Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/268

 the heavens, seen overhead through the interlacing branches, the sunlight still lingered, but the sky looked wan and woebegone.

There were a score and a half of squallid creatures occupying the little camp, men and women and children of various ages, all members of the down- trodden aboriginal tribes of the Peninsula, beings melancholy and miserable, thoroughly in keeping with the sodden, dreary gloom around them, and with their comfortless resting-place. All the chil- dren and some of the younger women were stark naked, and the other occupants of the camp wore no garment save a narrow strip of bark cloth twisted in a dirty wisp about their loins. Up here in the foothills it was intensely cold, as temperature is reckoned in the tropics, for the rain had chilled the forest land to a dank rawness. The Sâkai huts con- sisted of rude, lean-to shelters of palm leaves, sup- ported by wooden props, and under them the jungle- folk had huddled together while the pitiless sky emptied its waters upon them. No real protection from the weather had thereby been afforded to them, however, and everything in the camp was drenched and clammy.

The Sakai squatted upon their heels, pressing closely against one another, with their toes in the warm ashes, as they edged in nearer and nearer to the smoky fires. Every now and again the teeth of one or another of them would start chattering nois- ily, and several of the children whimpered and whined unceasingly. The women were silent for the most