heard shouting on the hills near us, and mv man said,
“ Get down, master; quick, quick ! ” I lost no time
in jumping down and calling for my rifle and
sword. The Muruts I saw about fifteen on a hill to the
right, and about twice that number on a hill in front.
They were coming down on us also. Now, however,
my men came up from the boats, guns full-cocked, and
my boy came running with my Winchester. We.
grouped our little band, mounting eleven rifles, and
waited. The sumpitans of the Muruts were pointed
towards us, and their spears were already elevated.
My men had their rifles at their shoulders, ready to fire,
when who should rush up (just in time to save us,
perhaps) but our friends the Tambanois, our Suluman
friends of Bongoku. “ Run away ! ” shouted (megidoh)
they to the Muruts, “ run away ! ” “ Wait, don’t
fire,” they shouted to our party, and running to the
headman of the Muruts they explained matters, and we
learnt that seeing no faces they knew, the Muruts
thought we wanted to kill them, and they thought my
interpreter was merely a trap to deceive them. They
also thought my camp-chair was a machine to trap men
and catch them. Matters were now explained, and in
the morning they were anxious to trade with us, and I
bought a sumpitan and some other native things. The
old man said that he and all his people would go with
us to fight Sepuluts, if I would go with them ; they
assured me that these were the people that killed
Witti, and that it was five days’journey from the head
of the Pinungah.
Shooting rapids to-day was indeed a terrible
business. The river flooded, and waves like those 011
the beach at Labuan all across the river, with the roar