Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1912-01-30
were to sion rs Guards.

Kinu Charley led the way by proxy,
however. for by means of the poison
ed spear he drove the captive bush
man ahead. They ploddcd on. pant
ing and sweating in the humid. stag
uant air. They We're Immersed in n
sea of wanton, prodigal vegetation.
Caught by surprise fifteen feet in
the air above the path in the forks OF
a many branched tree. Il buShnan
dropped ike shadow. naked as on
his natal morn. 1t was hard for them
to realize that it was Il man. for he
seemed weird jungle, sprite. 4 goblin
of the forest. Only Binu Charley was
not perturbed. He flung his poisoned
spear over the head OF the captive at
the fitting form. 1t was a mighty
cast. we'll intended. but the shadow,
leaping. received the spear harmlessly
between the legs and. tripping upon
it. was flung sprawling. Before he
could get away Bm Charley was
upon him. clutching him by his SNOW
white hair. He WAS only young man
and Il dandy at that. his face black
with wood ashes. with the freshly
severed tail of a wild pig thrust
through his perforated nose and two
more thrust through his ears. His
only other ornament was necklace
of human finger bones. At sight of
their other prisoner he chartered in a
high Querulous falsetto. with pncker
ed brdsvs and troubled. wild animal
eyes. He was disposed of along the
middle of the line. one of the Poonsa
Poonga men leading him at the end
of a length of bark rone.
"Close up he stop Binu Charley
warned them in whisper.
Even as he spoke. from high over
head came the deep resonant boom OF
a village drum But the beat was Slow
There was no panic in the sound. The
runway now became Il deeply worn
path. rising so stecpiy that several
times the party paused for breath.
"One man with rife could hold it
against a thousand Sheldon whisper
ed to Joan. 'And twenty men could
hold it with spears and arrows"
They came out on the village. sit
uated on small. upland plateau. grass
covered ana with only occasional trees,
There was wild chorus of warning
cries from the women. and spears and
arrows began to fall among the in
vaders. At Sheldon's command the
Tahitians and poonga- Poonga men got
into action with their rifles. The spears
and arrows ceased. the last bushmen
disappeared. and the fight was over al
most as soon as it had begun. On their
own side no one had been hurt. while
half dozen bushmen had been killed.
poor brutes." Joan said. They act
eat their kind and take heads is good
morality for them"
But they should be taught not to
take white mems heads Sheldon nr
gued.
She nodded approval aud sad IF
we lind one head we'll burn the vii
Iage. Hey. you, Charley! What fella
place head he stop?'
"S'pose he stop along devildevil
house." was the answer. THAT big
fella house. he devil-devil."
1t was the largest house in the vii
lage. Into it they went. Croched be-
fore a slow smoking fire. in the Uttered
ashes of a thousand fires. was an old
man who blinked alphabetically at the
invaders. His task, it seemed, was to
tend the fire, and. hung in the smoke,
they found the object Of their search.
Joan turned and stumbled out hastily.
deathly sick, rceling into the sunshine
and clutching at the air for support.
"See if all are there" she called back
family and tottercd ainlessly on for
few steps. breathing the air in great
drafts and trying to forget the sight
she had SEEN
Upon Sheldon fell the unpleasant
task of tallying the heads. They were
all there. nine of them. white mems
heads, the faces of which he had been
familiar with when their owners had
camped in Berande compound and set
up the polling boats. Binu Charley.
hugely interested. lent n hand turn,
ing the heads around for identification.
noting the Ratchet strokes and remark
ing the distorted expressions.
Other heads. thoroughly sun dried
and smoke cured. were found in album.
were the heads of blacks.
ME savvee black Mary. me savvee
white Mary quoth Binu Charley
ME no savvee that fella Mary. What
name belong him?"
Sheldon looked Ancient and with
cred. blackencd by many years of the
smoke of the devil devil house. never,
the!ess the shrunken. mummylike face
was Enthusiastically Chinese. How it
had come there was the mystery. 1t
was IL woman's head and he had never
heard of a Chinese woman in the his
tory OF the Solomons. From the ears
hung two inch long earrings. and at
Sheldon'S direction the Binu man
rubbed away the accretions of smoke
and dirt and from under his fingers
appeared the polished green of jade,
the sheen of pearl and the warm red
of oriental gold. The other head.
equally ancient. was Il white mans.
and Sheldon wondered what forgotten
becheder-mer fisherman or sanda lwOod
trader had gone to furnish that ghast.
ly trophy.
Telling Binu Charley to remove tho
earrings and directing the Poonga.
PoonGa men to carry out the old fire
tender Sheldon cleared the devildcyi Il
house and set Are to it. Soon every
house was. blazing merrily. while the