01' THE Ol.D WORLD, 97 



are about.' I seized my rifle, and listened atten- 

 tively, but could hear nothing, M said, ' I am 



sure they are near at hand, for I distinctly heard the 

 chiri^ing of a squirrel, which sound, you know, is 

 never heard after nightfall, and I noticed the old 

 woman's eye glisten as she caught up the sound.' 

 He was right, for almost immediately four or five 

 arrows fell about our fire, though without hurting 

 any one. I took one to the old woman, and, giving 

 her a lump of sugar and some raw potatoes, told 

 Chineah to lead her towards that part of the jungle 

 from whence the arrows appeared to come, I follow- 

 ing at some little distance with my gun and one or 

 two of my people, to protect him should it be neces- 

 sary. When we got out of sight of the fire she 

 made a queer noise, like the cooing of the imperial 

 pigeon, which sound was almost immediately taken 

 up in two places from behind some clumps of 

 bushes. Again she uttered a curious note, and 

 shortly afterwards I saw other figures join her in 

 the gloom. At first I felt rather apprehensive for 

 Chineah's safety, but, as they did not seem inclined 

 to offer him any violence, I did not join their party, 

 fearing to give them alarm. After a consultation, 

 which seemed to last nearly a quarter of an hour, 

 between the old woman and her people, they fol- 

 lowed her towards our fire. When I came up I 

 foimd the group consisted of three men, two women, 

 and a child, all in the same state of nature as those 

 we had discovered in the tree. The men were but 



G 



