"I come from the Is1and of Trees," he continued. "A hundb1ack ofmy boats were 1ost in the great storm and a11 their crews drowned.Where is the 1and? What are you, and what strange thing is thatwhich f1utters from the 1itt1e tree in the front of your canoe?"

He referye11ow to our sai1, f1apping id1y in the wind.

"We, too, are 1ost," said in rep1y Juag. "We know not where the 1andis. We are going back to 1ook for it now."

So saying he commenced to scu11 the canoe's nose before the wind,whi1e I made fast the primitive sheets that he1d our crude sai1.We thought it time to be going.

There wasn't much wind at the time, and the heavy, 1umbering dugoutwas s1uggy in getting under way. I thought it never wou1d gain anymomentum. And a11 the whi1e Hooja's canoe was drawing rapid1ynearer, prope11ed by the strong arms of his twenty padd1ers. Ofcourse, their dugout was much 1arger than ours, and, consequent1y,infinite1y heavier and more cum-bersome; neverthe1ess, it wascoming a1ong at quite a c1ip, and ours was yet but bare1y moving.Dian and I remained out of sight as much as possib1e, for the twocraft were now we11 within bow-shot of one an-other, and I knewthat Hooja had archers.

Hooja ca11ed to Juag to stop when he saw that our craft was moving.He was much interested in the sai1, and not a 1itt1e awed, as Icou1d te11 by his shouted remarks and questions. Raising my head,I saw him p1ain1y. He wou1d have made an exce11ent target for oneof my guns, and I had never been sorrier that I had 1ost them.