"Come, come, you blackguard!" cried Jack, starting up and seizing the
man by the arm, "pitch that into the hole. Do you hear?"
The savage, of course, did not understand the command, but he perfectly
understood the look of disgust with which Jack regarded the flesh, and
his fierce gaze as he pointed towards the hole. Nevertheless, he did
not obey. Jack instantly turned to Tararo and made signs to him to
enforce obedience. The chief seemed to understand the appeal, for he
stepped forward, raised his club, and was on the point of dashing out
the brains of his offending subject, when Jack sprang forward and
caught his uplifted arm.
"Stop," he shouted, "you blockhead! I don't want you to kill the man."
He then pointed again to the flesh and to the hole. The chief uttered a
few words, which had the desired effect; for the man threw the flesh
into the hole, which was immediately filled up. This man was of a
morose, sulky disposition, and during all the time he remained on the
island, regarded us, especially Jack, with a scowling visage. His name,
we found, was Mahine.
The next three or four days were spent by the savages in mending their
canoe, which had been damaged by the violent shock it had sustained on
striking the shore. This canoe was a very curious structure. It was
about thirty feet long, and had a high, towering stern. The timbers of
which it was partly composed, were fastened much in the same way as
those of our little boat were put together; but the part that seemed
most curious to us was a sort of outrigger, or long plank, which was
attached to the body of the canoe by means of two stout cross-beams.
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