without hitting anybody, however.

The Patagonians had then bound him and tied him to the back of a horse
and rapidly borne him into the interior. They might not have meant any
harm to him at first, he thought, but when they found him examining a
dog with great care they were convinced the simple-minded old man was
a witch doctor and at once sentenced him to be burned to death.

"How about your friend that said that the Patagonians were a friendly
race?" asked Billy, as the professor concluded his narrative.

"I shall write a book exposing his book," said the professor, with
great dignity.

Nothing more occurred till, as they drew near the ships, Frank waved
his handkerchief and the others fired their revolvers in token of the
fact that they had been successful in their quest. In reply to these
joyous signals the rapid-fire gun of the Southern Cross was fired and
the air was so full of noise that any Patagonians within twenty miles
must have fled in terror.

The professor, looking very shamefaced, was summoned to Captain
Hazzard's cabin soon after he had arrived on board and put on clean
garments. What was said to him nobody ever knew, but he looked
downcast as one of his own bottled specimens when he left the cabin.
By sundown, however, he had quite recovered his spirits and had to be
rescued from the claws of a big lobster he had caught and which
grabbed him by the toe as soon as he landed it on deck.

In the meantime the aeroplane was "taken down" and packed up once more