Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/277

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stream, scrupulously avoiding even the brushwood on the banks and the overhanging branches, lest a broken leaf should betray them to their pursuers.

The men carried their weapons and most of their few and poor possessions; and the women toiled along, their backs bowed beneath the burden of their rattan knapsacks, in which babies and carved receptacles made of lengths of bamboo jostled rude cooking-pots of the same material and scraps of evil- looking food. Children of more than two years fended for themselves, following deftly in the foot- steps of their elders, many of them even helping to carry the property of the tribe. The oldest woman in the camp, Sem-pak-the Dûri-an fruit-who, the night before had cried out in terror when To' Pangku Mûda's Familiar was mentioned by the scouts, tottered along with shaking knees and palsied limbs, her lips mumbling, her head in constant motion, her eyes restless and wild. She alone carried no burden for it was all that she could do to keep up with hei fellows unhampered by a load; but Te-C-Running Water her granddaughter, bore upon her strong young shoulders a pack heavy enough for them both, and on the march her hand was ever ready to assist the feeble steps of the older woman.

Te-U. had times been better, was to have been married to Laish, the Ant, a few days earlier; but the camp had been broken up hurriedly before the simple wedding ceremonies could be completed, for the news of the impending raid had driven all thought. of anything less urgent than the saving of life and