Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/389

 of the bamboo walls; and when all had been ac- complished, Pa' Ah-Gap slipped into the forest, niak- ing no sound in his going, as is the manner of the jungle people. But, as he went, at each step he let fall little pieces of his unravelled loin-clout, leaving behind him a trail such as a man makes who chews sugarcane as he walks.

"At the hour when the kine go down to water, the parents and brethren of Hôdolt returned from the rice-field, and she made complaint to them concern- ing the evil behaviour of Pa' Ah-Gap, the Sâkai; and her father was very angry, swearing that he would punish the animal, and that with no sparing hand, for thus molesting his women kind. There was much talk in the house that night, and I, hiding beneath the flooring, heard all that passed; and I, too, vowed that I would belabour that Sakai for daring thus to insult the woman who was to be mine.

"Now it chanced that, shortly after sleep had come to all within the house, save only to Hôdoh, who lay wide-eyed upon her mat, that a mighty burning came upon her, consuming her body as it were with fire, assailing her from her head even to her feet, and making of her heart and her liver and her spleen and her hugs so many red-hot embers, scorching their way through her flesh; and at the same time, speech was wholly reft from her, so that she could by no means cry out or summon any one to her aid. Forthwith, moreover, a sudden knowl- edge came to her that the cool, dark jungles could alone abate the agony she was enduring; wherefore,