"No; that is not African work; at least it is not like any work of
the black men that I have ever seen. They can all work iron, and this
was made without the use of iron tools; that I am sure of. Some of our
men were shipwrecked once where they had to make stone and shells serve
their turn, and I know the look of wood that has been worked with such
tools. And the wood itself is not like anything I have from Africa. It
is more like the timber of the East."
Now the stranger's eyes lighted with keener interest.
"You think it may be Indian, do you?"
"It may. But how in the name of Sao Cristobal did it come here? Besides,
the people of India understand the use of metal as well as we do, or
better."
"May there not be wild men in remote islands of the Indian seas?"
"That might be. Gil Andrade has been in those parts, and he says there
are more islands than he could count. I have sometimes had occasion to
take his stories with a pinch of salt, but if there are islands where
wild people live they would make such things as this. And now I think of
it, I once picked up a paddle myself, floating off the Azores, that was
some such wood as this, but not carved. But the queerest thing I ever
found was this nut. Look at it."
It was part of a nutshell as big as a man's head and as hard as wood.
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