We Three Took Off Our Helmets And Crouched Down With The Police Just
Inside The Forest, With Our Rifles Ready For The Expected Rush Of
The Enemy, Having Sent The Notus Out Into The Open, Hoping Thereby
To Draw The Enemy After Them.
We meant then to give them a lesson,
make some captures, and come to terms with their chief.
Two or three
times the Notus came rushing back, and I fully expected to see the
Doboduras at their heels, but they were evidently aware that the
Notus were not alone, and all I could see was the distant village
and palm-trees shimmering in the quivering heated air, and the heads
of the Dobodura warriors crowned with feather head-dresses bobbing
about amid the tall grass, while ever and anon their distant war-cry
floated over the grassy plain.
We decided to rush the village, which we later found was named Kanau,
but when we got there we found it deserted. In the centre of the
village was a kind of small raised platform, on which were rows of
human skulls and quantities of bones, the remnants of many a gruesome
cannibal feast. Many of these skulls were quite fresh, with small
bits of meat still sticking to them, but for all that they had been
picked very clean. Every skull had a large hole punched in the side of
the head, varying in size, but uniform as regards position (to quote
from Monckton's later report to the government). The explanation for
this we soon learnt from the Notus, and later it was confirmed by our
prisoners.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 107 of 217
Words from 28935 to 29203
of 59060
