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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Rajah of Dah, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Rajah of Dah
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Release Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21364]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RAJAH OF DAH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+The Rajah of Dah, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+Here is another book by George Manville Fenn, full of mystery, suspense
+and terror--to coin a phrase.  Ned, a boy of sixteen, who has just left
+school, and who has been brought up by an uncle who is a naturalist and
+who is often away, begs that he may be allowed to come on the uncle's
+next expedition.  By the way, how could he have been brought up by an
+uncle who was often away? Simple, he was placed as a boarder in the
+house of a local clergyman, who educated a few boys in his house: this
+was often the case in the nineteenth century.
+
+They get to somewhere in Burma, and travel up a river till they come to
+a settlement where there are some British.  At that time Burma was a
+British Protectorate.  The local Burmese ruler is an absurd and
+loathsome tyrant.  Ned makes friends with a local English boy, Frank,
+and they have various adventures together, including the capture of an
+eighteen foot crocodile.  However, the British people in the settlement
+fall out with the Rajah, who has his eye on a 21-year-old British girl,
+and wishes to add her to his harem.  This is where the major perils
+begin.
+
+Some of the perils are similar to those in "The Middy and the Ensign",
+which is not surprising, as the action takes place in the same part of
+the world.
+
+As always with this author, it is a brilliant read or listen.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+THE RAJAH OF DAH, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+OFF AT LAST!
+
+"Ahoy, there!  All on board?"
+
+"Yes; all right."
+
+"Got all your tackle?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"Haven't forgotten your cartridges!"
+
+"No; here they are."
+
+"I'll be bound to say you've forgotten something.  Yes: fishing-tackle?"
+
+"That we haven't, Mr Wilson," said a fresh voice, that of a
+bright-looking lad of sixteen, as he rose up in the long boat lying by
+the bamboo-made wharf at Dindong, the little trading port at the mouth
+of the Salan River, on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula.
+
+"Trust you for the fish-hooks, squire," said the first speaker.  "But, I
+say, take a good look round, Murray.  It's an awful fix to be in to find
+yourself right up in the wilderness with the very thing you want most
+left behind."
+
+"It's very good of you, Wilson," said the gentleman addressed, a
+broad-shouldered man of forty, tanned and freckled by the eastern sun,
+and stooping low to avoid striking his head against the attap thatch
+rigged up over the stern of the boat, and giving it the aspect of a
+floating hut.  "It's very good of you, but I think we have everything;
+eh, Ned?"
+
+"Yes, uncle; I can't think of anything else."
+
+"Knives, medicine, sticking-plaster, brandy, boxes, spirit-can, lamp,
+nets.  Ah, I know, Ned: we've no needles and thread."
+
+The lad laughed merrily, and took out a kind of pocket-book, which he
+opened to display the above necessaries, with scissors and penknife as
+well.
+
+"Well done, Ned!  I believe you have more brains than I have.  I can't
+think of anything else, Wilson.  I only want your good wishes."
+
+"Matches?" said the gentleman on the wharf.
+
+"Plenty, and we have each a burning-glass."
+
+"That's right, and now once more: take my advice."
+
+Johnstone Murray, enthusiast over matters of natural history, shook his
+head, and rather a stern look came into his eyes as his nephew watched
+him eagerly.
+
+"But, hang it, man! you can make excursions up and down the river from
+Dindong, and up the little branches as well.  Surely you can get all you
+want from here, and not lose touch of civilisation."
+
+"But we want to lose touch of civilisation, my dear fellow.--What do you
+say, Ned?  Shall we stop here?"
+
+"No, no, uncle; let's go now."
+
+"Why, you foolish boy!" cried the gentleman addressed as Wilson, "you do
+not know what you are saying, or what risks you are going to run."
+
+"Oh, uncle will be careful, sir."
+
+"If he can," said the other, gruffly.  "I believe you two think you are
+going on quite a picnic, instead of what must be a dangerous
+expedition."
+
+"My dear Wilson," said the principal occupant of the boat, merrily, "you
+shut yourself up so much in your bungalow, and lead such a serious
+plodding life over your merchandise and cargoes, that you see danger in
+a paddle across the river."
+
+"Ah, well, perhaps I do," said the merchant, taking off his light pith
+sun-hat to wipe his shining brow.  "You really mean to go right up the
+river, then?"
+
+"Of course.  What did you think I made these preparations for?"
+
+"To make a few short expeditions, and come back to me to sleep and feed.
+Well, if you will go, good-luck go with you.  I don't think I can do
+any more for you.  I believe you may trust those fellows," he added in a
+low voice, after a glance at the four bronzed-looking strong-armed Malay
+boatmen, each with a scarlet handkerchief bound about his black hair as
+he sat listlessly in the boat, his lids nearly drawn over his brown
+lurid-looking eyes, and his thick lips more protruded than was natural,
+as he seemed to have turned himself into an ox-like animal and to be
+chewing his cud.
+
+"You could not have done more for me, Wilson, if I had been your
+brother."
+
+"All Englishmen and Scotsmen are brothers out in a place like this,"
+said the merchant, warmly.  "Go rather hard with some of us if we did
+not stick to that creed.  Well, look here, if ever you get into any
+scrape up yonder, send down a message to me at once."
+
+"To say, for instance, that a tiger has walked off with Ned here."
+
+"Oh I say, uncle!" cried the boy.
+
+"No, no, I mean with the niggers.  They're a rum lot, some of them.
+Trust them as far as you can see them.  Be firm.  They're cunning; but
+just like children in some things."
+
+"They're right enough, man, if you don't tread on their corns.  I always
+find them civil enough to me.  But if we do get into trouble, what shall
+you do?"
+
+"Send you help of course, somehow.  But you will not be able to send a
+letter," added the merchant thoughtfully.  "Look here.  If you are in
+trouble from sickness, or hurt by any wild animal, get some Malay fellow
+from one of the campongs to bring down a handkerchief--a white one.  But
+if you are in peril from the people up yonder, send a red one, either
+your own or one of the boatmen's.  You will find it easy to get a red
+rag of some sort."
+
+"I see," said Murray, smiling.  "White, sickness; red, bloodshed.--I say
+Ned, hear all this?"
+
+"Yes, uncle."
+
+"Well; don't you feel scared?"
+
+"Horribly, uncle," said the boy, coolly.
+
+"Will you give up, and stop here in Dindong?"
+
+The boy looked full in the speaker's face, thrust his hands into the
+pockets of his brown linen trousers, and began to whistle softly.
+
+"There, good-bye, Wilson.  The sun will soon be overpowering, and I want
+to get on."
+
+"Well, you've got the tide to help you for the next three hours.  Sorry
+you're going.  I'll take great care of the specimens you send down.  You
+can trust any of the boat-people--they know me so well.  Any fellow
+coming down with rice or tin will bring a box or basket.  God bless you
+both!  Good-bye!"
+
+There was a warm hand-shaking.
+
+"Take care of yourself, Ned, my boy, and don't let your uncle work you
+too hard.--Good-bye, my lads.  Take great care of the sahibs."
+
+The Malay boatmen seemed to have suddenly wakened up, and they sprang to
+their places, responded with a grave smile to the merchant's adjuration,
+pushed off the boat, and in a few minutes were rowing easily out into
+the full tide, whose muddy waters flowed like so much oil up past the
+little settlement, upon whose wharf the white figure of the merchant
+could be seen in the brilliant sunshine waving his hand.  Then, as the
+occupants of the boat sat in the shade of their palm-leaf awning, they
+saw a faint blue smoke arise, as he lit a cigar and stood watching the
+retiring party.  The house, huts, and stores about the little wharf
+began to grow distant and look toy-like, the shores to display the dull,
+green fringe of mangrove, with its curiously-arched roots joining
+together where the stem shot up, and beneath which the muddy water
+glided, whispering and lapping.  And then the oars creaked faintly, as
+the boat was urged more and more out into mid-stream, till the shore was
+a quarter of a mile away; and at last the silence was broken by the boy,
+whose face was flushed with excitement, as he stood gazing up the smooth
+river, while they glided on and on through what seemed to be one
+interminable winding grove of dull-green trees; for he made the calm,
+grave, dark-skinned boatmen start and look round for danger, as he cried
+out excitedly:
+
+"Hurrah!  Off at last!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+UNCLE MURRAY'S LECTURE.
+
+"Every man to his taste, Ned, my boy," said Johnstone Murray, gentleman,
+to his nephew, who was home for a visit to his uncle--he called it home,
+for he had never known any other, and visited this but rarely, his life
+having been spent during the past four years at a Devon rectory, where a
+well-known clergyman received four pupils.
+
+As the above words were said about six months before the start up the
+Salan River, Ned Murray's guardian raised a large magnifying-glass and
+carefully examined a glittering fragment of stone, while the boy leaned
+over the table upon which his elbows rested, and eagerly watched his
+uncle's actions.
+
+"Is that gold, uncle?"
+
+"Eh? gold? nonsense.  Pyrites--mingling of iron and sulphur, Ned.
+Beautiful radiated lines, those.  But, as I was saying, every man to his
+taste.  Some people who have plenty of money like to go for a ride in
+the park, and then dress for dinner, and eat and drink more than is good
+for them.  I don't.  Such a life as that would drive me mad."
+
+"But you didn't answer my question, uncle."
