Explore "A Thousand Miles an Hour" by Herbert Strang on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
THE hut in which the boys had been placed was open on one side; their hands had been bound behind them, and they were guarded by two armed Indians standing at the entrance. By moving a little they had a full View of the Gadfly, and they were soon rather perturbed about the fate of that unfortunate vessel.
It was surrounded by a flock of the villagers, chiefly women and children, who kept at first a respectful distance from it, and, to judge by their gesticulations, were engaged in an excited discussion about its nature. Presently one of the Indian boys, becoming venturesome, darted forward, touched one of the fin-planes, and scampered back. Emboldened by his action, the crowd by degrees drew nearer to the object of their curiosity, walked round it, stroked its smooth sides, and gave it playful pokes, as a child will poke a kitten. At last one, still bolder than the rest, put his head in at the open door, holding on to the sides, and after taking stuck of the interior, clambered inside. In a few moments he returned, and apparently explained to the others that no danger was to be feared, for the crowd began to pass in one by one, like Noah's family going into the Ark.