Part 9 (1/2)

He taxeddeceived hi the laws of hospitality by bringing a party of warriors, obviously hostile, into his presence

I wilfully ignored all these points, and cal over the way in which he had acquired the thite girls, and had coht to them at all

Therefore, I continued airily, it was my intention to take theiant that he had not obtained the girls by fairthe to custo me for the ”property”

Now, these blacks are neither deent, but I think I never saw any hu so astonished in the whole of my life It dawned upon hi, and then his aer He proht of all the warriors in his own tribe, hom he was by nosport had solee at the acceptance of the challenge The big ly, and the moone too far in proclaiious valour He said he had heard about ht me if I used such preternatural weapons It was therefore arranged _that we should wrestle_--the one who overthrew the other twice out of three times to be declared the victor I estion, as I had always loved trick wrestling when at school, and even had a special tutor for that purpose--M Viginet, an agile little Parisian, living in Geneva He was a Crimean veteran The rank-and-file of the warriors, however, did not look upon this suggestion withproper respect to my wonderful powers I assured theed them to let the contest proceed

Then followed one of the most extraordinary coony of ress of the fight; and also iine the painful anxiety hich I went in to win

A piece of ground about twenty feet square was lightly marked out by the blacks with their waddies, and the idea was that, to accomplish a throw, the wrestler had to hurl his opponent clean outside the boundary We prepared for the co hair securely tied up into a kind of ”chignon” at the back of er man than myself, but I felt pretty confident inhim What I did fear, however, was that he would dispute the findings of the uht be trouble I had a shrewd suspicion that the chief was so of a coward at heart He seeerly with his principal supporter As for ht of the two poor girls I resolved that, with God's help, I would vanquish e enemy and rescue them from their dreadful position I was in splendid condition, with th the warriors squatted down upon the ground in the forround, and every detail of the struggle that folloas observed with the keenest interest

I was anxious not to lose a single ht lose heart, so I suddenly bounded into the arena My opponent was there already--looking, I e arms were aboutto find out that the big chief was going to depend ht than upon any technical skill in wrestling He possessed none He first reat atteled out of his grasp, and a fewthe ”cross-buttock” throw There was not a h I drew hi of an eye--certainly before I myself had tiht over my head outside the enclosure The spectators--sportshs, and I knew then that I had gained their syhted on his head and nearly broken his neck, rose to his feet, looking dazed and furious that he should have been so easily thrown When he faced me for the second tiled silently, but forcefully, for soe Oddly enough, at the time I was not struck by the dramatic element of the situation; but now that I have returned to civilisation I _do_ see the extraordinary nature of the combat as I look back upon those dreadful days

Just picture the scene for yourself The weird, unexplored land stretches away on every side, though one could not see rassy hillocks I, a whitethe blacks in the terrible land of ”Never Never,”--as the Australians call their _terra incognita_; and I restling with a gigantic cannibal chief for the possession of two delicately-reared English girls, ere in his power Scores of other savages squatted before us, their repulsive faces agloith interest and excitement Very fortunately Bruno was not on the spot I knehat he was of old, and how he erness that frequently got hi this, I had instructed Yamba to keep him carefully away, and on no account let hiripped my opponent once more and tried to throw him over my back, but this tiain he coround by sheer weight, but in this he was not successful Frankly, I knew his strength was er restled the less chance I would have Therefore, forcing hi, I tripped hie for outside the square, to the accohted yells from his own people

I cannot describe my own sensations, for I believe I was half et to round, but fortunately ithin the square I was greatly astonished to behold the glee of the spectators--but, then, the keynote of their character is an intense love of deeds of prowess, especially such deeds as provide exciting entertain to his feet before I did, and ere I could realise as happening, he dashed atand dealt me a terrible blow in the nificently e, the blow broke several of my teeth and filled my ether I felt half stunned The effect upon the audience was astounding The warriors leaped to their feet, highly incensed at the cowardly act, and some of them would actually have speared their chief then and there had I not forestalled the my stiletto from its sheath so as not to attract attention, I struck atthe short, keen blade in his heart He fell dead at roan As I withdrew the knife, I held it so that the blade extended up my forearm and was quite hidden This, combined with the fact that the fatal wound bled mainly internally, caused the natives to believe I had struck my enemy dead by some supernatural means The act was inevitable

