It Was Cloudy, But Very Close, And We Passed Through Open Grass
Country, Bounded On Each Side By Tall Forest, In Which Bird-Life
Seemed Plentiful, Cockatoos And Parrots Making A Great Noise.
Birds
of paradise were also calling out with their very noticeable and
peculiar falsetto cry.
After going some distance we catechized the prisoners, and while
an old man declared that there was a large village ahead, the two
women prisoners said that the track was only a hunting one and led
to the mountains.
The old man evidently wanted to get us away from his village, to
enable his tribe to return, but the women, not being so loyal, told
us the truth, no doubt because they found the forced marching on a
hot day a little too much for them. We sat down for a consultation,
but hearing a loud outcry in the rear, I suddenly came across about a
dozen of the now indignant police pelting the old man with darts made
out of a peculiar kind of grass, which grew around here. The old man,
who was handcuffed, hopped high in the air, uttering loud yells every
time a dart hit him, so I imagined they hurt, and though I, too, felt
much annoyed, I had to put a stop to this cruel sport, when one of
the aggrieved policemen cried out to me: "Taubada (master), why you
stop him get hurt? This fellow he ki-ki (eat) you if he get chance."
CHAPTER 10
The Return From Dobodura.
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