around me
resounded with the loud angry shouts and cries of the enemy. I found
out afterwards that my friends and the rest had no intention of giving
chase, but had been highly amused in watching my poor effort to keep
up with the nimble barefooted police. I shall never forget those
uncomfortable few minutes as I rushed down the track in the direction
the police had taken. Visions arose before me of the part I should play
in a cannibal feast, and I expected every minute to feel the sharp
point of a spear entering the small of my back, just as I had been
seeing our people drive their spears clean through some running pigs.

To my dismay I found the track divided, and it was impossible to
tell which way the police had gone. To turn back was out of the
question. I had come a good way, and I had no idea where the rest were,
and from the uproar at the back I imagined the Doboduras were coming
down the track after me. I hastily decided to go by the old saying,
"If you go to the right you are right," and it was well for me that I
did so, as I found out later from the police that if I had gone to the
left--well, there would have been nothing left of me, especially after
one Dobodura meal, as the enemy were there in full force. As it was, I
soon afterward came up with the police, feeling rather shaky and white.

The police had captured a middle-aged woman, whose face and part
of her body were thickly plastered with clay. This was a sign of
mourning. We learnt that she was a Notu woman, who had been captured
some time previously by the Doboduras. She was much alarmed, and
whined and beat her breasts, and caressed some of the police. We
made her come on with us, and the rest of the party soon joining
us, we came to another village, which we "rushed," but it, too,
was deserted. There was more killing of fowls and pigs, and a scene
of great confusion as our people speared and clubbed them and ran
about in all directions, looting the houses, picking coconuts, and
cutting down betel-nut palms, many of them decorating themselves
with the beautifully variegated leaves of crotons and _dracaenas,_
some of which were of species entirely new to me. It seemed a bit
curious that these wild cannibals should exhibit such a taste for
these gay and brilliantly coloured leaves and flowers, which they
had evidently transplanted from forest and jungle to their own village.

We continued our way through bush and open country, our police having
sli