Their next undertaking was no sooner appreciated by the sailor than he hurriedly caused Iris to shelter herself beneath the tarpaulin, whilst he cowered close to the floor of the ledge, looking only through the screen of tall grasses.  They kindled a fire near the well.  Soon its ruddy glare lit up the dark rock with fantastic flickerings, and drew scintillations from the weapons and ornaments of the hideously picturesque horde gathered in its vicinity.

They spoke a language of hard vowels and nasal resonance, and ate what he judged to be dry fish, millets, and strips of tough preserved meat, which they cooked on small iron skewers stuck among the glowing embers.  His heart sank as he counted sixty-one, all told, assembled within forty yards of the ledge.  Probably several others were guarding the boats or prowling about the island.  Indeed, events proved that more than eighty men had come ashore in three large sampans, roomy and fleet craft, well fitted for piratical excursions up river estuaries or along a coast.

They were mostly bare-legged rascals, wearing Malay hats, loose jackets reaching to the knee, and sandals.  One man differed essentially from the others.  He was habited in the conventional attire of an Indian Mahommedan, and his skin was brown, whilst the swarthy Dyaks were yellow beneath the dirt.  Jenks thought, from the manner in which his turban was tied, that he must be a Punjabi Mussulman—­very likely an escaped convict from the Andamans.

The most careful scrutiny did not reveal any arms of precision.  They all carried muzzle-loaders, either antiquated flintlocks, or guns sufficiently modern to be fitted with nipples for percussion caps.

Each Dyak, of course, sported a parang and dagger-like kriss; a few bore spears, and about a dozen shouldered a long straight piece of bamboo.  The nature of this implement the sailor could not determine at the moment.  When the knowledge did come, it came so rapidly that he was saved from many earlier hours of abiding; dread, for one of those innocuous-looking weapons was fraught with more quiet deadliness than a Gatling gun.

In the neighborhood of the fire an animated discussion took place.  Though it was easy to see that the chief was all-paramount, his fellow-tribesmen exercised a democratic right of free speech and outspoken opinion.

Flashing eyes and expressive hands were turned towards cave and hut.  Once, when the debate grew warm, the chief snatched up a burning branch and held it over the blackened embers of the fire extinguished by Jenks.  He seemed to draw some definite conclusion from an examination of the charcoal, and the argument thenceforth proceeded with less emphasis.  Whatever it was that he said evidently carried conviction.

Iris, nestling close to the sailor, whispered—­

“Do you know what he has found out?”

“I can only guess that he can tell by the appearance of the burnt wood how long it is since it was extinguished.  Clearly they agree with him.”