+
+"Yes, I did, Ned.  I said it was pyrites."
+
+"No, no.  I mean the other one, uncle.  Will you take me?"
+
+"Get away with you!  Go back to the rectory and read up, and by-and-by
+we'll send you to Oxford, and you shall be a parson, or a barrister,
+or--"
+
+"Oh, uncle, it's too bad of you!  I want to do as you do.  I say: do
+take me!"
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Because I want to go.  I won't be any trouble to you, and I'll work
+hard and rough it, as you call it; and I know so much about what you do
+that I'm sure I can be very useful; and then you know what you've often
+said to me about its being so dull out in the wilds by yourself, and you
+would have me to talk to of a night."
+
+"Silence!  Be quiet, you young tempter.  Take you, you soft green
+sapling!  Why, you have no more muscle and endurance than a twig."
+
+"Twigs grow into stout branches, uncle."
+
+"Look here, sir: did your tutor teach you to argue your uncle to death
+when you wanted to get your own way?"
+
+"No, uncle."
+
+"Do you think I should be doing my duty as your guardian if I took you
+right away into a savage country, to catch fevers and sunstrokes, and
+run risks of being crushed by elephants, bitten by poisonous reptiles,
+swallowed by crocodiles, or to form a lunch for a fastidious tiger tired
+of blacks?"
+
+"Now you are laughing at me again," said the boy.
+
+"No, sir.  There are risks to be encountered."
+
+"They wouldn't hurt me any more than they would you, uncle."
+
+"There you are again, arguing in that abominable way!  No, sir; I shall
+not take you.  At your ago education is the thing to study, and nothing
+else.  Now, be quiet!" and Johnstone Murray's eyes looked pleasant,
+though his freckled brown face looked hard, and his eyes seemed to say
+that there was a smile hidden under the grizzled curly red beard which
+covered the lower part of his face.
+
+"There, uncle, now I have got you.  You've said to me scores of times
+that there was no grander education for a man than the study of the
+endless beauties of nature."
+
+"Be quiet, Ned.  There never was such a fellow as you for disputing."
+
+"But you did say so, uncle."
+
+"Well, sir, and it's quite right.  It is grand!  But you are not a man."
+
+"Not yet, but I suppose I shall be, some day."
+
+"Not if I take you out with me to catch jungle fever."
+
+"Oh, bother the old jungle fever!"
+
+"So say I, Ned, and success to quinine."
+
+"To be sure.  Hurrah for quinine!  You said you took it often in swampy
+places to keep off the fever."
+
+"That's quite right, Ned."
+
+"Very well then, uncle; I'll take it too, as much as ever you like.
+Now, will you let me go?"
+
+"And what would the rector say?"
+
+"I don't know, uncle.  I don't want to be a barrister.  I want to be
+what you are."
+
+"A rough, roaming, dreamy, restless being, who is always wandering about
+all over the world."
+
+"And what would England have been, uncle, if some of us had not been
+restless and wandered all over the world."
+
+Johnstone Murray, gentleman and naturalist, sat back in his chair and
+laughed.
+
+"Oh, you may laugh, uncle!" said the boy with his face flushed.  "You
+laugh because I said some of us: I meant some of you.  Look at the
+discoveries that have been made; look at the wonders brought home; look
+at that, for instance," cried the boy, snatching up the piece of pale,
+yellowish-green, metallic-looking stone.  "See there; by your
+discoveries you were able to tell me that this piece which you brought
+home from abroad is pyrites, and--"
+
+"Hold your tongue, you young donkey.  I did not bring that stone home
+from abroad, for I picked it up the other day under the cliff at
+Ventnor, and you might have known what it was from any book on chemistry
+or mineralogy.--So you want to travel?"
+
+"Yes, uncle, yes!" cried the boy.
+
+"Very well, then; get plenty of books, and read them in an easy-chair,
+and then you can follow the footsteps of travellers all round the world
+without getting shipwrecked, or having your precious soft young body
+damaged in any way."
+
+"Oh dear! oh dear!" sighed the boy; "it's very miserable not to be able
+to do as you like."
+
+"No, it isn't, stupid!  It's very miserable to be able to do nearly as
+you like.  Nobody can quite, from the Queen down to the dirtiest little
+boy in the streets.  The freest man finds that he has the hardest master
+to satisfy--himself."
+
+"Oh, I say, uncle!" cried the boy; "don't, don't, please; that doesn't
+seem like you.  It's like being at the rectory.  Don't you begin to
+lecture me."
+
+"Oh, very well, Ned.  I've done."
+
+"That's right; and remember you said example was better than precept."
+
+"And so it is, Ned."
+
+"Very well then, uncle!" cried the boy; "I want to follow your example
+and go abroad."
+
+Johnstone Murray brought his fist down bang upon the table of his
+study--the table covered with books, minerals, bird-skins, fossils,
+bones, and the miscellaneous odds and ends which a naturalist delights
+in collecting round him in his half study, half museum, where as in this
+case, everything was so sacred that the housemaid dared hardly enter the
+place, and the result was a cloud of dust which immediately made Ned
+sneeze violently.  Then his uncle sneezed; then Ned sneezed; then they
+both sneezed together, and again and again.
+
+"Oh, I say, uncle!" cried Ned; and he sneezed once more.
+
+"Er tchishou!  Bless the king!--queen I mean," said the naturalist.
+
+"You shouldn't, uncle," cried the boy, now laughing immoderately, as his
+uncle sneezed and choked, and wiped his eyes.
+
+"It was all your fault, you young nuisance.  Dear me, this dust--"
+
+"Ought to be saved for snuff."
+
+"Now, look here, Ned," said Mr Murray at last.  "I do not say that some
+day when you have grown up to be a man, I may not ask you to accompany
+me on an expedition into some new untried country, such as the part of
+the Malay Peninsula I am off to visit next."
+
+"How long will it be before you consider I am a man, uncle?"
+
+"Let's see; how old are you now?"
+
+"Sixteen turned, uncle."
+
+"Humph!  Well, suppose we say at one and twenty."
+
+"Five years!" cried the boy in despair.  "Why, by that time there will
+not be a place that you have not searched.  There will be nothing left
+to discover, and--" (a sneeze), "there's that dust again."
+
+"You miserable young ignoramus! what are you talking about?" cried the
+naturalist.  "Why, if a man could live to be a hundred, and have a
+hundred lives, he would not achieve to a hundredth part of what there is
+to be discovered in this grand--this glorious world."
+
+He stood up with one hand resting on the table, and began to gesticulate
+with the other.
+
+"Why, my dear boy, before I was your age I had begun to take an active
+interest in natural history, and for considerably over twenty years now
+I have been hard at work, with my eyes gradually opening to the wonders
+on every hand, till I begin now to feel sorrow and delight at how little
+I know and how much there is yet to learn."
+
+"Yes, uncle; go on," cried the boy, eagerly.
+
+"You said I was not to lecture you."
+
+"But I like it when you talk that way."
+
+"Ah, Ned, Ned! there's no fear of one's getting to the end," said
+Murray, half sadly; "life is far too short for that, but the life of
+even the most humble naturalist is an unceasing education.  He is always
+learning--always finding out how beautiful are the works of the Creator.
+They are endless, Ned, my boy.  The grand works of creation are spread
+out before us, and the thirst for knowledge increases, and the draughts
+we drink from the great fount of nature are more delicious each time we
+raise the cup."
+
+Ned's chin was now upon his thumbs, his elbows on the table once more,
+and his eyes sparkled with intense delight as he gazed on the animated
+countenance of the man before him; for that face was lit up, the broad
+forehead looked noble, and his voice was now deep and low, and now rang
+out loudly, as if he were some great teacher declaiming to his pupil on
+the subject nearest to his heart.  Till it suddenly dawned upon him
+that, instead of quenching, he was increasing the thirst of the boy
+gazing excitedly in his eyes, and he stopped short in the lamest way,
+just as he was rising up to the highest pitch of his eloquence.
+
+"Yes, uncle, yes!" cried Ned.  "Go on--go on."
+
+"Eh?  No; that's all, my boy; that's all."
+
+"But that isn't all!" cried Ned excitedly, rising now.  "That's only the
+beginning of what I want to learn.  I want to road in those books,
+uncle.  I want to drink from that glorious fountain whose draughts are
+sweeter every time.  I want to--I want to--I want to--Oh uncle, oh
+uncle, go on! do take me with you, there's a dear old chap."
+
+The boy stretched out his hand, which was slowly taken and pressed as
+Johnstone Murray said in a subdued tone: "God grant that I may be doing
+rightly for you, Ned.  You've beaten me finely with my own weapons, my
+boy."
+
+"And you'll take me?"
+
+"Yes, Ned, I give in.  You shall be my companion now."
+
+"Hurrah!"
+
+Ned sprang on to his chair, then on to the table, and waved his hand
+above his head.  A month later he was on his way in one of the French
+boats to Singapore, from whence, after making a few final preparations,
+they went up in a small trading-steamer to the little settlement of
+Dindong, on the Salan River.  Here they made a fortnight's stay to
+engage a boat and men, and learn a little more of the land they were to
+explore, and at last the morning came when they parted from the
+hospitable merchant to whom Murray had had introductions; and the bamboo
+wharf had faded quite from sight, when Ned Murray again cried excitedly:
+
+"Hurrah!  Off at last!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+UP THE RIVER.
