As the great darkness continued, the natives retired to rest, without even holding the usual evening chant.

I did not attempt to explain the real reason of the phenomenon, but as I had no particular end to serve, I did not tell them that it was due to my power.
Never once, you see, did I lose an opportunity of impressing the savages among whom I dwelt.

On several occasions, having all the ingredients at my disposal, I attempted to make gunpowder, but truth to tell, my experiments were not attended with very great success.

I had charcoal, saltpetre, and sulphur ready to my hand,--all obtainable from natural sources close by; but the result of all my efforts (and I tried mixing the ingredients in every conceivable way) was a very coarse kind of powder with practically no explosive force, but which would go off with an absurd "puff." Now I was very anxious to make an _explosive_ powder, not merely because it would assist me in impressing the blacks, but also because I proposed carrying out certain blasting operations in order to obtain minerals and stones which I thought would be useful.

The net result was that although I could not manufacture any potent explosive, yet I did succeed in arousing the intense curiosity of the blacks.