When the Talisman fired her broadside of blank cartridge at the native village, there was not a solitary warrior in it—­only aged men, women, and children.  These, filled with unutterable consternation on hearing the thunderous discharge, sent up one yell of terror and forthwith took to their heels and made for the hills en masse, never once looking behind them, and, therefore, remaining in ignorance of the ulterior proceedings of the ship.

It was some time before they came in sight of Ole Thorwald and his men.

The moment they did so Ole gave the word to charge; and, whirling his sword round his head, set the example.  The men followed with a yell.  The poor savages turned at once and fled,—­such of them at least as were not already exhausted by their run up hill,—­and the rest, consisting chiefly of old men and children, fell on their knees and faces and howled for mercy.

As soon as the charging host became aware of the character of the enemy, they came to a sudden half.

“Sure, it’s owld men and women we’re about to kill!” cried Captain Rigg, lowering his formidable forehammer, with which, in default of a better weapon, he had armed himself; “but, hooray, Gineral! there may be lots o’ the warrior reptiles in among the huts, and them poor craturs have been sent out to deceive us.”

“That’s true.  Forward my lads!” shouted Ole, and again the army charged; nor did they stop short until they had taken possession of the village, when they found that all the fighting men were gone.

This being happily accomplished without bloodshed, Ole Thorwald, like a wise general, took the necessary steps to insure and complete his conquest.  He seized all the women and children, and shut them up in a huge temple built of palm trees and roofed with broad leaves.  This edifice was devoted to the horrible practise of cutting up human bodies that were intended to be eaten.

Ole had often heard of the cannibalism that is practised by most of the South Sea Islanders, though some tribes are worse than others; but he had never before this day come directly in contact with it.  Here, however, there could be no doubt whatever of the fact.  Portions of human bodies were strewn about this hideous temple,—­some parts in a raw and bloody condition, as if they had just been cut from a lately slain victim; others in a baked state, as if ready to form part of some terrible banquet.

Sick at heart, Ole Thorwald turned from this sight with loathing.  Concluding that the natives who practised such things could not be very much distressed by being shut up for a time in a temple dedicated to the gratification of their own disgusting tastes, he barricaded the entrance securely, placed a guard over it, and hurried away to see that two other buildings, in which the remainder of the women and children had been imprisoned, were similarly secured and guarded.  Meanwhile the stalwart knight of the forehammer, to whom the duty had been assigned, placed sentries at the various entrances to the village, and disposed his men in such a way as to prevent the possibility of being taken by surprise.