“Then let’s wave back to them,” David said, standing up. He swung his arms and shouted at the top of his voice. The Indians began to show signs of excitement; they raced up and down the bank, jumped into the air and called more loudly than before. “I don’t like their actions. I can’t think of a thing they can do now, but so soon as its dark we had better leave,” David suggested. “You’re right,” Miguel agreed. “We can cut the poles now and get a few extra ones to tie on the raft so we can have them handy if we lose the ones we’re using.” This task completed, they remained in hiding near the raft until after the sun had set. And all the while the savages on the opposite bank, in increasing numbers, continued their antics. “Seems to me they could make a raft and come across,” said David, as they watched. He could observe them through the screen of vegetation behind which they were concealed. “Some tribes never navigate the rivers. Others have canoes and seldom travel by land. Then there are still others who travel overland and when they reach a stream they want to cross, build a raft or make a wood-skin canoe which they abandon or sink after it has been used.” “I hope those over there belong to the kind that don’t venture on the water,” David said. “I think they do,” Miguel reassured him, “or they would have been over here before now.” They boarded their raft in the concealing darkness and pushed downstream, remaining as near the bank as possible. As they drifted along, slowly at first, they felt the impatient tug of the current trying to hurry them toward the center of the stream. “We could make better time if we went farther out,” Miguel said. “We are barely moving here and I don’t like to be scraping against the branches above.” “Nor I,” David agreed. They allowed the craft to follow the urge of the water and soon they were moving at a fast rate. This pleased them, because it meant rapidly increasing the distance between themselves and the savages they were leaving behind. When the moon rose they saw that the raft had been swept to the center of the river. Use of the poles had been abandoned when the depth had become too great for them to reach the bottom. “We’ll be in camp before many days at this rate,” David said hopefully. “See how fast we’re going?” “Yes,” from Miguel, “but this is as fast as we ought to go. If the current gets much swifter we’ll have to land.” “Why?” David asked in surprise. “We can’t get back too soon to suit me.” “Nor me. But there may be rapids ahead. We don’t know the river, so can’t take too many chances at night. If it gets worse we’ll have to wait until daylight so we can see first what we are to go through.” David made no reply, at first. “We could hear them,” he said finally.