Evening star., 1921-08-14

why we udQ CdIQpeQ IN u place thot
seemed likely to tumble into the mid
die of last week If you coughed.
He sat on the floor and looked down
through the splits of the palm sheath
ing between his own feet. at the sun
set making a hell pit of the boiling
mountain mists 2.0O0 feet below. The
sight did not please him.
This house." he said. "is simply
bracketed onto a perpendicular preci-
pice. God knows how! When we came
along in those treetops that you called
track-track. good heaven, for mon
keys. or men?-and saw these things
stuck above US like the nests of some
mad bird, 1 couldn't believe you when
you said they were houses. The only
sensible thing 1 can see about the
people who built the place is that
they've deserted it,"
81 don't suppose they did" I SAID,
without paying too much attention to
what he said. The fact was that all
this mad mountain scenery-the
scarped peaks and tumbled camel
humps. and dislocated spines of the
mighty Owen Stanley-and the smell
of the closing night up here in the
clouds-it was wet smell, ana
smoky from the ancient thatching OF
the hut-was hypnotizing me.
l had not known it since the days
savage among the mountain folk who
had captured me. 1t was half a lite
since then-almost SO in years. ana
utterly in happenings and history
The years of the great war alone,
when l had fought and been pen
stoned and refused my pension be.
cause /. the white savage. had no real
need of money. doomed up behlnd as
big as a century.
Yet they were unreal tonlgnt' anu
nf
and myself, all over the island world
were unreal, and Rothery was unreal.
too. Nothing was true except the
small of the scented forests wet with
long mountain rain and the reek OF
smoky thatch and the sinister sound
of evening storm, rawsning and blum
dering up the chimes of the CioVen
ranges. as it had sounded for me on
hundred nights of this half-forgotten
mountain world-years ago.
What did they do. them asked
Rothery. drawing in his legs-for II
was damp and cold up here above the
5000 feet, and the fire that the car
riers had lighted at the other end of
the ruinous room was damp. and
smoked more than it blazed.
What did who do?' i asked. half
absently. Hornbills. huge-headed.
wide of wing, were planning home
above, with sound like Gnome
engine in want of repairs. The %
O'Clock" locusts had started vast
whirring and rattling among the
treetops far below. as if some one
had on a sudden turned the tap of a
reservoir of sound. Swift as spring
tides, the enormous, lonely night of
the mountains was distinguishing.
sert this place." answered Willis.
80, those? Eaten out, ! should
think" Willis looked at me oddly.
"A nice place to be in." he said.
You wanted to see the unexplored
country and you put up the money"
I reminded him.
60 I'm not, sorry; I rather like the
~ idea of being surrounded by
cannibal tribes whom no ones ever
seen. 1t seems exciting-or would If
you weren't so calm over it ALL"
IF you'd been a year and half in
the war" remarked. mixing myself
q chew of betel nut. the liveliest of
the New Guinea cannibals would
seem like lambs to you. / spent yes
terday evening, after you'd gone to
sleep. telling q lot of them about Bel
gium. They were very genuinely
'You-where were they? I never
knew"
mo. They. don't advertise I didn't
think you ripe for them yet. SO / let
you sleep. And, anyhow, you wouldn't
have seen them even il you'd been
awake"
Why"
You wouldn't see them if they
were all round you. unless they
wanted"
Il bet you, 1 should. You don't
know what quick perception l have"
II do not. You can't even see them
now" -
Rothery jumped-just a little. Then
he settled himself more firmly on the
floor. loosened his knife in his belt
and felt the trigger of his revolver
they do in books. but in real life one
doesn't; one might shoot some one
doing it-and told me he was ready
II there were thousand.
didn't say anything. Years had ac-
customed me to the curious views the
average man holds on the subject of
cannibalS. / only beckoned. and out Of
the dusk. up among the piles of the
house, from rocks and bushes and
holes. came two or three and twenty
short chunky. naked figures. carrying
ebony spears and obsidian clubs that
collector would have bought for
much money.
They had their hair plated in small
tails, mountain fashion, and adorned,
not with white mems heads but with
beads made of native shells, showing
thereby that they had no friendly
communications with the tribes from
the coast; whom, indeed, If remem-
bered correctly. they were apt to eat
on sight.
Willis stared as hard as a cat. and.
If you will remember, there is moth
ing that stares harder. The noun
taineers did not stare at him; never
theless. knew that these Indifferent.
deep-dug eyes of theirs had not
missed a single hair on his head or
button on his clothes. With the
politeness of the inland cannibal-I
will make you present OF the ill
manners Of the coastal breed-they
waited for my pleasure. not setting
'.Nambu and Maisi and Rore,"
said. tell the others of your village
that the food il ready, and come up.
my brothers, without fear. You know
me as your friend. the Pigeon of the
Hills"
of my piping voice. in the days when
! was a little white savage among
them.
"I've asked them to dinner"
bracketed to Rothery.
IF you are quite sure that the din
ner won't be on us. I've no possible
objection" he said.
"On the contrary. they're probably
worrying now a to whether you and
the carriers don't intend to make
feast Of them. It's a favorite trick
in Papua to ask people to dinner, and
then. make them provide the dinner
themselves
'Travel enlarges the mind" said
Willis. "1 always like to discover an
entirely new crime"
4 + i 4
biscuits these people did not un-
- derstand, nor sugar. Salt I gave