158 TROPIC DAYS 



no fear, who deemed his questions justifiable, who 

 felt himself more than a match for the whole camp, 

 and was convinced that the blacks were in possession 

 of essential information, he urged the polic}' of chastis- 

 ing the sullenness out of a couple of incommunicative 

 boys. His attitude, and mine, hitherto, towards the 

 blacks had been of cheery good-nature tempered with 

 considerate authority. Present moroseness was novel, 

 and he was eager to sweep it away with a sturdy stick, 

 and thus to demonstrate that when a friendly white 

 man visited a camp blacks should be deferential and 

 alert to assist his mission. 



In the mood of the men tragedy was inevitable unless 

 both of us kept cool. What would be the ending of a 

 fray between two white men and many armed blacks, 

 some of whom were aching under a prolonged, however 

 inconsequent, grievance against a white family ? 



"Look here, Dan. Leave those fellows alone," I 

 said firmly but quietly. "There'll be sorrow for some 

 if you begin a row." 



"I don't care for a hundred blacks ! I'd kick myself 

 if I could not floor half a dozen single-handed 1 Where 

 that Soosie ?" 



To distract attention from Dan, I moved off a few 

 yards. 



"What you ki-ki ?" I asked of Wethera, who gnawed 

 with concentrated satisfaction at a charred bone. "You 

 ki-ki wallaby ?" 



"No wallaby 1 This one 'mandee' (hand) belonga 

 Tchoosie 1" 



Scorched flesh and blackened bone had left their 

 smear on the face of the kindest cannibal of them all. 

 On the fire was a foot with charred ankle-bones; in a 

 dilly-bag other fragments, but in Wethera 's counte- 

 nance no consciousness of evil-doing. 



