In the center lay the Fuegian fire, its
embers covered with a small hide. The pole, fastened to a cross-piece
in the thwarts, was not a mast, but had evidently been shipped in order
to give speedy access to the deck by climbing.
Then Courtenay caught sight of two hands clinging to the stern of the
canoe. He swung the lantern in that direction, and an extraordinary,
and even an affrighting, object became visible. A caricature of a
human head was raised slightly above the level of the water. It was
crowned by a shock of coarse, black, knotted hair, tied back from the
brows by a fillet of white feathers. An intensely black face, crossed
by two bars of red and white pigment, reaching from ear to ear, and
covering eyelids, nose, and lips, was upturned to the watchers from the
deck. The colors were vivid enough, notwithstanding the sheets of rain
which blew in gusts against the ship's side, dimming the dull light of
a storm-proof lamp, to convey a most uncanny effect; nor did Courtenay
remove either his eyes or the revolver while he said to Christobal:
"Ask him who he is, and what he wants.
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