Part 22 (1/2)

At this instant Chief appeared at the door, and as he moved forward in front of the gla.s.s he started back in fright as his own image appeared to him. All of them laughed, and as he was now at one side of the mirror he could not see himself. But Harry mischievously turned it, and then it dawned on the Chief that it was simply a perfect representation of himself.

All savages know of the glistening qualities of surfaces, but few of them, as was the case with Chief, had ever seen any made with the white amalgam, which, of course, made a perfect counterfeit resemblance.

But Harry delighted him beyond measure when he presented one of the small mirrors, and George took a piece of the ramie cloth and folded it around the mirror, a proceeding Chief could not understand until John showed him it was for the purpose of preserving it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”_He started back in fright as his own image appeared to him_” [See p. 194]]

He kept it in the cover religiously from that day forward, except at such times as he was employed in examining it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 32. Amarylla. Chief's Poison Vegetable._]

When Chief appeared it was not noticed that he carried a curious looking bulb, and when he sat down to experiment the mirror several of them fell from the pouch or pocket which was put in the garment which had been provided for him.

The Professor saw the bulbs and picked up one of them and glanced about the room, and then looked at John in a questioning way. The boys noted this. Nothing was said at the time, but as the Professor pa.s.sed out George followed him.

”What was that bulb you picked up?”

”It is the root of the plant called Amarylla, and it is in the juice of this plant that certain savages dip their arrow-heads for poisoning them.”

This information was not a little startling and disquieting to George, who rushed back and quietly called out the boys. ”Do you know what Chief has been doing? Did you see the peculiar bulbs he had? The Professor picked up one of them, and what do you suppose it is? It is the root from which they make the poisons for arrow-heads.”

Harry could not believe that the savage had any designs on them. ”I suppose he will bear watching, so let us see what he intends to do with them!”

When Chief had admired himself sufficiently he took the bulbs to the kitchen and placed them in the oven, as the boys called it, and when George came in he was smiling, as he thought, in a very peculiar way.

George did not disturb the bulbs, and when the meal was brought in Chief was on hand and went to the kitchen. He soon returned with the roasted bulbs and deposited them at the table.

The boys looked at the Professor, and he and John exchanged smiling glances, and both of them took the bulbs and began the meal with them in the most nonchalant manner. The boys could not understand the Professor's defiant manner in eating a poisonous bulb, and George cried out: ”Didn't you say that the bulb was poisonous?”

”Yes, it is, for some things.”

”Well, how can it be poisonous for some things and not for others. Don't the savages use the poisons of the arrows to kill people with?”

”Certainly; but it is used in that case as a blood poison. A blood poison is not necessarily a stomach poison. In truth, there are few poisons that are fatal to both the blood and stomach.”

Chief had been slyly preparing this treat for them, as savages like the root, and all regarded it a welcome change, and it was that peculiar look which George wrongly interpreted. How often the motives of people are misjudged in the same manner, and without a more p.r.o.nounced reason than Chief had!

When the meal was announced Angel, as usual, was the first to appear, and when he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror he thought one of his friends had come to visit him. It did not seem to startle him in the least, but like all children tried to look behind it.

The wall prevented that, so when George handed him one of the small ones, and he put his hand behind the mirror, the vacancy there is what alarmed him. When he did finally comprehend what it was, it so attracted him that he could not partake of the meal, but sat entranced before it.

After the meal he took the mirror to the rafters, and found a hiding place for it, and they would often notice him with it, but from that time forward he never brought it down into the room.

CHAPTER XVI

A SURPRISING TRIP TO THE CAVE

The house was completed and partly furnished. New bedding was prepared for the bedrooms, the Chief installed in one, and the other two reserved for John and the Professor. The new living room, which was commodious, served as a dining room, and a door was cut through from the old kitchen to the new dining parlor.

The other rooms in the original building were reserved for the boys.