Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/289

 traordinary precision upon the slender lines of rattan. and for some thirty or forty yards all went well with them. Then one of the babies whimpered, and at the sound the jungle in front and below them broke into a tumult of familiar yells, which told them that those of the slave-raiders who belonged to their own race had discovered their attempt to escape, and were doing their best to head the fugitives off and to warn the sleepy Malays.

Presently old Ka' saw the mop heads of half a dozen tame Sâkai spring into prominence against the dim sky. His enemies had swarmed up into a treetop not twenty feet away from him, and were in possession of the other end of the rattan line along which he was tightroping. A voice, which he recog- nized as that of To' Stia of the twisted toe, cried hurriedly in the Sakai dialect "Ok i-oda"-give me a knife and some one unseen in the darkness, grunted "Kod"-Take it.

At this Ka', screaming a warning to his fellows, turned sharply about in midair, and headed back for the tree from which he had set out. Involuntarily he looked down into the abyss of impenetrable dark- ness beneath his feet, into the falliomless obscurity on either hand, but even his eyes, gifted with the marvellous sight of the jungle-folk, could see nothing. A man and two women, the latter bearing little children against their bosoms, had turned to fly when Ka' uttered his warning ery; but they were feeling their way along the rattan line unaided by any seuse save that of touch. and even in their pauie their