ceeded to lay the body out. It
was quite nude, and though cold, had not yet stiffened. The tongue
which, thickly coated with yellow, had been protruded, was now forced
back into the mouth. A rope of palmyra fibre was brought, and the women
then proceeded to swathe it round with the cord, giving the body a
sitting position. This operation lasted a couple of hours, during which
the prisoners were kept apart, as spectators, the noise outside never
ceasing. Hughes, who now had the notion that both were to be sacrificed
on the dead chief's grave, attempted to speak across the hut to the
missionary, but a heavy blow was the reward. Wyzinski's calm face and
thin features relaxed into a smile, as the soldier returned the blow by
means of a violent kick, and found himself the next moment powerless
lying on his back, and a stout rope of palmyra round his legs.
Strangely situated as they were, it was a curious sight. The busy
women, singing their monotonous song; the sitting corpse stiffening into
the position that had been given it. Outside, shouting and wild
excitement, and every now and then some Amatonga brave dashing into the
hut, yelling out half a dozen phrases in praise of the dead Sgalam, and
dashing away, to be followed in turn by others. In one corner the
soldier firmly bound, in another the missionary, his hands only tied.
At length a litter of branches was brought, the sitting corpse placed
upon it, the hut became filled with savages, the rope which confined the
soldier's legs was unfastened, and the two were ordered to follow the
bier, which was conveyed outside. A circle of dark braves swept round
the captives, their glittering knives in their hands, as the procession
moved off, the leading men of the tribe grouping themselves round the
corpse shouting and yelling. They had not far to go, for the journey
ended at an enclosure a few hundred yards from the dead warrior's hut.
The bright sun streamed over them as they entered this enclosure, which
was in fact the place where the chief's cattle had been penned. There,
right in the centre, a deep hole had been dug, and into this, ever
preserving his sitting position, the body was lowered, the songs,
screams, and shouts increasing in intensity, as the broad hoes threw
back the light earth into the grave. Slowly but surely the body
disappeared, for a hundred hoes were at work dragging the sand back.
The face of the dead was gradually covered, the hole was filled