Chapter 24

CHAPTER XXIV--IN THE BUSH

It was quite a formidable expedition that departed from Berande at
break of day next morning in a fleet of canoes and dinghies. There
were Joan and Sheldon, with Binu Charley and Lalaperu, the eight
Tahitians, and the ten Poonga-Poonga men, each proud in the
possession of a bright and shining modern rifle. In addition,
there were two of the plantation boat's-crews of six men each.
These, however, were to go no farther than Carli, where water
transportation ceased and where they were to wait with the boats.
Boucher remained behind in charge of Berande.

By eleven in the morning the expedition arrived at Binu, a cluster
of twenty houses on the river bank. And from here thirty odd Binu
men accompanied them, armed with spears and arrows, chattering and
grimacing with delight at the warlike array. The long quiet
stretches of river gave way to swifter water, and progress was
slower and more dogged. The Balesuna grew shallow as well, and
oftener were the loaded boats bumped along and half-lifted over the
bottom. In places timber-falls blocked the passage of the narrow
stream, and the boats and canoes were portaged around. Night
brought them to Carli, and they had the satisfaction of knowing
that they had accomplished in one day what had required two days
for Tudor's expedition.

Here at Carli, next morning, half-way through the grass-lands, the
boat's-crews were left, and with them the horde of Binu men, the
boldest of which held on for a bare mile and then ran scampering
back. Binu Charley, however, was at the fore, and led the way
onward into the rolling foot-hills, following the trail made by
Tudor and his men weeks before. That night they camped well into
the hills and deep in the tropic jungle. The third day found them
on the run-ways of the bushmen--narrow paths that compelled single
file and that turned and twisted with endless convolutions through
the dense undergrowth. For the most part it was a silent forest,
lush and dank, where only occasionally a wood-pigeon cooed or snow-
white cockatoos laughed harshly in laborious flight.

Here, in the mid-morning, the first casualty occurred. Binu
Charley had dropped behind for a time, and Koogoo, the Poonga-
Poonga man who had boasted that he would eat the bushmen, was in
the lead. Joan and Sheldon heard the twanging thrum and saw Koogoo
throw out his arms, at the same time dropping his rifle, stumble
forward, and sink down on his hands and knees. Between his naked
shoulders, low down and to the left, appeared the bone-barbed head
of an arrow. He had been shot through and through. Cocked rifles
swept the bush with nervous apprehension. But there was no rustle,
no movement; nothing but the humid oppressive