122 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH. 



' Bas hia, gufa mauna halam, poteraeah bali ! ' 

 (All right, it is finished, die you son of a heathen ! 

 Go to perdition !) comes the gruff reply, and a knife 

 is plunged into his heart without further aJo. 



On the other hand, should the recalcitrant be a 

 handsome girl, she is subjected to the most in- 

 famous indignities in order to induce her to proceed. 



Dawn breaks over a desolate village. Here and 

 there, in the hot sunshine, lie silent, dusky bodies, 

 punctured or gashed, while at times, from the bush, 

 a scared, wild-eyed face will cautiously peer to see if 

 the War God has passed, so that the remains of 

 those near and dear may be saved from the ghastly 

 attentions of the already wheeling vultures. 



Away up in the hills, where the captors are 

 dividing their booty, an altogether different scene is 

 taking place. Wild excitement reigns, and there is 

 a deafening hubbub, for the captives, especially the 

 females, are being carefully inspected and appraised 

 by their captors with coarse jokes and ribald laughter. 

 Each warrior claims his individual capture (not 

 without occasional bickering and quarrelling among 

 rival claimants), though the chief may appro- 

 priate any woman that he particularly desires, the 

 loser having to surrender her with good grace. 

 Children are torn shrieking from their mothers, and, 

 without any compunction, at once sold to natives 



