The Wonder Island Boys | Page 8

more extended investigation of the vicinity for other traces, if possible. Within an hour Harry stumbled across the skull of an animal. This was not an unusual sight, as bones had been found at various places in their travels, but here was a specimen, lying on a rocky slope, with but little vegetation about it.
[Illustration: Fig. 2 Types of Arrow-Heads.]
"I should like to know what animal this belonged to?"
The Professor examined the bones critically, without venturing an opinion. "What is this?" were his first words. Directly behind the ear cavity was a split or broken cleavage in which they found a round piece of dark wood.
"Get the bolo, George; we may find something interesting here." With a few strokes the skull was opened, and embedded within the brain receptacle was an arrow.
"This animal was, as you see, killed by the inhabitants of the island. I infer that there are several tribes living here."
The boys looked at each other in astonishment.
"Why do you think so?"
"This arrow is different in shape and in structure from the sample we found this morning."
The boys now noticed the difference.
"Do different tribes make their implements differently?"
"There is just as much difference among savages in the way they make their weapons and different implements, as among civilized people. Our customs differ; our manufactured articles are not the same; and sometimes the manner of using the tools is unlike; and the divergence is frequently so wide that it has been difficult in many cases to trace the causes and explain the reasons. Such an instance may be found in the Chinese way of holding a saw, with the teeth projecting from the sawyer. For years all tools and machinery made in England could be instantly recognized by those versed in manufacturing, on account of the bulk, as their tools were uniformly made larger and heavy, as compared with the French and American manufacture."
This conclusion verified the Professor's observation, and you may be sure that the new discovery gave an air of gravity to the camp which it did not have before.
"I also wanted to say to-day," was the Professor's last remark that night, "I am satisfied that there is no intimate intercourse between the different tribes on the island." The boys looked at each other without questioning, as usual; but the next morning, as soon as George awoke, his first observation was: "I can't understand what makes you think that the natives of the different tribes do not associate with each other."
"Simply for the reason that the styles of the arrows differ so greatly. With them, as with civilized people, the intermingling of the races should tend to make their tools and implements alike."
The next night, after the evening meal, they sat in the wagon until late, discussing their future course. It was now fully nine months since they left home. The thought that their parents and friends would consider them lost was the hardest thing to bear. Did the boys ever get homesick? I need not suggest such an idea to make it more real than it was to them. With beautiful home surroundings, loving parents and brothers and sisters, absence, uncertainty; the fear that they would never again be able to return; danger all about them; the belief that perils still awaited them, which fears were now, in all probability, to be realized, all these things did not tend to produce a pleasant perspective to the mind.
But the Professor was a philosopher. He knew that the human mind craved activity. If it could not be exercised in a useful direction it would invariably spend its energies in dangerous channels. He knew this to be particularly true of young people.
Boys are naturally inquisitive. Their minds are active, like their bodies. They must have exercise; why not direct it into paths of usefulness, where their accomplishments could be seen and understood by the boys themselves.
That thought is the parent of the manual training system, where the education imparted comes through the joint exercise of brain and muscle. Boys resent all work which comes to them under the guise of play; and all play which is labeled "work." But when there is a need for a thing, and the inquisitive nature of the boy, or his mental side, starts an inquiry, the manual, or the muscular part of him, is stimulated to the production of the article needed to fill that want.
The Professor did not force any information upon the boys, as will be noticed. It was his constant aim to let inquiry and performance come from them.
Could anything have been more stimulating or encouraging than the building of the water wheel, the sawmill, or the wagon? See what enjoyment and profit they derived from it. Thus far they had not given their time and the great enthusiasm to