Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/283

 The unabashed tiger continued to snarl and growl over its vietims, high above the Sâkai's heads on the brow of the hogsback.

"Come, let us ery to him once more," said Ka' to his fellows; and again they raised a shrill shout that carried far and wide through the forest, repeat- ing that they had beheld the beast's navel, and that they knew it to be situated at the back of its neek. Malays and Sâkai alike believe the tiger to be very sensitive upon this subject, and that he will fly before the face of any man who possesses the necessary knowledge of his anatomy. The native theory in- clines to the opinion that the tiger's navel is loeated in his neck, and you may examine the dead body of one of these animals minutely without finding any- thing to disprove, or indeed to prove, this notion.

A third time the Sâkai raised their shout, and when they relapsed into silence the tiger had ceased his growlings; but another sound, faint and far, came from the direction of the lower reaches of the stream up which the tribe had been toiling all the morning. It was like the roar of a rapid, but was broader, coarser, gruffer, and when they heard it the Sâkai were conscious of a painful tightening of their heart- strings, for it recalled them suddenly to recollection of the danger from human pursuers which for the moment had well-nigh passed out of their eonscious- ness. It was the sorák-the war-cry of the Malays. The raiders were hot upon their trail, and were pressing up the banks of the little stream in pursuit. The yells which the fugitives had been uttering