lighted up the spot, and her beams fell on
their savage features, their fantastic dresses of skins and feathers, or
gaily-coloured clothes, and the bloody trophies which so many bore at
their waists, as they crept onward with the stealthy step habitual to
them on such expeditions. Eva trembled, for she could not tell whether
they were friends or foes; but Blount recognised them, and jumping up,
presented himself before them. They seemed delighted to meet him. They
told him that they had fallen in with another village of their enemies,
and that they had stopped to destroy it. Short work as they had made of
it, the delay would have cost them dear, had we not observed the enemy
crossing the lake, and been able to give them notice of the
circumstance. The party were led, it appeared, by a young chief over
whom Blount had some influence, and, to prevent further bloodshed, he
strongly advised him not to molest the ambush, but to turn off on one
side to avoid them. This advice was not palatable to the young warrior,
and he insisted on his right to kill those who had come to kill him. We
proceeded, therefore, in the original direction. Several of the Dyaks
at once volunteered to carry Eva on her litter, and Blount and I walked
by her side as her bodyguard. I observed that considerable precautions
were taken in the advance. The main body kept in close order, while an
advanced guard was sent forward to feel the way, and skirmishers were
thrown out on either side to guard the flanks from attack. Scouts also
were sent ahead, stealthily picking their way amongst the most sheltered
paths, in order to discover the ambush. We had not proceeded far, when
two of the scouts came in, and reported that a body of the enemy lay in
ambush among some rocks at the entrance of a ravine leading up from the
lake. On hearing this, the young chief divided his force into three
bodies. He was to lead one to the hill above the ambush; a second was
to proceed over the hills on the opposite side of the ravine, to get
ahead of the enemy; while a third was to block up the entrance, so as to
prevent their escape in that direction. Eva accompanied the second
body, which I thought was less likely to be engaged. The dispositions
were quickly made, and we had scarcely descended again into the ravine
after evading the ambush, than the loud war-shrieks, disturbing the calm
serenity of the night, told us that the work of death was going on. A
few unf