rls were kept in ignorance of the fatal termination of the
wrestling match, as I was afraid it might give them an unnecessary shock.
After twelve or fourteen days in the camp, we quietly took our departure.
Our party consisted of the two girls, who were nearly frantic with
excitement over their escape; Yamba, and myself--together with the
friendly warriors who had so opportunely come to my assistance.

We had not gone far, however, before the girls complained of sore feet.
This was not surprising, considering the burning hot sand and the rough
country we were traversing, which was quite the worst I had yet seen--at
any rate, for the first few days' march after we got out of the level
country in the King's Sound region. I, therefore, had to rig up a kind
of hammock made of woven grass, and this, slung between two poles, served
to carry the girls by turns, the natives acting as bearers. But being
totally unused to carrying anything but their own weapons, they proved
deplorably inefficient as porters, and after a time, so intolerable to
them did the labour become, the work of carrying the girls devolved upon
Yamba and myself. Gladys, the younger girl, suffered most, but both were
weak and footsore and generally incapable of much exertion. Perhaps a
reaction had set in after the terrible excitement of the previous days.
Soon our escort left us, to return to their own homes; and then Yamba and
I had to work extremely hard to get the girls over the terribly rough
country. Fortunately there was no need for hurry, and so we proceeded in
the most leisurely manner possible, camping frequently and erecting grass
shelters for our delicate charges. Food was abundant, and the natives
friendly.

CHAPTER XI

Easier travel--The girls improve--How the blacks received them--A large
hut--A dainty dish--What might have been--The girls decorate their
home--Bruno as a performer--"A teacher of swimming"--How we fought
depression--Castles in the air--A strange concert--Trapping wild-cats--The
girls' terror of solitude--Fervent prayer--A goose-skin football--How I
made drums.

At length we came to a stately stream that flowed in a NNE. direction to
Cambridge Gulf. This, I believe, is the Ord River. Here we constructed
a catamaran, and were able to travel easily and luxuriously upon it,
always spending the night ashore. This catamaran was exceptionally
large, and long enough to admit of our standing upright on it with
perfect