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Adventure-Part28_JACK LONDON(1876-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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in a whale-boat with word for Boucher to come down. Ammunition was



issued to the Tahitians, and the storeroom overhauled for a few

days' tinned provisions. Viaburi turned yellow when told that he



was to accompany the expedition, and, to everybody's surprise,

Lalaperu volunteered to take his place.



Seelee arrived, proud in his importance that the great master of

Berande should summon him in the night-time for council, and firm



in his refusal to step one inch within the dread domain of the

bushmen. As he said, if his opinion had been asked when the gold-



hunters started, he would have foretold their disastrous end.

There was only one thing that happened to any one who ventured into



the bushmen's territory, and that was that he was eaten. And he

would further say, without being asked, that if Sheldon went up



into the bush he would be eaten too.

Sheldon sent for a gang-boss and told him to bring ten of the



biggest, best, and strongest Poonga-Poonga men.

"Not salt-water boys," Sheldon cautioned, "but bush boys--leg



belong him strong fella leg. Boy no savvee musket, no good. You

bring 'm boy shoot musket strong fella."



They were ten picked men that filed up on the veranda and stood in

the glare of the lanterns. Their heavy, muscular legs advertised



that they were bushmen. Each claimed long experience in bush-

fighting, most of them showed scars of bullet or spear-thrust in



proof, and all were wild for a chance to break the humdrum monotony

of plantation labour by going on a killing expedition. Killing was



their natural vocation, not wood-cutting; and while they would not

have ventured the Guadalcanar bush alone, with a white man like



Sheldon behind them, and a white Mary such as they knew Joan to be,

they could expect a safe and delightful time. Besides, the great



master had told them that the eight gigantic Tahitians were going

along.



The Poonga-Poonga volunteers stood with glistening eyes and

grinning faces, naked save for their loin-cloths, and barbarously



ornamented. Each wore a flat, turtle-shell ring suspended through

his nose, and each carried a clay pipe in an ear-hole or thrust



inside a beaded biceps armlet. A pair of magnificent boar tusks

graced the chest of one. On the chest of another hung a huge disc



of polished fossil clam-shell.

"Plenty strong fella fight," Sheldon warned them in conclusion.



They grinned and shifted delightedly.

"S'pose bushmen kai-kai along you?" he queried.



"No fear," answered their spokesman, one Koogoo, a strapping,

thick-lipped Ethiopian-looking man. "S'pose Poonga-Poonga boy kai-



kai bush-boy?"

Sheldon shook his head, laughing, and dismissed them, and went to



overhaul the dunnage-room for a small shelter tent for Joan's use.

CHAPTER XXIV--IN THE BUSH



It was quite a formidableexpedition 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 tropicjungle. The third day found them



on the run-ways of the bushmen--narrow paths that compelled single




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