Then there came a black speck stealing across the broad rice-field and up the steep hill, a speck which in time took to itself the semblance of a man, a Kru boy, naked as he was born save for a ragged loin-cloth, and clutching something in his hand.

He was invisible to Trent until he was close at hand; it was Monty whose changed attitude and deportment indicated the approach of something interesting.

He had relinquished his digging and, after a long, stealthy glance towards the house, had advanced to the extreme boundary of the potato patch.

His behaviour here for the first time seemed to denote the hopeless lunatic.
He swung his long arms backward and forwards, cracking his fingers, and talked unintelligibly to himself, hoarse, guttural murmurings without sense or import.

Trent changed his place and for the first time saw the Kru boy.