They had, in readiness, heaped a great pile of brushwood; and this they now threw upon the fire, making a huge pyramid of flame, which lit the wood around for a circle of sixty yards.

As the light leaped up, Ned discharged an arrow at a native, whom he saw within the circle of light; and a shrill cry proclaimed that it had reached its mark.
There was silence for a while in the dark forest and, each moment that passed, the daylight became stronger and stronger.
"In ten minutes we shall be able to move on," Ned said; "and in the daylight, I think that the longer range of our bows will enable us to keep them off.

The question is, how many of them are there ?" A very short time sufficed to show that the number of the savages was large; for shrill cries were heard, answering each other, in the circle around them; and numbers of black figures could be seen, hanging about the trees in the distance.
"I don't like the look of things, Ned," Tom said.

"It is all very well.

We may shoot a good many before they reach us, and in the open no doubt we might keep them off.