SOME MODERN GLADIATORS
few minutes and then observed: 'Too late, my child. I think our host awaits us; the trees are alive. To retreat now would mean a swarm of them upon us, for they have a few bark ferries on the beach, I note. Brace up, and try to infuse a little self-respect into our simple followers, as I fear they have forgotten their ancestral pride and will do us scant credit.'
"And all the while we were slowly drawing ahead, the blacks paddling mechanically, their eyes rolling abnormally as they sought to pierce with fascinated gaze the threatening, rank foliage, now very near. And just as I had finished a survive-or-perish harangue, a cloud of Feeney's magpies burst into view and even waded out up to their shoulders to meet us, so warm was their cordiality. Tib had lighted a quinine cigarette and stood in the bow of our yacht, seemingly unaware of one six-foot midget shrieking in his ear and flourishing an axe about his rotund form. I tried to be a good understudy, and the galley-slaves were so thoroughly frightened they sat like cigar-store Indians. As the boat grated on the rocks Tib jumped ashore, thrust his hands into his pockets, and gazed about for the head pirate.
"‘There he is, Billy—the man with the face like an inflamed nightmare. Jovial, whole-souled-looking chap, eh?' and he nodded his head carelessly towards him we both knew to be Chief Feeney Scraws.
289
