elf to kill one of them. It was like shooting at a child. We
picked them out of the water and put them in the boat, and then paddled on
again. We had just got to a turn in the river when two big canoes came
round the corner. It was of no use our trying to get away, for they could
go six feet to our one. Mr. Towel stood up in the stern and held both his
arms up to show that we were friendly, but directly afterwards a shower of
spears came whizzing down at us. One hit Jackson, who was in the bow,
somewhere in the body. He fired at them, and then fell down in the bottom
of the boat. Then the rest of us fired, and for a moment they sheered off,
but the men had just time to reload their guns when the Malays came at us.
The men fired again, and a moment later the canoes ran alongside. We took
to our pistols, but the Malays came leaping on board like demons.

"I don't know anything more about that part of the business, for I got a
crack on the head with a club, and did not know anything more till I was
hauled on shore and chucked down. Then I saw them bring from the canoes
the heads of all the others. It was frightful. Then they dragged the
bodies out from the bottom of the canoes. They had all been stripped, and
I believe I should have fainted if a big Malay had not given me a
tremendous kick, and made me walk up to the village. As soon as I got
there they tied me up and staked me out. There was a tremendous noise and
shouting and yelling, but what was done I don't know, as I could see
nothing but the sky and the wall of the hut. It was an awful time; first
because I knew that sooner or later they would kill me, and in the next
place, because I was driven pretty nearly mad by the flies and things that
settled on my face. Of course I could not brush them away, and all that I
could do was to shake my head, and they did not seem to mind that. It
seems ridiculous that, after seeing one's friends killed and knowing that
one is going to be killed oneself, one should worry over flies, but I can
tell you I went nearly out of my mind with irritation at the tickling of
their feet. It seemed to me that I was there for ages, though I knew by
the height of the sun that it was only about noon. The thirst, too, was
fearful, and I made up my mind that the sooner they came and killed me the
better. I found myself talking all sorts of nonsense, and I do think that
I should have gone out of my mind before the day was over. When first I
heard your