+
+It was early morning yet, and the mists hung low, but the torrid sun
+rapidly dissipated each opalescent gauzy vapour, and before long the sky
+was of that vivid blue which reflected in the surface of the river
+changed its muddy hue, and gave it a beauty it really did not possess.
+Nothing can be more dull and monotonous than the fringe of mangroves
+which line the tidal waters of river and creek in the tropics, and after
+sitting watching the dingy foliage and interlacing roots for some time,
+in the hope of seeing some living creature, Ned Murray began to scan the
+river in search of something more attractive; but for a time there was
+the glistening water reaching on and on before them, now fairly
+straight, now winding and winding, so that at times they were completely
+shut in by the mangroves, and the Malays appeared to be rowing in a
+lake.
+
+"Not much of scenery this, Ned," said Murray, after a long silence.
+
+"That's what I was thinking, uncle.  But I say, is it going to be all
+like this?"
+
+"I should hope not.  Oh no! these trees only grow where they can feel
+the sea-water, I believe.  As we get higher up, where the river begins
+to be fresh, we shall see a change."
+
+"But it's all so still.  No fish, no birds, and no chance of seeing the
+animals for those trees."
+
+"Patience, my lad, patience."
+
+"But hadn't we better get out the guns and cartridges, or the
+fishing-tackle?"
+
+"Nothing to shoot as yet, nothing to catch, I should say; but we'll have
+out a gun soon.  Any fish to be caught here with a line, Hamet?"
+
+The nearest of the Malay boatmen smiled, ceased rowing, and said in
+fairly good English, but with a peculiar accent: "Few; not many.
+Shrimps when the water is low."
+
+"Oh! but we can't fish for shrimps without a net," said Ned,
+contemptuously; "and that's stupid sport.  I did fish with a net once
+down in Devonshire, but I did not want to do it again.  Why, I should
+have thought a river like this would have been full of something."
+
+"Hah!" said the Malay, pointing, and Ned followed the direction
+indicated by the man's long brown finger.
+
+"Eh? what?" said the boy, staring across the water.  "What is it--a
+bird? where?"
+
+"Don't you see.  There, fifty yards away, on the surface of the water?"
+
+"No; I can't see anything.  Yes, I can; two brown-looking knobs.  What
+is it?  Part of a tree.  Oh! gone.  I know now; it was a crocodile."
+
+"No doubt about that, Ned, and I daresay we shall see plenty more."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated the Malay again; and he pointed this time toward the
+right bank of the river, or rather to the fringe of mangroves on that
+side.
+
+"Yes, I can see that one plain, just those two knobs.  Why doesn't it
+show more?"
+
+"For the sake of being safe perhaps.  There you can see its yes now,
+just above the surface."
+
+"But the gun, uncle.  Let's shoot one."
+
+"Waste of powder and ball, my boy.  It is a great chance if we could hit
+a vulnerable part, and I don't like wounding anything unnecessarily."
+
+"Are there many of those things here?" said Ned, after watching the two
+prominences just above the water, and vainly trying to make out the
+reptile's body.
+
+"Many things?" said the man, evidently puzzled.
+
+"Yes; crocodiles?"
+
+"Hah!  Yes, plenty, many; sahib jump in and swim, crocodile--"
+
+He ceased speaking and finished in pantomime, by raising one hand and
+rapidly catching the other just at the wrist.
+
+"Snap at me?" said Ned.
+
+"Yes, sahib.  Catch, take under water.  Eat."
+
+"I say, though, is he stuffing me?  Do they really seize people, or is
+it a traveller's tale?" said Ned, appealing to his uncle; but the Malay,
+who had been engaged from his knowledge of English to act as interpreter
+up the river, caught at the boy's words, though he did not quite grasp
+his meaning.
+
+"No, no, sahib; not stuff you.  Crocodile stuff, fill himself much as he
+can eat."
+
+Then he turned sharply and said a few words to his companions in the
+Malay tongue, and they replied eagerly in chorus.
+
+"There's no doubt about it, Ned," said his uncle.  "They are loathsome
+beasts, and will drag anything under water that they can get hold of."
+
+"Then we ought to kill it," said Ned excitedly.  "Let's shoot it, at
+once."
+
+"Where is it?"
+
+"That one's gone too," said Ned, with a disappointed air.
+
+"Plenty more chances, my boy; but if you do try your skill with a gun,
+wait till we see one of the reptiles on the bank."
+
+"But there is no bank."
+
+"Wait a bit, and you'll see sand-banks and mud-banks in plenty.  But the
+appearance of those creatures answers one of your questions.  There must
+be plenty of fish in the river, for that forms their principal food."
+
+Just then their attention was taken up by one of the Malay boatmen
+drawing in his oar, and then taking out a small bag from which he
+extracted a piece of broken betel-nut and a half-dried leaf.  Then from
+the same bag he took a small brass box carefully hammered to form a
+pattern, and upon opening this a thick white paste became visible.
+
+"What's that?" whispered Ned.
+
+"Lime made from coral and mixed into a paste with water."
+
+"But what is he going to do?"
+
+"Watch him."
+
+Ned was already watching, and saw the man take a little of the wet lime
+paste from the box with his finger, and smear it over the leaf.  Then
+the box was put away, and the scrap of nut carefully rolled up in the
+leaf and placed in the man's mouth, when he went on contentedly chewing
+as he resumed his oar and pulled steadily on.
+
+"I never saw them get their betel ready to chew before, uncle,"
+whispered Ned.  "I say, what leaf is that?"
+
+"Sirih, a little climbing kind of pepper."
+
+"Well," continued Ned with a laugh; "I don't know whether that's a bad
+habit, but it looks a very nasty one.  What savages!"
+
+"They might say the same about our Jacks with their tobacco," said his
+uncle.--"How would you like to live there?"
+
+He pointed to where, in an opening in the mangroves, a tiny village of a
+few houses became visible, mere huts, but pretty enough to look at with
+their highly-pitched, palm-thatched roofs, showing picturesque gables
+and ornamentally woven sides, the whole raised on bamboo piles, so as to
+place them six or eight feet above the level of the river.  A few
+cocoa-nut trees grew close at hand, and a couple of good-sized boats
+were drawn up and tied to posts, while a group of the occupants stood
+gazing at the passing party.
+
+"No; I don't think I should like to live there," said Ned, as the men
+rowed on, and the houses with their cluster of palm-like trees gave
+place once more to the monotonous green of the mangroves.  And now the
+boy altered his tactics.  For a time he had scorned the shelter of the
+thatched roof which covered the afterpart of the roomy boat, and been
+all life and activity, making the Malays smile at his restlessness, as
+he passed among them resting his hand first on one, then on another
+brawny shoulder, to get right forward to the sharply-pointed prow, and
+sit there looking up the river; while his uncle rearranged some of the
+packages and impedimenta necessary for their long trip.
+
+"There," he said, as he finished for the time, by hanging two guns in
+slings from the roof, Ned having returned to sit down, and he began
+wiping his face.  "I think that will do.  If we had designed a boat to
+suit us for our trip, we couldn't have contrived anything better.  That
+is the beauty of travelling in a country where the rivers are the only
+roads.  You require no bearers, and you have no worry about men being
+dissatisfied with their loads, and then having to set up a tent when the
+day's journey is over.  Here we are with a roof over us in our
+travelling tent, and all we have to do at night is to tether the boat to
+the shore, have a fire lit for cooking, and eat, sleep, and rest."
+
+"But you will not always keep to the boat, uncle?"
+
+"No; we shall make a few little expeditions when we can, but, from what
+I have learned, the country farther north and east is nearly all jungle,
+with only a few elephant tracks through the forest by way of roads.
+Here, hadn't you better sit still for a bit out of the sun."
+
+"Yes; coming back directly," was the reply; and, going forward, Ned
+stood with his hands in his pockets gazing up the river.  "I say,
+uncle," he cried at last; "I'm getting tired of these mangroves.  Why,
+the shore's all alike, and oh, how hot it is!"
+
+The Malays rowed steadily on with their eyes half-closed, paying not the
+slightest heed to the rays of the sun, which seemed now to be pouring
+down with a fervour that was terrible.  The tide still set up the river,
+and very little exertion on their part kept a good way on the boat, as
+they swung to and fro, keeping pretty well together, their eyes
+half-closed, and their jaws working at the betel-nut each man had in his
+cheek.
+
+"Here, come into shelter till the heat of the day is past," said Murray.
+
+"All right, uncle."
+
+Ned was standing right up on the prow, intently watching the two
+prominences over the eyes of one of the crocodiles which was gliding
+slowly about in the tideway on the look-out for food, when the summons
+came, and turning sharply, a peculiar sensation of giddiness attacked
+him.  He threw up his hands to his head, and in an instant lost his
+balance, plunged in head foremost and was gone.
+
+As the water splashed in over the bows, Hamet uttered a shout, the men
+ceased rowing, and Murray rushed out from beneath the shelter, tearing
+off his loose linen jacket, and eagerly scanning the water, ready to
+plunge in as soon as Ned reappeared.
+
+"No, no," cried Hamet, hoarsely; and then, giving a sharp order to his
+companions, the course of the boat was changed, and he leaned over the
+side, the men muttering excitedly to each other, for they had seen the
+eyes of the crocodile sink beneath the water just as the loud splash was
+made when the boy fell in.
