By good chance, they had shipped a small cask of glass beads on board the pinnace.

The Pilot took a few of these with him, and, placing a cask and a couple of calabashes in the canoe, he rowed ashore.
The natives were evidently in great commotion; there was an immense amount of running backwards and forwards.

Something important was, obviously enough, going forward; but, whether the excitement was caused by curiosity or admiration, it was hard to say.

They might be preparing a friendly reception for the stranger, or they might be preparing to eat him--which of the two was an interesting question that Willis did not care about probing too deeply at that particular moment.
Fritz and Jack anxiously watched the operations of the natives from the bay.

They could not with safety abandon the pinnace; but to leave Willis to the mercy of the sinister-looking people on shore was not to be thought of either.