oyal Bogobo birth. He and his father
had kept it secret because they intended her for his wife, and at
last he had captured the girl from Kali Pandapatan. Faster and faster
flew Piang's fingers, and finally a basket began to shape itself out
of the rushes. Soon Piang had two perfect baskets, and he slung them
over his shoulder. While Sicto and his villains were celebrating the
coming wedding, Piang quietly slipped back through the jungle, back
to the brook where the medicinal clay had cured the bee stings. When
he returned later, he handled the baskets with great care and chuckled
softly to himself.

A second beating of tom-toms thundered through the barrio. The bride
was coming. Down an avenue made for her by hostile looking women,
crept a tiny, terrified figure. It was draped in the softest Eastern
stuffs; jeweled anklets and bangles tinkled merrily. A gauzy veil of
wondrous workmanship swathed the figure, but through it all Piang
recognized his beloved Papita. Slowly she approached the altar;
fearfully she raised her eyes to the man who awaited her there. Her
little feet faltered, and the priestess supported her. Papita leaned
heavily against the woman. Three soft notes of a mina-bird floated
over the barrio, and Papita became suddenly alive. Again the notes
stole through the jungle. The bride threw back her veil.

"The unwilling maid seems to have forgot her woe," said one scornful
woman to another. "Now that she is about to become our chief's first
wife, she does not weep and cry to be taken home."

The priestess commenced the ceremony that was to last all
night. Chants, prayers, admonitions, all, Papita responded to with
renewed vigor, and her eyes furtively glanced toward a spot near the
curve of the creek where a slender reed swayed unceasingly. After
many hours the priestess led the way to the water and Ynoch placed
Papita in her gala vinta and pushed her out into the stream. He got
into another, and the two boats nosed each other while the crowd
showered them with oils and perfumes. When the command came to part,
each boat shot off in an opposite direction. A maiden and a bridegroom
are each supposed to meditate for the last time on the advisability of
the union before the final ceremony; so reads the Dyak marriage laws.

As indifferently as a queen, Papita plied her paddle, paying no heed
to the unfriendly eyes and mutterings of the Dyaks; she seemed in no
haste and managed her vinta with amazing skill fo