OH, SHOOT! 



thrill after all of our party save Wilson, Crisp, 

 and I had returned to the Par. While we 

 three were waiting for the skiff to come back 

 we noticed two or three of the more disorderly 

 young bloods arming themselves. Covertly 

 we watched them removing their hidden rifles 

 and loading them; then, when they started 

 toward the brush back of the village, we called 

 the chief's attention and told him by gesture 

 and by facial contortions that this was no 

 nice way to speed the departing guests. We 

 were willing to speed, but whither? Our 

 protests precipitated a scene. The chief man- 

 aged to disarm one brave, but the others 

 evaded him and made their get-away. When 

 we discovered that the women and children 

 were likewise disappearing, leaving us alone 

 on the open beach, it seemed to us that we 

 bulked as big and as conspicuous as three dead 

 mules on a hot road, and we could not under- 

 stand why the skiff was so slow in returning. 



Salisbury, we discovered later, had been 

 watching the scene through the glasses and 

 had sounded a call to arms; but we were a 

 quarter of a mile away and our attention 

 was distracted. 



Probably the whole thing was just an 

 278 