You will observe that by this ti the blacks by an ale lay dead on the ground, I placed my foot over the wound, folded my arms, and looked round triuladiator of old

According to law and etiquette, however, the nearest relatives of the dead e usted at the unfair act of my opponent I put the usual question, but no champion caratulations, and even offers of the chieftainshi+p I a these natives, that had I not killed the chief with my stiletto, his own people would proedy passed with surprising swiftness; and Iat ht he simply wanted to commence another round His death was actually an occasion for rejoicing in the tribe The festivities were quickly ended, however, when I told the warriors that I intended leaving the cairls in the course of another day or so, to return to es In reality it was e Gulf district The body of the chief was not eaten (most likely on account of the cowardice he displayed), but it was disposed of according to native rites The corpse was first of all half-roasted in front of a huge fire, and then, when properly shrivelled, it rapped in bark and laid on a kind of platfornorance of the fatal terive them an unnecessary shock

After twelve or fourteen days in the camp, we quietly took our departure

Our party consisted of the two girls, ere nearly frantic with exciteether with the friendly warriors who had so opportunely coone far, however, before the girls co, considering the burning hot sand and the rough country ere traversing, which was quite the worst I had yet seen--at any rate, for the first few days' 's Sound region I, therefore, had to rig up a kind of ha between two poles, served to carry the girls by turns, the natives acting as bearers But being totally unused to carrying anything but their oeapons, they proved deplorably inefficient as porters, and after a time, so intolerable to theirls devolved upon Yairl, suffered enerally incapable of much exertion Perhaps a reaction had set in after the terrible excitement of the previous days

Soon our escort left us, to return to their own hoet the girls over the terribly rough country Fortunately there was no need for hurry, and so we proceeded in thefrequently and erecting grass shelters for our delicate charges Food was abundant, and the natives friendly

CHAPTER XI

Easier travel--The girls ie hut--A dainty dish--What irls decorate their hoht depression--Castles in the air--A strange concert--Trapping wild-cats--The girls' terror of solitude--Fervent prayer--A goose-skin football--How I th we came to a stately streae Gulf This, I believe, is the Ord River Here we constructed a catamaran, and were able to travel easily and luxuriously upon it, always spending the night ashore This catah to adht on it with perfect safety After crossing the King Leopold Ranges we struck a level country, covered with rich, tall grass, and well though not thickly wooded The rough granite ranges, by the e found rich in alluvial and reef tin Gradually the girls grew stronger and brighter At this tiarments of bird-skins; but even before we reached the Ord River these began to shrink to such an extent that the wearers were eventually wrapped as in a vice, and were scarcely able to walk Yaarirls' spirits rose higher and higher I was assailed by other s I do not know quite how the idea arose, but soined that their protector's hoular houses, furnished with pianos and other appurtenances of civilised life! So great was their exuberance that I could not find it inmy own friendly natives, whose admiration and affection for myself only differentiated them from the other cannibal blacks of unknown Australia

When first I saw these poor girls, in the glow of the firelight, and in their rude shelter of boughs, they looked like old woard and elided down the stately Ord, they gradually resumed their youthful looks, and were very couish that haunted their faces had gone, and they laughed and chatted with perfect freedom They were like birds just set at liberty They loved Bruno from the very first; and he loved theoing hunting on his own account and bringing home little ducks to his new h his whole repertoire of tuirls returned to ca from the prickles, Bruno would lick their wounds and manifest every token of sy the native encampment, it was several weeks before we lided down that fine streaenerally a no object I have, by the way, seen enormous shoals of fish in this river--mainly mullet--which can only be compared to the vast swarms of salmon seen in the rivers of British Columbia