foundations and cutting wood, in preparation for the erection of a hut of sufficient size to serve the double purpose of dwelling-place and chapel. In the evening a good many natives appeared, looking not timid but suspicious; they came up to the water's edge about forty paces from the builders, and after lighting a large fire lay down to sleep. "We also," says Father Salvado, "lighted our fire when we could no longer see to work, and, standing round it, chanted compline with as much solemnity as on our days of festival at home, but the remembrance that we had such wild neighbours close around us made sleep an impossibility."
About two hours after sunrise the natives moved off, and the building went on briskly, but towards evening they returned in greater numbers and completely armed. They lighted their fire a few paces nearer to the missionaries than on the preceding evening, and the latter passed a night of extreme anxiety, expecting every moment to be killed and eaten. Morning, however, brought a little tranquillity, for the unwelcome visitors again disappeared, and the hut made such progress that by midday, when the workmen sat down to dinner, there was nothing wanting but the roof. At this moment they saw a crowd of natives coming up, contrary to their usual custom of not returning till evening, each man carrying six or seven spears; "we looked at them," continues my author, "with cheerful countenances, God alone knowing the beating of our hearts, and made signs of invitation to share our tea and bread," but without paying any attention to this offered hospitality, the natives sat down beside the pond talking eagerly amongst themselves.