+
+It was a matter of only a few moments before there was a movement in the
+dark water three or four yards away.  The men on the side opposite gave
+their oars a sudden dip and drag, the boat swung round across the tide,
+and, reaching over, Hamet caught Ned's wrist, dragged him to the side
+just as there was a sharp shock against the forward part of the boat, a
+jerk, and a sensation communicated to the occupants as if they had come
+into collision with the trunk of a tree, and it was passing under the
+boat.  While, as with Murray's help, Hamet hauled the boy into the boat,
+there was a tremendous swirl in the water, just where he had been, a
+great horny tail rose above the surface and struck it with a sharp
+slapping sound, and disappeared.
+
+"That was close!" exclaimed Murray, as the boat glided on, and the
+Malays talked rapidly together, Hamet giving his employer a curiously
+significant look.
+
+At that moment Ned opened his eyes, sat up quickly, and then struggled
+to his feet.
+
+"Did I go overboard?" he said.  "Yes; I remember," he continued quickly.
+"I felt giddy all at once.  Oh! my hat."
+
+This had been forgotten, but there it was floating on the surface only a
+short distance away, and a few strokes of the oars enabled him to
+recover it.
+
+"There, get under the roof and change your things," said his uncle.
+"We'll wring these out, and they'll soon dry in the sun."
+
+"Yes; but who pulled me out?" cried Ned; and on being told, he held out
+his hand to Hamet, who took it respectfully, and bent over it for a
+moment.
+
+"Thank you," said Ned; and then, "was it the sun made me turn like that?
+I say, uncle, it would have been awkward if that old crocodile had
+caught sight of me."
+
+"This is a bad beginning, Ned," said Murray gravely.  "That hideous
+reptile did see you, and was within an ace of getting hold."
+
+"Ugh!" ejaculated Ned, changing colour.
+
+"No crocodiles much higher up," said Hamet.
+
+"Then the sooner we are higher up the better," muttered Murray as the
+boat glided on; and Ned was very quiet as he changed his wet things.
+
+"I say, uncle," he said at last, "I'm very sorry.  I did mean to be
+careful, and not do anything to worry you.  I couldn't help that, could
+I?"
+
+"No, it was an accident, and will be a lesson to you to be careful.  You
+see how soon anything goes wrong."
+
+About this time the tide, which had helped them well on their upward
+journey, began to grow slack, then to pause; and the men rapidly rowed
+across to the edge of the mangroves, where the boat was made fast in the
+shade, and Hamet signified that they would rest now for some hours till
+the tide turned, and the sun was beginning to get low.
+
+Food was produced, but Ned did not want much dinner, and sat with rather
+a disgusted look upon his countenance, gazing between the leaves at the
+surface of the river, watching for the muddy-looking prominences above
+the eyes of the crocodiles; and thinking how he should like to spend the
+next few days gliding about in a boat, sending bullets into the brains
+of the treacherous-looking brutes as they slowly swam about in the tidal
+stream.
+
+The sound of heavy breathing made him turn his head at last to see that
+the Malays were all fast asleep, and that his uncle had followed their
+example; and as Ned looked, he could see the great drops of perspiration
+standing upon his forehead.
+
+Perhaps it was the effect of seeing others asleep--perhaps the heat--at
+any rate, the result was that a drowsy sensation stole over the boy; and
+the dark leaves which touched the palm thatching of the roof, the
+metallic dazzling glare from the surface of the river, and the rippling
+sound of the water all passed away, as Ned dropped into a dreamless
+sleep, which lasted till he was touched by his uncle.
+
+"Wake up, Ned.  Going on."
+
+"Have I been asleep?"
+
+"Look for yourself."
+
+The Malays were forcing the boat out into the stream once more, which,
+instead of glancing like molten silver with a glare which was painful to
+the eyes, now seemed to be of a deep glowing orange, the reflection of
+the wondrous sky rapidly changing in its refulgent hues from gold to
+orange, to a deep-red and purple, as the sun sank rapidly behind the
+great dark belt of trees on their left.
+
+"The tide is just upon the turn again.  Can't you feel that it is much
+cooler?"
+
+"No, not yet," replied Ned.  "I turned hot when we first got to
+Singapore, and I've never been cool since."
+
+"Not when you plunged into the river?"
+
+Ned gave him a sharp look.
+
+"I don't remember anything about that," he replied; "but I say, uncle,
+you might let me have a shot at one of the crocs now."
+
+Murray laughed, but made no reply, and they sat in silence watching the
+wonderful sunset, as the men, well refreshed, sent the boat along at a
+pretty good rate, the tide soon afterwards lending its help.  This was
+kept on till long after dark, and the crew did not cease rowing till
+they came abreast of another tiny village.  Here they fastened the boat
+to a post in company with a couple more, after exchanging a few words
+with some dusky-looking figures on the strip of shore, beyond which a
+group of huts could be just made out, backed by trees, which looked of
+an intense black, while above them was the purple sky spangled with
+stars which seemed double the size of those at home.
+
+This time Ned was quite ready for his share of the evening meal, which
+was eaten in silence as the travellers sat watching a patch of bushes
+which grew where the mangroves ceased.
+
+"Why, it's just like a little display of fireworks," Ned whispered.  "As
+if the people there were letting them off because we had come."
+
+"Yes; it is very beautiful.  Look! they seem to flash out like the
+sparks in a wood fire, when the wind suddenly blows over it, and then go
+out again."
+
+"Yes," said Ned thoughtfully; "our glow-worms that we used to find and
+bring back to put in the garden were nothing to them.  Look at that!"
+
+He pointed to where a bright streak of light glided through the darkness
+for a few yards, and then stopped suddenly, when all around it there was
+a fresh flashing out of the lights.
+
+"Why, uncle!" cried Ned, "if we caught a lot of those and hung them up
+in a glass globe, we shouldn't want this lamp."
+
+"I don't know how the experiment would answer, Ned," was the reply.
+"But it would be awkward to go plashing about in the mud and water to
+catch the fireflies, and we have no glass globe, while we have a lamp."
+
+The coruscations of the fireflies seemed to fascinate Ned so much that
+he became quite silent at last, while the Malays sat huddled together
+chewing their betel, and talking in a low subdued tone.  Then Murray
+struck a match to light his pipe, and the flash showed Ned's intent
+face.
+
+"What's the matter, boy?"
+
+"I was trying to puzzle it out, uncle."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Oh, there are three things," said Ned, as the half-burned match
+described a curve and fell into the water to be extinguished with a
+hiss, looking as it flew something like one of the fireflies ashore, but
+of a ruddier tint.
+
+"Well, philosopher," said Murray, leaning over against the side of the
+boat, "let's have some of your thoughts."
+
+"You'll laugh at me."
+
+"No.  Honour bright."
+
+"Well, uncle, first of all, I was wondering why those lights in the
+fireflies don't burn them."
+
+"Easily answered, Ned; because they are not hot."
+
+"But they seem to be burning like the flame in a lamp, only of course
+very small."
+
+"Seem, Ned, but they are not burning.  It's light without heat, the same
+as you see on decaying fish; and as we shall find in some of the great
+mushrooms in the jungle.  It is one of the puzzles scientific men have
+not quite settled yet.  We have it, you see, in our own glow-worms.  I
+have often seen it in a kind of centipede at home, which to me seems to
+be covered with a kind of luminous oil, some of which it leaves behind
+it on a gravel path or the trunk of a tree."
+
+"Yes; I've seen that," said Ned thoughtfully.
+
+"Then, again, you have it on the sea-shore, where in calm, hot weather
+the luminosity looks like pale golden-green oil, so thick that you can
+skim it from a harbour."
+
+"But what can it all be for?"
+
+"Ah, there you pose me, Ned.  What is everything for?  What are we for?"
+
+"To go up the river, and make all sorts of discoveries."
+
+"A good answer.  Then let's roll ourselves in our blankets and go to
+sleep.  Hamet says that we shall start again before it is light, and
+they are going to sleep now."
+
+"All right.  Shall I make the beds?"
+
+Murray laughed, for the bed-making consisted in taking two blankets out
+of a box, and then they rolled themselves up, the lamp was turned down,
+and, save for a few moments' rustling sound caused by Ned fidgeting into
+a fresh place, all was silent, the faint whisper of the water gliding by
+the side of the boat hardly warranting the term sound.
+
+"Asleep, Ned?" came after a pause.
+
+"No, uncle."
+
+"Thinking?"
+
+"Yes, uncle."
+
+"What about?"
+
+"I was thinking how horrid it would be if those people came stealing on
+board with their krises, and killed us all."
+
+"Then don't think any more such absurd rubbish, and go to sleep."
+
+"Yes, uncle."
+
+"The people out there have just as much cause to fear that we should
+turn pirates, and go and attack them."
+
+There was another pause, and then a fresh repetition of the questioning,
+and this time Ned had been thinking how easy it would be for Hamet and
+his companions to stab and drop them overboard.
+
+"Get out, you horrible young imaginer of evil.  If they did that they
+would not be paid for their journey."
+
+"No, uncle, but they'd get the guns and all our things."
+
+"Ned, I'm beginning to think I ought to have left you at home," said Mr
+Murray quietly.
+
+"Oh, I say uncle, I couldn't help tumbling overboard."
