ALONE WITH CANNIBALS 
“ Aug. 4th.—They killed another man at Madui the 
night I was there—they are killing a lot of men, 
women, and children.” 
The incident here outlined by my son may well bear 
a little further amplification. Trade and provisions 
had all but failed us, and I could not possibly go back 
myself to our base at Ekeikei without serious loss of 
time. It would have been out of the question, too, to 
take back the whole party. There were sufficient 
indications of the unrest among the natives at the time, 
and consequently it was nothing but the direst neces- 
sity that induced me to accept Harry's offer to go down 
himself with a few carriers to bring up what we required. 
I had great confidence in the lad’s common-sense, he 
knew the language, and he seemed to have the knack 
of dealing with the natives. After serious considera- 
tion of the risk, therefore, I agreed to let him go. At 
first it was not easy to get our carriers to undertake 
the journey, so evil was the reputation of the village 
of Madui through which the party must pass, but after 
persuasion we got the consent of a sufficient number, 
and not without serious misgivings, which I was care- 
ful to conceal, did I watch the little party set out. The 
matter, however, was urgent. Starvation, rebellion, 
and desertion of my followers threatened us had we 
been left absolutely destitute. On the way down Harry 
and his party got through Madui safely. They reached 
Ekeikei, procured what they wanted from our stores, 
and began the toilsome ascent once more. At Madui 
trouble awaited them. ‘There had been a native fracas, 
_a man had just been murdered, and the blood-lust 
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