"That's a
hint to him," he whispered. "It's better than the stew pot."
"Dig their graves first!" exclaimed the chief, and he turned to his men
and explained the matter to them. They were evidently delighted.
"What are they saying?" asked James again.
"They say that that is a grand idea, and that they will adopt it. They
think civilization is a great thing, and they want to be civilized,"
said Carlos.
"There, I knew they weren't cannibals!" said the colonel.
There was silence for several minutes, and Carlos smoothed Sam's locks
with his hand.
"We must entertain him," said Cleary. "Say something, Sam, or he'll get
down on us."
"Say something yourself," said Sam, who was thoroughly vexed at his
friend's ill-timed flippancy.
"Does your tribe live in these mountains and nowhere else?" asked
Cleary.
"Oh, no. We have brothers everywhere. They are in all the islands, and
all over the world."
"You tell them by your language, I suppose."
"No, some of them do not speak our language. That makes no difference.
We tell our brothers in other ways."
"How?" said Cleary.
"There are four marks of the true Morito," said the chief. "Their young
men are initiated by torture. That is one mark. Then their chief men
wear feathers on their heads. That is the second. And the third mark is
that they are tattooed, as I am," and he pointed to the strange figures
on his naked chest; "and the fourth is that they all use the sacred
tom-tom when they dance.
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