our ways rejoicing.

The bridge led to the door of a chief's house, and the door stood open.
It was a large, square house, of one room only, and with the floor sunk
to the depth of three feet in the centre. It was like looking into a dry
swimming bath. A step, or terrace, on the four sides of the room made
the descent easy, and I descended. The chief, in a cast-off military
jacket, gave me welcome with a mouthful of low gutterals. I found a good
stove in the lodge and several comfortable-looking beds, with chintz
curtains and an Oriental superabundance of pillows. A few photographs in
cheap frames adorned the walls; a few flaming chromos--Crucifixions and
the like--hung there, along with fathoms of fishnet, clusters of
fish-hooks, paddles, kitchen furniture, wearing apparel, and a
blunderbuss or two. Four huge totem poles, or ponderous carvings,
supported the heavy beams of the roof in the manner of caryatides. These
figures, half veiled in shadow, were most impressive, and gave a kind of
Egyptian solemnity to the dimly lighted apartment.

The chief was not alone. His man Friday was with him, and together we
sat and smoked in a silence that was almost suffocating. It fairly
snapped once or twice, it was so dense; and then we three exchanged
grave smiles and puffed away in great contentment. The interview was
brought to a sudden close by the chief's making me a very earnest offer
of $6 for my much-admired gum ulster, and I refusing it with scorn--for
it was still raining. So we parted coldly, and I once more walked the
giddy bridge with fear and trembling; for I am not a somnambulist, who
alone might perform there with impunity.

It was a bad day for curios. The town had been sacked on the voyage up;
yet I prowled in these quarters, where one would least expect to find
treasure, inasmuch as it is mostly found just there. Presently the most
hideous of faces was turned up at me from the threshold of a humble
lodge. It was of a dead green color, with blood trimmings; the nose
beaked like a parrot's, the mouth a gaping crescent; the eyeless sockets
seemed to sparkle and blink with inner eyes set in the back of the
skull; murderous scalp locks streamed over the ill-shapen brow; and from
the depths of this monstrosity some one, or something, said, "Boo!" I
sprang backward, only to hear the gurgle of baby laughter, and see the
wee face of a half-Indian cherub peering from behind the mask. Well,
that mask is mine now; and whe