embled the boys and made them a speech,
saying that their loads were not too heavy nor the marches too long,
that they were all free to return home, but would have to take the
consequences, and that I and the moli would go on without them. If
they liked, I said, they could throw away their tinned meats, I did not
care, and the two bottles of grog were not meant for me, and we could
easily spare those. I grasped the bottles and offered to smash them,
but that was too much for the boys; half crying, they begged me not to
do that: the bottles were not too heavy, and they would gladly carry
them as far as I liked. Hesitatingly I allowed myself to be persuaded,
and kindly desisted from the work of destruction. I had won, but I had
lost confidence in my boys, and was careful not to put their patience
and fidelity to any more tests, conscious as I was of how much depended
on their goodwill. After this episode they accomplished a long and
tiresome march, up and down through thick bush on slippery clay,
quite willingly. In the evening we reached a few huts in a clearing
at a height of about 1200 feet, and went into camp for the night.

While cooking, we heard dismal howling and weeping from a neighbouring
hut; it was a woman mourning her husband, who had been dead ninety-nine
days. To-morrow, on the hundredth day, there was to be a death-feast,
to which all the neighbours were invited. Of course, this man, too,
had been poisoned.

The fire of revolt was smouldering in my boys. They sat round
the camp-fire in groups, whispering and plotting, grumbling and
undecided; but I felt safe enough, as they were evidently divided
into two parties, one faithful and the other mutinous, and the former
seemed rather more influential. They proved their goodwill to me by
delightful servility, and took excellent care of me.

Next morning we were wakened by the howls of the unhappy widow,
and soon the guests appeared, some from far off, and all bringing
contributions to the feast. They killed several pigs, and while
the men cut them up in a manner rather more clever than appetizing,
the women prepared the fires by lighting large quantities of wood
to heat the cooking-stones. This lasted several hours. Meanwhile,
every person present received his share of a half-rotten smoked pig,
of the freshly killed pigs, yam, taro and sweet potatoes. The women
took the entrails of the pigs, squeezed them out, rolled them up in
banana leaves, and made them re