+
+"No, sir, but you can help putting all kinds of bloodthirsty ideas in my
+head.  Now go to sleep."
+
+"Well, uncle, if you'll promise not to believe you ought to have left me
+at home, I will not think anything like that again."
+
+"Very well, sir.  It's a bargain."
+
+There was a long silence, and then, _ping_--_ing_--_ing_--_ing_, came a
+sharp, piercing trumpeting.
+
+"Here he is, Ned."
+
+"Who, uncle?"
+
+"The fellow who wants to have our blood."
+
+"Shall I get the guns, uncle?" whispered Ned, in awe-stricken tones.
+
+"Bah!  Nonsense!  Whoever shot at a mosquito?"
+
+"Mosquito!  Oh, I say, what a shame to scare me like that."
+
+The insect came, filled himself full, and flew off replete; but somehow
+sleep would not come to either Ned or his uncle, and they were lying hot
+and weary longing for the repose, when they both started up, for from
+somewhere in the forest beyond the cottages came a deep-toned sound
+which can only be rendered by the word pow!
+
+"What's that, uncle?"
+
+"Hist! talk in a whisper.  It may be some kind of ape on the prowl; but
+I'm afraid--"
+
+"So am I, uncle, horribly."
+
+"Be quiet, sir, and let me finish what I have to say," cried Murray
+angrily.  "I was going to say I'm afraid it's a tiger."
+
+"Oh, I say, do get down the guns," whispered Ned.  "A tiger?  And
+loose?"
+
+"Loose?  Why, you young donkey, do you think this is the zoological
+gardens, and the tiger's cage has been left open?"
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure; only it seems very risky to be here like this,
+and not even able to shut the door.  No--no--no--no, uncle," continued
+Ned hastily; "you promised you would not think that you ought to have
+left me at home."
+
+At that moment the cry came again louder and nearer, but modified so
+that there could be no doubt about the animal that had given vent to the
+sound.
+
+The knowledge that a tiger was prowling about somewhere near was enough
+to make Murray rise softly, and reach down one of the guns from the
+slings, and slip a couple of ball-cartridges into the barrels, and thus
+prepared he sat waiting, both having the consolation of knowing that if
+the animal attacked them, it could only be by taking to the water first
+and swimming to the boat.
+
+The sound came again, exactly, as Ned said afterwards when he felt quite
+safe, like the cry of a magnified tom-cat.
+
+But a couple of hours passed away without further alarm, and somewhere
+about that time Murray gave a start, for he had been fast asleep.
+
+"Ned," he whispered.
+
+A heavy breathing was his answer, and the next minute he too was fast
+asleep only to be awakened by the warm sun at last, and to find from
+Hamet that the boat had been cast off, and they had been rowing steadily
+up the river from the earliest dawn of day.
+
+"Ned," said Murray.  "Ned."
+
+There was no answer, and he caught hold of the boy.
+
+"Hi, uncle! quick! the gun!  It's got hold of my arm."
+
+"What has?"
+
+"Oh, it's you," said Ned, with a sigh of relief.  "I dreamed something
+seized me, and I didn't know whether it was a tiger or a croc."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+GUESTS OR PRISONERS?
+
+Five more days were passed ascending the river, which by degrees began
+to display banks that were park-like and densely packed with forest
+trees.  The dismal mangroves had disappeared, and in their place
+graceful palms shot up and spread their feathered plumes; bamboos rose
+in clumps like gigantic grasses, and canes swung from branch to branch,
+and festooned specimens of timber which was often one blaze of colour,
+and whose petals sprinkled the now bright clear water.
+
+A tiny village was passed at intervals, and from time to time some boat
+floated by them deeply laden with rice or tea.  At night the boat was
+moored to some tree trunk.  The men went ashore, and collected wood and
+lit a fire for cooking purposes, and then all returned to sleep on board
+before starting early in the cool misty morning, so as to have some
+hours' rest in the middle of the day, before the journey was resumed in
+the evening.
+
+It was a calm and peaceful, even if it were a monotonous little voyage,
+for, in spite of some object worthy of a naturalist's attention being
+pointed out, Murray preferred to wait till he was farther on his way
+before commencing his collecting; and white-plumaged falcon and
+beautiful long-tailed kingfishers were allowed to fly by unmolested.
+
+"Wait a bit, Ned," he said, "and you shall have your hands full."
+
+The river was now beautiful.  It was a broad clear stream, with
+mountains visible away to the east, wherever an opening occurred in the
+woods, and it seemed a wonder that so lovely a country should show so
+seldom that it was inhabited.
+
+At the villages they passed, the people looked peaceful, quiet, and
+inoffensive, although every man carried a deadly-looking kris in its
+wooden sheath, thrust in the twisted-up band of the scarf-like silk or
+cotton sarong, which was wrapped round the middle in the form of a kilt,
+and with the exception of something worn in the shape of a hat to keep
+off the sun's piercing rays, this was the only garment many of the
+people displayed.
+
+They brought fruit when asked, every house having its cluster of
+fruit-trees about it.  In some cases there were cocoa-nuts, but more
+frequently bananas of two or three kinds, which they parted with for a
+mere trifle, these forming an admirable addition to the supply of food.
+
+Hamet generally went to market, and came back smiling often enough with
+a large bunch of the finger-shaped fruit, a bag of rice, and when he was
+most fortunate in his foraging, a couple of skinny-looking chickens and
+some eggs.
+
+"Getting tired, Ned?" said Murray, one glorious morning as the men were
+steadily rowing on, keeping close up to the trees on their right, for
+the sake of the shade and the slower motion of the stream.
+
+"No, not tired," replied the boy.  "It's all too beautiful for one to
+get tired, but I do feel as if I should like to be doing something.  I
+keep seeing birds I want to shoot, and flowers I should like to pick."
+
+"Then here's news for you, boy.  I reckon that we are now well up into
+the region I wanted to explore, and to-morrow work shall begin in real
+earnest."
+
+Ned's eyes sparkled.  "Begin shooting?"
+
+"Yes, and collecting botanical specimens.  There will be no need now to
+toil up a certain distance every day, and we shall stop at every
+likely-looking collecting ground to go ashore, and certainly explore
+every side stream or creek."
+
+"And fish?  Hamet says it would be capital if I could catch enough fish
+for a dinner now and then; and I want to bathe."
+
+"Of course, and you shall try; but there are crocodiles.  I have seen
+two within the past hour, one swimming, and the other lying on a
+sandbank."
+
+"Why, I saw that," cried Ned; "but it was so still that I concluded it
+was all fancy, it lay so close, and looked so like the sand and mud.
+Well, I may fish if I can't bathe, and--well, that does seem curious
+just as I said that.  Look, there are two of the black fellows at it."
+
+"A dark brown and a light brown to be more correct," said Murray, as he
+looked at a boat some fifty yards ahead of them, where it had just shot
+round a bend of the smooth stream, with a Malay boy paddling; while
+another in bright sarong and gay-looking baju or jacket, and a natty
+little military-looking cap on one side of his head, leaned back
+trailing a line for some kind of fish.
+
+"I say, you sir," cried Ned loudly, as he noted that the brown-looking
+boy was about his own age, and that he was watching the newcomers
+eagerly, "what's the Malay for what you are catching, and how many have
+you caught?"
+
+For answer the boy gave his line a snatch in, and let it go again,
+showing his teeth, and laughing heartily.
+
+"Well, you might be civil," said Ned flushing.  "I say, Hamet, ask him
+how many he has caught."
+
+The boatman asked the required question, and received an answer in the
+Malay tongue.
+
+"He says he has only just begun."
+
+"Well, ask him what sort of fish he catches."
+
+But before the question could be asked, the boy shouted something.
+
+"He says, sahib, are you fond of fishing?"
+
+"Yes, of course," shouted Ned, forgetful of the apparent need of an
+interpreter.
+
+By this time, the boats had passed each other and the distance was
+increasing, when there came in good plain English: "I say, where are you
+going?"
+
+"Up the river," cried Ned in astonishment.  "Know any more English?
+Where do you live?  How far is it away from here, and what's your name?"
+
+The boy in the boat threw out his line again, and burst into a shout of
+laughter, greatly to Ned's annoyance, for it sounded derisive; but there
+was no opportunity for further attempts at communication, for their boat
+swept round the bend, and it was plain enough whence the fishers had
+come, for, beautifully situated in a lake-like curve of the stream, they
+could see quite a pretentious-looking village with what was evidently a
+mosque, and just beyond it, a strong-looking stockade.  The houses were
+of exactly the same type as those they had before passed, but in
+addition there were several of considerable size, whose sides were woven
+in striking patterns, while dense groves of cocoa, betel, and nipah
+palms added to the beauty of the scene.
+
+Along the shore a dozen or two of boats were drawn up, while floating
+alone and doubled in the mirror-like water was a large prahu on whose
+deck several men were lolling about.  Just then a naga or dragon, boat
+came swiftly from behind it, propelled by a dozen men in yellow jackets
+and scarlet caps, and three or four showily-costumed Malays could be
+seen seated and standing in the shade of the awning, which, like that of
+their own boat, was of palm-leaves or attap, but far more neatly-made.
+
+"What place is this, Hamet?"
+
+"Don't know, sir," he said.  "Never been so far.  It must be Campong
+Bukit, and that is one of the rajah's boats."
