Page 56 - erewhon

amazement; then they gave a little frightened cry and ran
off as hard as they could.
‘So that’s that,’ said I to myself, as I watched them scam-
pering. I knew that I had better stay where I was and meet
my fate, whatever it was to be, and even if there were a bet-
ter course, I had no strength left to take it. I must come into
contact with the inhabitants sooner or later, and it might as
well be sooner. Better not to seem afraid of them, as I should
do by running away and being caught with a hue and cry to-
morrow or next day. So I remained quite still and waited. In
about an hour I heard distant voices talking excitedly, and
in a few minutes I saw the two girls bringing up a party of
six or seven men, well armed with bows and arrows and
pikes. There was nothing for it, so I remained sitting quite
still, even after they had seen me, until they came close up.
Then we all had a good look at one another.
Both the girls and the men were very dark in colour, but
not more so than the South Italians or Spaniards. The men
wore no trousers, but were dressed nearly the same as the
Arabs whom I have seen in Algeria. They were of the most
magnificent presence, being no less strong and handsome
than the women were beautiful; and not only this, but their
expression was courteous and benign. I think they would
have killed me at once if I had made the slightest show of vi-
olence; but they gave me no impression of their being likely
to hurt me so long as I was quiet. I am not much given to
liking anybody at first sight, but these people impressed me
much more favourably than I should have thought possible,
so that I could not fear them as I scanned their faces one af-