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In his eagerness to strike, and much weakened by his wounds, Whagoo overbalanced himself, and before he could again recover his feet or raise his club Oamo brought his weapon with tremendous force down on his unguarded skull, which with a single blow he clove in two, and our champion fell dead to the earth.
I'll tell you what has happened when we reach a place of safety." I set off with him towards the village. Our appearance, with the account we gave, made all the warriors turn out, led by Whagoo, to stop the progress of the enemy; for by Harry's account the hostile party was approaching, and would, if not stopped, quickly destroy the taro fields and cut down all the trees in their course.
Harry told me, that as far as he could make out, each party was trying to induce the other to cross the stream and fight. At length Whagoo dared Oamo to come over and engage in single combat.
Cautiously he advanced, holding his club with both hands towards the ground; while Whagoo kept his elevated above his shoulders, as if ready to bring it down on his antagonist's head.
I now began seriously to fear for the result. Oamo saw his advantage, and allowed Whagoo still further to exhaust his strength. "What are we to do, Harry, if our friend gets beaten?" I asked. "We must try and escape, for otherwise I fear that we shall be handed over to the victorious party," he answered. "Will they kill us?" I asked.
So, finding that he could much more easily reach us than get back southward, and that his captors were less likely to look out for him on our side, he resolved to escape; and that very night succeeded in doing so. On hearing this, Paowang and Whagoo hurried on their preparations; and, led by the latter, the warriors sallied forth in battle array, taking Harry and me with them.
As we had no arms, and should have been unwilling to fight even had we possessed any, we were surprised at this; but Whagoo insisted that it was necessary, and we were compelled to comply. We marched on at a rapid rate till we reached a broad stream, which separated, we learned, the territory of Paowang from that of Oamo.
The two champions then advanced to meet each other, armed with the formidable carved clubs I have described, one blow from which would, it appeared, quickly decide the contest. As they advanced slowly, they narrowly eyed each other, waiting for a favourable moment to deal the first blow. Whagoo was young and active, but Oamo appeared to possess superior strength.
He replied, "Whagoo;" on which Dick and I again shook hands with him, thanking them for the information.
For a minute or more they stood facing each other, their eyes glaring like balls of fire, when like lightning Oamo bounded towards his antagonist and dealt a blow of force sufficient to bring an ox to the ground; but Whagoo, actively leaping on one side, avoided it, and prepared to strike in return.
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