+
+"What rajah?"
+
+"Rajah of Dah.  Great prince."
+
+"Ah, well, we may as well stop and land, and I daresay we can buy some
+fresh fruit and chickens and rice.  What's that?"
+
+"Ibrahim says don't stop--not good place," replied Hamet, for one of the
+men had whispered to him.
+
+"Oh, but Mr Wilson said this was an important village, and that there
+were English people here."
+
+The question of stopping or not was soon decided, for by a dexterous
+turn the dragon boat was swept across them, their way stopped, and one
+of the Malays beneath the awning shouted something imperiously to the
+men.
+
+Hamet replied in Malay, while Murray strained his ears to try to pick up
+the meaning of some of the words, without success, and then turned
+impatiently to Hamet.
+
+"What do they want?" he said.
+
+"To know who you are, sir, and where you are going."
+
+"Tell him to mind his own business," said Murray, sharply, and to Ned's
+great delight.  "No; it would be uncivil.  Tell him I am an English
+gentleman travelling for my pleasure, and that we are going to land to
+look at the place and buy provisions."
+
+This was duly interpreted, a fresh answer made, and permission given,
+the naga being kept close alongside as they all rowed for what proved to
+be quite a respectable landing-place, that is to say, a roughly-made
+jetty formed by driving bamboos into the sand and mud.
+
+"Ask him if there are not some English people here," said Murray to
+Hamet.
+
+"No, uncle, don't.  Look there, in front of those trees, there's an
+Englishman with a white umbrella, and a lady with a parasol.  Oh, I say,
+what a shame; she's using an opera-glass--and you said we were coming up
+into quite a savage place."
+
+"So I did, Ned," said his uncle, rubbing his ear; "but I can't help it.
+Civilisation crops up everywhere now, and they say you can't get away
+from cotton prints and Staffordshire pottery without running up against
+Sheffield knives."
+
+"But it is so disappointing.  I say, look, and there's another lady, and
+they're going on to that jetty to see us come in.  There'll be a
+steamboat call next, and I daresay there's a railway station somewhere
+among the trees."
+
+"Never mind, Ned," said Murray, with a comical look of chagrin in his
+countenance.  "We'll only buy what we can and be off again directly.  I
+certainly didn't expect this.  Why, there's another Englishman," he
+said, more loudly than he had intended, for they were close up to the
+jetty now, and the man of whom he had spoken, a red-faced youngish
+fellow in flannel shirt and trousers and a straw hat, said loudly:
+
+"Not a bad shot, sor.  Make it Oirish, and ye'll be right."
+
+"I beg your pardon," cried Murray, hastily raising his hat, and the
+salute was returned.  "What place is this?"
+
+"Dirthy Bucket, sor.  Campong Bukit they call it.  Are ye from home
+lately?"
+
+"From England?  Yes."
+
+All this was said as the boat glided along by the bamboo posts, and
+Murray added hastily: "Perhaps you would not mind helping us.  We want
+to buy some provisions--something to eat."
+
+"Buy something to ate?" said the man, smiling.  "Whisht, here's the
+masther and the ladies.--Here's an English gentleman, sor."
+
+There was rather an angry buzzing here from the dragon boat, as the
+gentleman with the white umbrella came on to the jetty, the two ladies
+with him remaining behind, while quite a little crowd of Malays began to
+collect on the river-bank.
+
+"English gentleman?" said the newcomer.  "Glad to see you, sir.  From
+Singapore, I presume!"
+
+"Not just lately; we have been staying at Dindong.  We were on our way
+up the river, and this place seemed a likely one to lay in a store of
+fresh provisions.  Am I right?"
+
+"Perfectly.  Come ashore, my dear sir.  Your son?"
+
+"Nephew," replied Murray, and Ned bowed stiffly.
+
+"Just as welcome in this savage place.  This way; my bungalow is a very
+little way off."
+
+"But my boat, guns, and the like?"
+
+"Be safe?  Tim, jump in and take charge, while the gentlemen come up to
+tiffin."
+
+"But, sor, there'll be nobody to--"
+
+"Oh, never mind; we'll manage.  My factotum, butler, footman, groom,
+everything," continued the stranger.  "Did those fellows bring you in?"
+
+"Not exactly.  They showed us the way."
+
+"Hem!" said the stranger, with a dry cough; and he put up his white
+umbrella again.  "Mind the sun?"
+
+"Oh, no; we are getting a bit acclimatised."
+
+"You're lucky then; I'm not.  My dears, gentlemen from home.  Mr--
+Mr--?"
+
+"Murray."
+
+"Mr Murray.  My wife and daughter.  Oh, by the way, forgot to introduce
+myself: Barnes, Doctor Barnes, resident physician to His Highness the
+Rajah of Dah, in whose capital you stand.  My dear, Mr Murray and his
+nephew have kindly consented to take tiffin with us."
+
+"You are very kind," said Murray, hesitating.
+
+"No apologies are necessary," said the elder of the two ladies, rather a
+yellow, quick-spoken body; and she made as if to take the newcomer's
+arm.  "We are only too glad to see a fresh face--a white one, are we
+not, Amy?"
+
+"Indeed we are, mamma," said the bright-looking girl addressed, and in a
+half-amused way, she took Ned's arm as her father went on in front.
+
+"I little thought of seeing English visitors," she continued.  "Shall I
+be impertinent if I ask why you have come so far?"
+
+"Oh no!" said Ned rather brusquely, for he resented the questioning.
+"Uncle and I have come up on a sporting and natural history trip.  We
+are going on directly."
+
+"Indeed!  Then the rajah has given you leave?"
+
+"What rajah?  The man here?"
+
+"Yes," said the girl, smiling.
+
+"Oh no!  We did not know it was necessary.  Uncle will ask him then, I
+suppose.  Does he call it his property?"
+
+The girl looked round at him in surprise,--
+
+"Oh yes; he is the rajah or prince of the country."
+
+"Yes; but I thought all this belonged to the Queen."
+
+"Well, I suppose it does, but our prince here thinks he is as important
+a person as the queen of England, and does exactly as he likes."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"You must recollect that we are a very very long way from Singapore
+here, and, excepting what he has been told of England and her power, the
+rajah knows very little about our country, and laughs at my father as if
+he were telling him romances when he talks of our army and ships of
+war."
+
+"He must be awfully conceited, then."
+
+"He is," said the girl laughing.  "I believe he thinks he is the
+greatest monarch upon earth."
+
+"Then you are the only English people here?"
+
+"Oh no.  We have Mr and Mrs Braine and their son, and Mr and Mrs
+Greig."
+
+"Who are they?"
+
+"Mr Braine is a gentleman papa recommended to the rajah.  He wanted
+some one to advise him and help him to introduce English customs, and to
+drill his army.  Mr Greig is a merchant who lives here to purchase the
+produce of the country to send down to Singapore.  You will see them, I
+daresay, for they are sure to come in as soon as they know that you are
+here."
+
+"It all seems very funny.  I thought we were coming into quite a wild
+place where there were elephants and tigers, and great snakes and birds
+that we could collect."
+
+"Well, it could not be much more wild," said the girl, smiling.
+"Directly you get past our house the dense jungle begins.  We are
+completely shut in by it, except in the front here by the river.  Wild?
+You will hear the tigers as soon as it is dark."
+
+"But I shall not be here," said Ned, laughing.
+
+"I think you will," said the girl, looking at him curiously.
+
+"Oh no; my uncle has quite made up his mind about what he intends to do,
+and nothing can change him."
+
+"Indeed!  We shall see.  Here we are."
+
+They had been passing through the place with its houses dotted about in
+the most irregular fashion, just as the builders had felt disposed to
+plant them, and now came upon an attractive-looking bungalow similar in
+character to the others, and like them raised on bamboo piles seven or
+eight feet from the ground, but with numberless little additions such as
+would be made by an Englishman.  Notably a high rustic fence enclosing a
+large garden planted liberally with tropic shrubs and flowers, and a
+broad flight of steps leading up to a great open verandah which ran
+nearly along the whole of the front, and over which the attap roof was
+brought to rest on clusters of bamboo formed into pillars, up which ran
+and twined in profuse growth passion-flowers and other creepers.
+
+"What a delightful place!" cried Ned.  "Why, it's quite a treat to see a
+good garden.  Look at the fruit!"
+
+"Mamma is very proud of the garden, and--"
+
+"Come along, squire," said the doctor, from the head of the steps.
+"Welcome to the Fernery."
+
+Murray was already seated at a well-spread table, upon which a couple of
+Malayan women, in neat cotton sarongs woven into an attractive plaid,
+were placing plates and dishes, and they greeted the newcomers with a
+look of surprise and a smile.
+
+"There, gentlemen," said the doctor, "you could not have arrived at a
+more opportune time, but you must excuse all shortcomings.  We keep up
+old English customs as well as we can, and can give you coffee and eggs.
+No fried bacon, squire," he added laughingly to Ned.  "You are where
+our genial useful old friend the pig is an abomination.  Why, it's five
+years since I've tasted a sausage, or a bit of ham.  But we can give you
+a curry of which I am proud.  Eh, my dear?"
+
+"Mr Murray will let a hearty English welcome make up for anything
+lacking," said the doctor's lady.  "He knows that we are in the
+wilderness."
