manner and aspect at once changed. In the hope of
advancing the cause of his Master, he forgot, or at least restrained,
his own grief for a time.

"What would the chief say to the Christians?" he began, on being
confronted with the savage and some of his warriors who crowded round
him.

"That he wishes to have done with war," replied the man.

"That is a good wish, but why did the chief begin war?"

"Keona began it!" said the savage, angrily. "We thought our wars with
the Christians were going to stop. But Keona