me rapid strides into deep water,
into which he plunged his long beak, and presently rose with a large
fish held by it. The fish wriggled about as if attempting to escape,
then by a sudden jerk he seemed to throw it into his mouth, down which
it disappeared.

Again we were at sea, paddling along parallel with the shore. There was
no longer a necessity for silence, and the Dyaks gave vent to their joy
and satisfaction at the success of their headhunting with shouts and
songs and peals of laughter. "It was no laughing matter to the once
peaceful inhabitants of the village you have so ruthlessly destroyed," I
should have liked to have said, but as they would not have understood
the sentiment, I remained silent, and I saw that they smiled whenever I
turned away my eye with disgust as it chanced to fall upon their gory
trophies. They met, on our return, with an enthusiastic welcome.
Directly on landing they set off to the neighbouring village, probably
to console the dying chief with the sight of the heads they had brought,
to assure him that in his passage to the other world he would have no
lack of retainers. They had been gone some time, and the house was
almost deserted, when I saw Ali paddling up in our boat to the steps.
He sprang up on the platform and came to me. "Bad people dese," he
said. "Dey cut off Ali's head, dey cut off Walter's head," and he made
a significant sign across his throat. "I know what do, ay, ay."

I could not understand his purpose--indeed, he did not deign further to
explain himself. He had left the boat at the steps. He made signs to
me to get into her. I did so, and found that he had supplied her with a
pair of oars and a number of bamboos of water, as well as a supply of
rice and fish and other articles of food. He then made signs to me to
row a little way down the river, and there to wait for him. I had got
to a little distance, when I saw some one moving under the house, where
a quantity of dry husks of rice and stalks of various sorts had been
collected. I recognised Ali by his costume, different from that of the
Dyaks. Presently I saw him making his way from under the house, and
coming along the path near the spot where he had told me to meet him.
Just then several Dyaks sprang out from the jungle; I saw the bright
gleam of a sword, and the instant afterwards Ali's body fell to the
ground, and a Dyak waved his head in triumph in the air. Such might be
my fate, I thought.