+
+"A wilderness with bamboo chairs, a table, a clean cloth, glass, plate,
+napkins, and flowers and fruit," cried Murray.  "Why, my dear madam, you
+forget that we have been picnicking in a boat.  There, don't spoil your
+welcome by apologies!"
+
+Then there was a busy interval during which the greatest justice was
+done to an excellent meal, and Ned was initiated into the mystery of
+sambals--tiny saucers of pickle-like and preserve preparations, popular
+amongst the Malays as appetisers, but quite needless in Ned's case, for
+he was perfectly independent of anything of the kind, and after his
+curry and coffee, now the first chill of strangeness had passed, paid
+plenty of attention to the fruit pressed upon him by the doctor's
+daughter.  Now it was a deliciously-flavoured choice banana with a deep
+orange skin, now a mangosteen, and then a portion of a great durian, a
+scrap or two of which he ate with some reluctance.
+
+"Hallo!" said the doctor after a glance at his daughter, "you are not
+getting on with your durian, sir.  Pray take some more; it is our king
+among fruits."
+
+"I--I am afraid it is not a good one," stammered Ned, looking rather
+red.
+
+"Eh? not a good one?" cried the doctor, tasting a piece.  "Delicious,
+just in perfect condition.  Ah, you have to acquire that taste.  Now
+then, the ladies will excuse us, and we'll have a cigar here in the
+shade."
+
+He clapped his hands, and one of the Malay women brought a box of
+manillas.
+
+"No, I don't think I'll smoke," said Murray.  "You will not think me
+rude, but if you will excuse us, and put us in the way of getting what
+we want, I should be grateful."
+
+"My dear sir," said the doctor, "you must see our other English
+residents.  They are only waiting to give us time to finish our meal,
+and really you cannot go as yet."
+
+"Indeed!" said Murray, smiling, and noticing that the ladies both looked
+serious.
+
+"Well, you see," said the doctor rather confusedly--"do pray light a
+cigar, I'll set you an example--you see there is the rajah."
+
+Ned looked up sharply at the doctor, and then darted a look of
+intelligence at his daughter.
+
+"What about him?" said Murray abruptly.
+
+"Well, you see," said the doctor, hesitatingly, "he might think--but you
+are going shooting and collecting, you say?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, you ought to ask his permission."
+
+"What!" said Murray, laughing.  "My dear sir, you talk as if this were a
+gentleman's estate, and he kept gamekeepers."
+
+"Well, yes," said the doctor, smiling; "it is so on a large scale."
+
+"How far does it extend?  We will not begin shooting till we are quite
+beyond his patch."
+
+"How far?" said the doctor thoughtfully.  "Ah, that is a difficult
+question to answer.  It was hard to say before the late encounters with
+the Rajah of Padang; now the territory is more than doubled.  I think
+you had better send in a request.  Ah, here is Braine!"
+
+"And Mrs Braine and Mr Greig," added the doctor's lady, rising from
+her chair.
+
+This ended the conversation, just when Ned saw that his uncle was
+growing annoyed at the doctor's opposition to his plans, and he glanced
+round to see that his neighbour was looking at him intently.
+
+"I thought you would not be able to go away to-day," she whispered, as
+she rose and went with her mother to meet the visitors at the foot of
+the steps, the doctor having made an apology and gone too.
+
+"What did that young lady say to you, Ned?" said his uncle in a low
+tone.
+
+"She thought there would be some difficulty in our going on to-day."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!  These people lead an idle life, and they want every one
+they see to stop and play with them.  I don't want to be rude, but we
+are not going to dawdle about here; and as for this petty chief--all
+rubbish!"
+
+At that moment a tall stern-looking man, in loose white clothes and a
+pith helmet, came up the steps.  His face was darkened almost to the
+tint of a Malay's, and he had a quick anxious look in his eyes, which,
+with his rather hollow cheeks, gave him the aspect of one who had lately
+been ill.  He advanced with open hand.
+
+"Glad to meet you, Mr Murray," he said.  "It is a pleasure to see a
+countryman."
+
+"That speech will do for me too," said a rather harsh voice, and a
+keen-looking gentleman of about fifty, with his face deeply lined and a
+quick expression and manner which at once stamped him as shrewd, now
+shook hands warmly with the new arrivals, while directly after a
+subdued, handsome-looking woman was led up by the doctor's lady.
+
+"Let me introduce you two," said the hostess.  "Mrs Braine is an ardent
+botanist, Mr Murray, and I'm sure that you will enjoy a chat together.
+She knows all our flowering plants here by heart."
+
+"I am very pleased to meet Mr Murray," said the newcomer in a sweet sad
+voice.  "I hope he will let me be his guide to some of the nooks on the
+river-bank, where the jungle can be penetrated."
+
+"I should only be too glad, my dear madam," said Murray; "and I can find
+no words to express my thanks--our thanks, I should say--for your
+cordial reception here of a perfect stranger; but my nephew and I have
+only put in to buy a bag of rice and some fruit to replenish our stores,
+and we are going on directly."
+
+Murray ceased speaking, and looked sharply from one to the other, for he
+had seen Mr Braine raise his eyebrows and glance at the doctor and the
+shrewd keen-looking man.  The doctor laughed, and took up the cigar box.
+
+"Have a smoke, Braine?" he said.
+
+"Thanks," was the reply; and the newcomer took a cheroot in the midst of
+a rather constrained silence.
+
+"I hope I have not said anything wrong," continued Murray, who felt
+piqued at the manners of those about him, for the ladies began talking
+together in a subdued tone.
+
+"Oh dear me, no!" said Mr Braine hastily.  "You are shooting and
+collecting, I think?"
+
+"We have not begun yet," replied Murray, quickly; "but that is why we
+have come."
+
+There was another pause.
+
+"I am afraid you will give me the credit of being somewhat of a bear,"
+continued Murray, "and really, Doctor Barnes, I am most grateful to you
+and your charming wife and daughter for your hospitality."
+
+"Oh, pray, say no more," said Mrs Barnes.  "You confer a favour on us
+by coming, though you have given us no English news as yet."
+
+"And I am afraid, my dear madam, that I shall have time to give you very
+little.  At the risk of being considered rude, I must ask you to excuse
+us now."
+
+The doctor frowned and looked at Mr Braine, who glanced in turn at the
+shrewd elderly man, and he immediately searched for a silver snuff-box,
+and then spent a great deal of time over taking a pinch.
+
+"Really, gentlemen," said Murray, quickly, "all this is very strange.  I
+can hardly think you credit me with rudeness in being hurried."
+
+"Oh no, Mr Murray, not at all," said the doctor's lady.--"Mr Braine,
+why do you not explain?"
+
+"Well, really," said that gentleman, "I thought an explanation should
+come from you as the host and hostess, but I will do my best.--The fact
+is, Mr Murray, this country is something like the west coast of
+Scotland in the old days, when every chief had his stronghold."
+
+"Oh yes, I have noted that," said Murray, smiling; "and I see that they
+have both the plaid and dirk, though you call them sarong and kris."
+
+"Exactly.  Well, my dear sir, the chief, rajah, prince, or whatever you
+like to call him, is omnipotent here."
+
+"Not always, Mr Braine," said the doctor's lady, merrily.  "I think my
+husband rules over the rajah."
+
+"Only when he is ill, my dear, and he is the most refractory patient I
+ever had."
+
+"And you see there is a certain etiquette to be observed here,"
+continued Mr Braine.  "We would do everything we could to help you to
+procure your provisions, and say God speed to your journey, but we are
+helpless."
+
+"Indeed!" said Murray, flushing.  "You mean that as we have come we must
+ask the rajah's permission to go: I shall do nothing of the kind.
+Gentlemen, we will start at once."
+
+Mr Braine made a deprecatory sign,--
+
+"Excuse me," he said.  "You speak like one of us--like an Englishman,
+but my good sir, this is not England, and we are beyond the range of the
+law courts and the police.  I say this is not England, nor is it
+Singapore.  We are not many hundred miles from where the English rule is
+well in force, but here, to all intents and purposes, we are completely
+in the power of a barbarous chief."
+
+"But this is absurd!" cried Murray; "surely the Governor of the Straits
+Settlements would crush out any piece of oppression directly, or any
+outrage on a British subject."
+
+Mr Braine smiled.
+
+"The British lion is very strong, sir," he said; "but he is well fed and
+drowsy.  He knows that he has only to lift his paw, or perhaps only to
+lash his tail, to get rid of troublesome animals or stinging insects,
+but it is very hard to get him to do this.  No doubt if Rajah Sadi were
+to behave very badly, the war-steamer on the station here would come up
+the river as far as she could, and then send an expedition in boats with
+plenty of jacks and marines, and perhaps a few soldiers, but not until
+there had been a great deal of red-tape unwound, declarations sent to
+and from London, and perhaps a year would have passed before the help
+came.  Then the rajah would be punished, if they could catch him, and
+his stockade and village be burned.  But most probably he would know
+from his people when the expedition was coming, and mount his elephants
+with his court, and go right away into the jungle, after sending his
+prahus and other boats up one of the side-streams where they could hide.
+Then the expedition would return and so would the rajah; the bamboo
+houses would be rebuilt, and matters go on just as before."
+
+"You are making out a very bad case, sir," said Murray, biting his lip
+to keep down his annoyance, "but I shall not hesitate as to my plans."
