'96' native's ability to balance himself with an unwieldy bundle on the point of a needle. April 21- Up at dawn and broke camp right after Kai-Kai. Then more saw-tooth, roller-coaster grades until we halted about noon about two miles from Hanua. Here we loaded the Winchester and all shot-guns to be prepared like good boy-scouts, in case of any reprisal. We had our defence all figured out. It would not have been another Braddock's defeat. Fortune came our way. One of the carriers who went off a short distance from the trail happened to hear some people from Hanua at work in the bush cutting bamboo. Riaite and I tried to sneak up on them but we could not get to top of the knoll where they were without making a racket. The idea was to grab them and have Riaite talk savvy to them before they could run away. We adopted the next-best scheme- namely, to circle around them and camp on the trail over which they would have to return. They soon approached- a man, two kids, and a young girl. He was armed to the teeth- bow and arrows & tomahawk, and was scared out of his wits. He jumped back and assumed a Marquis of Queensbury attitude but quickly acceded to the talk of our bunch - evidently assuring him that everything was quite O.K. With such a gang he couldn't very well refuse anything- so he led us along. He had agreed to proceed us into the vil- lage and soothe chief and his men just as we did him. What a stroke of luck. Through his mediation a general evacuation was prevented, although Riaite had to hold the chief by the arm until I got close enough to grin at him. The first move was to shoot