A few days later, at twilight, he issued forth from his cave again.
Around his loins was a scarlet _pareu_; he had discarded his
bathing-suit as too civilized. In his long, black hair was a yellow
_hibiscus_ flower.
Like a burglar, he crept along the beach to the bushy promontory that
hid the cove where the foot-prints were, he wiggled through the bush, he
slid down to the third beach, and crouched behind a large rock. The
beach seemed deserted; the muttering of the ocean was the only sound Mr.
Pottle heard. Another rock, a dozen feet away, seemed to offer better
concealment, and he stepped out toward it, and then stopped short. Mr.
Pottle stood face to face with a naked, brown savage.
Mr. Pottle's feet refused to take him away; a paralysis such as one has
in nightmares rooted him to the spot. His returning faculties took in
these facts: first, the savage was unarmed; second, Mr. Pottle had
forgotten to bring his shot-gun. It was a case of man to man-eater.
The savage was large, well-fed, almost fat; his long black hair fringed
his head; he did not wear a particularly bloodthirsty expression;
indeed, he appeared startled and considerably alarmed.
Reason told Mr. Pottle that friendliness was the best policy.
Instinctively, he recalled the literature of his youth, and how Buffalo
Bill had acted in a like circumstance. He raised his right hand solemnly
in the air and ejaculated, "How!"
The savage raised his right hand solemnly in the air, and in the same
tone also ejaculated, "How!" Mr. Pottle had begun famously. He said
loudly:
"Who you? You who? Who you?"
The savage, to Mr. Pottle's surprise, answered after a brief moment:
"Me--Lee."
Here was luck. The man-eater could talk the Pottle lingo.
"Oh," said Mr. Pottle, to show that he understood, "you--Mealy."
The savage shook his head.
"No," he said; "Me--Lee. Me--Lee." He thumped his barrel-like chest with
each word.
"Oh, I see," cried Mr. Pottle; "you Mealy-mealy."
The savage made a face that among civilized people would have meant that
he did not think much of Mr. Pottle's intellect.
"Who you?" inquired Mealy-mealy.
Mr. Pottle thumped his narrow chest.
"Me, Pottle. Pottle!"
"Oh, you Pottle-pottle," said the savage, evidently pleased with his own
powers of comprehension.
Mr. Pottle let it go at that. Why argue with a cannibal? He addressed
the savage again.
"Mealy-mealy, you eatum long pig? Eatum long pig you? Long pig you
eatum?"
This question agitated Mealy-mealy. He trembled. Then he nodded his head
in the affirmative, a score of rapid nods.
Mr. Pottle's voice faltered a little as he asked the next question.
"Where you gottum tribe? You gottum tribe where? Tribe you gottum
where?"
Mealy-mealy considered, scowled, and said:
"Gottum velly big tribe not far. Velly fierce. Eatum long pig. Eatum
Pottle-pottle."
Mr. Pottle thought it would be a good time to go, but he could think of
no polite excuse for leaving. An idea occurred to Mealy-mealy.
"Where your tribe, Pottle-pottle?"
His tribe? Mr. Pottle's eyes fell on his own scarlet _pareu_ and the
brownish legs beneath it. Mealy-mealy thought he was a cannibal, too.
With all his terror, he had a second or two of unalloyed enjoyment of
the thought. Like all barbers, he had played poker. He bluffed.
"My tribe velly, velly, velly, velly, velly, velly big," he cried.
"Where is?" asked Mealy-mealy, visibly moved by this news.
"Velly near," cried Mr. Pottle; "hungry for long pig; for long pig
hungry----"
There was suddenly a brown blur on the landscape. With the agility of an
ape, the huge savage had turned, darted down the beach, plunged into the
bush, and disappeared.
"He's gone to get his tribe," thought Mr. Pottle, and fled in the
opposite direction.
When he reached his cave, panting, he tried to fit a cartridge into his
shot-gun; he'd die game, anyhow. But rust had ruined the neglected
weapon, and he flung it aside and took out his best razor. But no
cannibals came.
He was scared, but happy. He had seen his cannibal; more, he had talked
with him; more still, he had escaped gracing the festal board by a
snake's knuckle. He prudently decided to stay in his cave until the
sails of Tiki Tiu's schooner hove in sight.