Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/156

 140 LIFE IN JAVA.

look upon as their own during the time they stayed in Djokdja.

After partaking of a hearty meal, for which these poor creatures expressed themselves most grateful to their host, they all withdrew, the man advising them, ere he retired, to be sure and keep their goods and gains under the pillow, for, as he said, " no one knows who might enter by night."

The women, who were much fatigued, were soon buried in profound slumber. The wretch, having ascertained this, entered the room armed with a large staff, with which he struck his victims on the head. Wounded, but not deprived of life, they utterred a few faint screams, and the man, to prevent them from alarming the neighbourhood, held the pillows tightly over their mouths until life was extinct. Then, wrapping the bodies up in matting, he carried them to the back of his house where there was a very deep well, into which, after tying a stone round the neck of each, he dropped

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