fter the head man had religiously shaken every newcomer's hand,
our officers began bargaining with him and with his people for their
knives, and the crowd of men around us grew every moment greater,
with not a woman in sight. There were men in complete Moro costume,
handsome and picturesque; others ruining their appearance by the
addition of a hideous balbriggan undershirt, sandwiched between tight
trousers with innumerable buttons and a brilliantly coloured turban;
while still others, in little else than a fez and breech-clout,
seemed not a whit abashed. The children were either quite naked, or
wrapped in _sarongs_, faded by the sun and weather to a dull harmony
of their once too brilliant reds and greens.

Finally on the outskirts of the crowd I caught a glimpse of three
Moro women, and forced my way to them, shaking hands and smiling as
affably as possible. They shook hands in return, rather awkwardly,
but answered smile with smile, talking excitedly in their native
tongue, and seeming surprised that I could speak only a word or two
of Malay, without doubt a more agreeable language than that harsh
and unintelligible one in which the white officers were bargaining
for _barongs_ and _krises_.

Over the stone fortification a short distance away I had a glimpse of
tree tops and the steep, slanting roofs of nipa houses, while at the
gate stood still another group of women, most of them dressed from
the waist to the knees only. Motioning my three friends to follow,
I approached these women, whereupon they took fright and hid behind
the nearest house. That is, all but one old crone, too feeble to run,
who tremblingly awaited her fate until, reassured by the manner of
those I had talked to outside the wall, she lifted up her voice in
voluble Malay, evidently telling the others that the strange creature
neither bit nor scratched, whereat they all came back, first slowly
by ones and twos, and then more rapidly, until they stood around me
in a ring at least twenty deep.

As women have a language of their own the world over, we understood
each other quickly; and how friendly they were, and how delighted
with my clothes and all the little accessories, the hat, the veil,
the belt, the collar. Next they were amazed at my teeth, and pointed
to their own blackened ones, and then to mine, pushing forward little
girls under ten to show that only children should have white teeth,
while I, despite my extreme age, still sported such ev