“Look!” said the Marquis, making a small motion with his hand. I looked and saw a Koiroro, whom I had not previously noticed, literally glaring at me as I put the stone away. He was by a good deal the tallest man in the village, and he had a very fine crown of bird-of-paradise feathers on his head—among them the plumes of the rare blue species that is worth almost what you like to ask for it in civilization. It was evident that he was a man of some standing. I suspected him to be the village sorcerer, as he had an ugly necklace about his neck, made of locks of human hair, strung alternately with some of the small bones out of the ear, and supporting a kind of trophy made of double teeth.
“More trouble about the diamond,” I said. “That city brute has a mind to get it if he can. A sorcerer, I reckon.”
There was some murmuring among the men, and they drew off into a corner of the house by themselves, talking and looking at us, especially at me. The inevitable evening rain of the mountains was coming down now in a waterfall rush; the purple gorge beneath us, that we could see through the open door, was filling up with a stormy sea of white cloud. Without, precipices, tree-tops, clouds and plunging steps, all drenched in roaring rain; within, a gloomy, damp-smelling house of rotten thatch, white skulls gleaming through the dusk from the place where they hung a-swing upon the rafters; shadowy men-things, more than half brute, glowering at us from their corner.... And out upon the hill-side, just a few yards away, the long stone ovens—waiting.
No, it was not a pleasant prospect, take it all in all.
For the moment, however, I thought there was no actual danger. I have seen much of the Papuan tribes, and it did not seem to me that these Koiroros had the blood-seeking mood on, that night.
“I don’t think they’ll attack just yet,” I told the Marquis. “But I’d be as glad if they hadn’t seen the stone. They’re talking about it now.”
“What do they say?” asked the Marquis eagerly.
“I can’t tell you that, but I can guess they’re telling each other all about it. I’d be willing to make a bet it’s known to them. It must be one of the celebrated sorcerer’s charms that go knocking about all over the country, passed from one to the other.”
“And they will try to get it?”
“Yes, it and us.”