Leith was hurrying toward the hills
while we were crawling backward and forward through the undergrowth to
escape a few natives who pursued their tactics with a persistency that
was maddening. The fact that the pursuers had the advantage put a raw
edge upon our tempers, and after an hour spent upon hands and knees
Holman resolutely refused to shift his ground in response to Kaipi's
signals. I was just as tired of the wormlike attitude that we were
compelled to adopt, and I waited beside Holman while the Fijian slipped
away through the creepers after warning us by many eloquent signals that
one of the search party was creeping toward us.
Holman had a "let-'em-all-come" expression upon his face that would have
been amusing at any other time, and kneeling with our backs to each
other we endeavoured to peer through the leafage to get a glimpse of the
foe.
We remained like that for about ten minutes; then our attention was
attracted to a point about eighteen inches to the right. The dry leaves
were pushed quietly aside, but instead of a head appearing, as we
expected, a bare brown leg was thrust through the creepers and remained
stationary.
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