We hasten back to the kampong to tell the natives of the schooner and also to see if they know anything about her. She may be, we think, a boat that customarily touches at this place to trade. Upon seeing the schooner, which is momentarily drawing nearer, the natives chatter excitedly, finally making us understand that she will not come here, but will undoubtedly touch at a kampong farther up the coast where much copra or dried cocoanut meat, purchased from the natives with trade tobacco, will be taken on. The schooner is tacking and, even as we watch, takes a slant across the wind. The other kampong is fifteen miles to the westward. If we can get there in time to intercept the schooner before she has taken on her cargo and left, there is a good chance that we can get back to Merauke on her and catch the steamer to Java.
A steamer is due to leave Merauke for civilization in four days, according to our calendar. There is no time to lose. Instantly we make up our minds to take that schooner back. This will necessitate our packing up our equipment immediately and transporting it fifteen miles in the broiling heat of midday, plowing through the soft beach sand. It is a large order to undertake in the tropics. When we tell the natives of our decision they shake their heads gravely and say it cannot be done.
However, we strike camp in a jiffy and soon have our equipment snugly done up in thirty- and forty-pound bundles. The next problem is to secure the assistance of the natives, for without their aid the trip will be impossible. At first they are most unwilling to accompany us, but when we tell them that they are going whether they like it or not, and make a show of becoming nasty, they decide not to arouse our anger and gather round to load the bundles on their backs. Each tries to select the lightest of the bundles, and there ensues a great squabble among them. There are nearly sixty pieces of barang to be carried, and of course this requires a like number of men. We settle the squabble by telling all the men to take their bundles to a clear place on the sand and lay them down. When they have done this, we line them up and pick out the strongest-looking of them to carry the heavier pieces, so that the weaker and the very old ones will not be overburdened. It is not alone a sense of justice that prompts us in this, though, for were we to overload the weaker ones they would lag behind the rest and thus delay our march.
