At the first sign of light we were off, making to the north until we had nearly reached the edge of the wood and then following its curves over the plains toward the west.  
In this way we managed to gain a considerable distance northward from the villages, and although we passed some scattered houses and a few groups of farmers who were early in the fields, there was no attempt made to interfere with our progress.
 
But when we came to the bank of the main river—making the same point where we had first landed—we found a different condition of affairs confronting us. Fully a hundred warriors were gathered on the bank, armed and prepared to receive us. I saw them through our telescope before they could see us, and we halted at once for a conference.
 
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Nalig-Nad had evidently conceived the notion that in order to leave his country we would be forced to pass down the river at this point, and therefore it was here that he had determined to assemble his forces in order to stop us. He was right in his conclusion that we needed the waterway to carry us to our ship, but he was wrong in thinking that we were ready to escape.
 
The approach to the river was somewhat confined, because the forest was on one side of us and the high-banked stream entered the river on the other side, narrowing the plain whereon we could travel to rather a small space. It would be impossible to proceed without coming into contact with the band of natives ahead of us.
 
These warriors seemed intent on watching the river, for they had no idea that we had altered our course and would come up behind them. Indeed, we afterward learned that there was a good path around the base of the hills to the eastward, and had we not been so ignorant of the country we need not have turned back at all. But here we were, confronting a grave emergency, and it puzzled us for a time to know what to do.
 
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Duncan solved the difficulty in his own peculiar way.
 
“Isn’t that a house over there?” he asked, pointing to a roof that showed above a small hollow.
 
“It is sure to be,” I answered, and the princess, who was quite at home in this section, said we were right.
 
Without more ado Duncan ran the machine over to the house, passing a man who stood in a field staring at us. As we drew up at the door of the primitive hut and Moit leaped out of the car, a woman sprang away like a startled deer carrying a child in her arms and screaming lustily, although Ilalah called to her not to be afraid.
 
Duncan entered the house and quickly returned bearing a bow and a sheaf of arrows in a leathern quiver. His face wore a smile of satisfaction, but as he rejoined us and started the car again I said to him:
 
“Do you imagine we can shoot better with that outfit than with our revolvers?”
 
“Yes; one shot will be worth a volley from a regiment,” he returned.
 
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I own I was puzzled, but he graciously allowed me to run the car, although at a moderate speed, so that I had little chance to observe his immediate actions. I heard him lift the trap in the door, though, and then, after a period of silence, he touched my arm and told me to stop.
 
We could now observe with the naked eye the group of Indians on the river bank.
 
“Who can make the best shot with this contrivance?” asked Moit.
 
I turned around and understood his plan at once. To one of the arrows he had firmly tied the slender glass bottle, and I could see that it had again been filled with the dreadful explosive.
 
“I shoot,” said Nux, nodding his head gravely.
 
Both of the blacks shot splendidly with the bow, I remembered, for it was their native weapon. But Nux was the best marksman of the two.
 
Duncan handed the arrow and the bow to him and opened a side window.
 
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“When we get a hundred yards away from the river,” said he, “shoot the arrow among the San Blas; but try, if you can, to strike one of those trees growing by the bank. Can you shoot so far, and shoot straight?”
 
Nux nodded confidently, but held the arrow with great caution and was evidently afraid of it.
 
The machine started again and rolled over the thick turf at a great rate of speed, heading directly toward the river. Soon one of the Indians discovered us, and gave a cry that turned every face in our direction.
 
“Now!” shouted Moit, without slackening speed.
 
Nux drew the bow and the arrow sped swiftly on its mission. The aim was good, but the bottle so weighted the shaft that I feared for a moment it would miss the mark. It flew over the heads of the group, in a graceful curve, and struck a root at the very base of the tree.
 
The explosion was instantaneous. The tree itself flew skyward and the air was filled with earth, wood and Indians. I do not know how many of the San Blas suffered in this catastrophe, but those who were left were thrown into such dire confusion that they fled in all directions and many leaped into the river in an endeavor to escape.
 
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Meantime the machine never abated its speed for an instant, although the ears of all on board were ringing with the shock. We knew that we must take advantage of our opportunity and the confusion of our foes, so on we drove until we reached the low, shelving bank, and the next moment plunged unhesitatingly into the water.
 
Duncan sprung the paddles on the rims and turned the wheel to guide our course up stream. Before the Indians could recover we were a go............