Chiromo looked round at the circle of fellow villagers; he could not see their eyes, but felt that no help might be expected from them; they would not come between him and a Government man.
Chiromo tried again.
"In my hut I have much white man's money and a gun—all are yours if you will untie my hands; moreover, the iron hurts me and the Morena's orders are that no man be hurt."
The mention of the money and the gun reminded Mokorongo of the medicine.
"Go in," he said, pushing Chiromo before him.
It is well that Mokorongo had the paperweight to support his courage.
III.
A fire smouldered in a circular hearth in the middle of the floor, but the light from it was so dim that nothing more was visible. Mokorongo, kneeling deftly, drew together the unburnt sticks and blew upon the pile; the suddenness with which it burst into flame startled him. Then he rose and looked round the hut.
Chiromo had walked over to his bed; he now sat watching.
The blackened walls were profusely decorated with rude drawings, done in light clay, of men and beasts, with here and there a pattern such as one sees on primitive earthenware vessels. From the roof, suspended by a length of plaited bark, dangled the skull of a human being. Mokorongo had seen many human skulls in his time, but, in such a place, this ghastly human relic unnerved him a little. The skull spun slightly with the air current which entered the open door, and ghostly eyes seemed to peer from the empty sockets, first at one man, then at the other, as if the lifeless thing were taking a lively interest in the situation.