+
+"You mean that you will go on at once?"
+
+"Certainly," said Murray; "and let them try to stop us if they dare."
+
+"Humph!" said Mr Braine, raising his brows a little.  "You doubt then
+the likelihood of the rajah's people interfering with you?"
+
+"Excuse me for seeming rude to you in my incredulity, but I do doubt
+this."
+
+Mr Braine smiled again.
+
+"I presume," he said, "that when your boat came up you were boarded by
+the rajah's naga."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you saw that she had a well-armed crew?"
+
+"I noticed that the men all wore their krises, and that spears were
+hanging in slings from the covered-in part."
+
+"Exactly.  That boat boards every vessel that goes up or down the river,
+and all pay tax or toll to the lord of this district, and have to await
+his permission before they can stir."
+
+"Then," said Murray, sharply, "you consider that we are prisoners?"
+
+"No; I do not go so far as that, but you are in the realm of a petty
+independent prince, who is something of a despot, and for your own sake
+you must submit to the customs of the country."
+
+"But this is ridiculous!" cried Murray, angrily.  "Ladies, forgive me
+for being so abrupt, but people from the old country resent coercion in
+every form.  I'll be as polite to your rajah as a gentleman should be,
+but I am not going to have my plans upset by a savage.  Ned, my lad,
+we'll see if they dare interfere with us."
+
+"I beg you will do nothing rashly," said Mr Braine, for Murray took a
+step toward the ladies, and held out his hand smilingly.
+
+"Good-bye," he said frankly.  "I am going some distance up the river,
+but I hope you will let me make your acquaintance again on our return."
+
+"You are not gone yet, Mr Murray," said the doctor, shortly; "and I
+advise you, sir, to practise prudence for both your sakes.  As I
+expected, here are the rajah's people; I thought that they would not be
+long."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+BEFORE THE RAJAH.
+
+At the same moment that the doctor was speaking, Ned had caught sight of
+something glittering in the sun above the green shrubs that bordered the
+bamboo fence, and directly after that there was quite a blaze of yellow
+and scarlet colour as a party of Malays reached the gate and entered the
+grounds, a little group of swarthy-looking spearmen halting in the path,
+while two stately-looking men, with handkerchiefs tied turban fashion
+about their heads, came slowly up to the steps.  The doctor descended to
+meet them, and then ushered them into the verandah where they saluted
+the ladies courteously, and then bowed gravely to the strangers, to whom
+they were introduced as two of the chief officers of the rajah in the
+most formal way; after which, as a brief conversation took place in the
+Malay tongue, and gave Ned the opportunity to examine their silken
+jackets and gay kilt-like sarongs in which were stuck their krises with
+the handles covered by the twisted folds, the doctor turned to Murray.
+
+"These gentlemen," he said, "have been sent by his highness the rajah to
+ask why you have come here, and to desire your presence before him."
+
+"Tell them," said Murray, "that I am sorry I cannot speak their tongue;
+and that as I am going on at once, I beg the rajah will excuse me from
+waiting upon him."
+
+"My dear sir," whispered Mr Braine; but Murray flushed a little, and
+went on:
+
+"Tell the rajah, please, that I am an English gentleman, a subject of
+Her Majesty Queen Victoria, travelling with my nephew to collect objects
+of natural history, and that I shall be obliged if he will give me a
+safe conduct to pass through his country unmolested by his people."
+
+An answer to this was made at once by the elder and more grave-looking
+of the two Malays, showing that, though he spoke in his own language to
+the doctor, he had comprehended every word that had been said.
+
+The doctor listened, and then interpreted again to Murray.
+
+"The Tumongong desires me to say that he is sure his highness will be
+glad to further your wishes, but that he dare not go back and deliver
+such a message.  You will excuse me for saying so, Mr Murray, but you
+must obey, and at once."
+
+"And suppose I refuse, sir?" said Murray, warmly.  "British gentlemen
+are not accustomed to be told that they must."
+
+"No," said the doctor, smiling, "and do not like it; but there are times
+when Englishmen and Scotchmen find that they must submit to
+circumstances--eh, Braine?--eh, Greig?"
+
+"Oh yes," said the merchant, taking out his snuff-box, opening it, and
+offering it to each of the Malay gentlemen, who bowed gravely, and took
+a pinch.
+
+"It is not pleasant, I know, sir," said Mr Braine quietly; "but may I,
+as a fellow-countryman, offer you a little advice?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Then pray go, sir.  And, excuse me for saying, it would be uncourteous
+not to obey the summons.  Vous parlez Francais?" he added quietly.
+
+"Yes, badly."
+
+"Croyez moi: il faut."
+
+Ned noticed a slight twitching of the Tumongong's facial muscles, and an
+intent look in his eyes, as if he were trying to understand the last
+words, which puzzled him.
+
+"I am at his highness's service," said Murray, abruptly.  "Come Ned, you
+may as well come too."
+
+The chief officer smiled gravely, and placed himself beside Murray, his
+companion following his example, and walking up to Ned.  Then they both
+bowed politely to the ladies, and signed to the visitors to go toward
+the steps.
+
+"You are coming, then?" said Murray, as he saw Mr Braine step forward.
+
+"I?  Oh yes.  You will want an interpreter," said the gentleman
+addressed.
+
+"Excuse me a moment," said Murray, addressing the Malay chief.--"Ladies,
+I'll say good-bye once more, and thank you heartily for your kindness to
+us."
+
+"You can do that later on," said the doctor, quietly.  "If you do go
+to-day, of course we shall come and see you off."
+
+"To be sure.  Thank you," said Murray smiling.--"Now, gentlemen, I am at
+your service.  I see that you speak English."
+
+"Understand? yes," said the chief officer; "speak? no."
+
+By this time they were in the garden, the group of swarthy spearmen
+standing back in line with military precision, and holding their weapons
+at the salute as the party passed them, and then falling in behind to
+march after them in a way which showed that they had been carefully
+drilled.
+
+"Come, Ned," said Murray, as they passed out of the gate, "don't look so
+serious, lad; they are not leading us out to execution."
+
+"Did I look serious, uncle?" said the boy merrily.  "I was not thinking
+that, but of our clothes."
+
+"Eh, what about them, lad?"
+
+"That they look very rough and shabby beside these grand dresses.  We
+hardly seem lit to go to court."
+
+"Not our fault, boy.  It is a special invitation," replied Murray
+merrily.--"We must study up the Malay language so as to be independent,
+Mr Braine."
+
+"I should advise you to master it as soon as you can," said that
+gentleman, who was now walking beside them as they threaded their way in
+and out among the houses, where every now and then they could catch a
+glimpse of a pair of eyes watching them, though the people they passed
+took not the slightest notice of them, or just glanced, turned their
+betel-nut in their mouths, and went on chewing it with their eyes
+half-closed, as if the coming of strangers was not of the slightest
+importance to them.
+
+"Is it far to the palace?" asked Murray, giving Ned a quaint look.
+
+"Just beyond those houses, and amongst the group of trees you can see
+over their roofs," said Mr Braine; and he then turned and spoke to the
+officers, who replied to him in Malay.
+
+"His highness is waiting to give you audience," he continued.  "Mr
+Murray, I do not like to force advice upon a stranger, but I should like
+to say, for your own sake and that of your young friend, try to accept
+the position in which you find yourself, however hard it may be.  And,"
+he added in a whisper, looking sharply at Ned, "whatever you see, do not
+laugh.  Eastern gentlemen are extremely sensitive to ridicule."
+
+"I shall not laugh," said Ned quietly; and then he began thinking about
+the punctilious ways of his companions till they had passed the last
+houses, entered a patch of forest, and from that came suddenly upon a
+clearing where a spacious bamboo house stood half hidden by a clump of
+umbrageous trees, beneath one of which was drawn up a group which at the
+first glance made the boy wonder whether he was gazing at a scene in
+real life, or some imaginary picture from an eastern tale.
+
+The first figure upon which Ned's eyes rested was seated in the centre
+of the group, on a quaintly made stool, and his gorgeous dress
+immediately suggested that this must be the great man himself whom they
+had come to see.  For he was evidently got up expressly for the
+occasion, with his courtiers carefully arranged about him, some standing
+behind and on either side, but for the most part squatted down on the
+sandy ground in the position affected by eastern people, though here and
+there one could be seen right down cross-legged _a la turque_.
+
+The rajah was the only one in European costume, and at the first glance
+at the man, with his heavy fat sensual-looking face and lurid eyes, Ned
+recalled his companion's words: "Whatever you see, do not laugh."
+
+He felt at once the value of the advice, as his eye ran over the chief's
+costume, for he was gorgeously arrayed in a military tunic and trousers
+undoubtedly made in London to order, the tailor having had instructions
+to prepare for his highness a dress that would be striking and
+impressive, and from this point of view he had done his work well.  The
+trousers were blue with gold stripes, of the most elaborate floral
+pattern, such as decorate levee uniforms; and, after the fashion of our
+most gaily-dressed hussars of fifty years ago, there were wonderful
+specimens of embroidery part of the way down the front of the thigh.
+But the tunic was the dazzling part of the show, for it was of the
+regular military scarlet, and was neither that of field-marshal,
+dragoon, nor hussar, but a combination of all three, frogged, roped, and
+embroidered in gold, and furnished with a magnificent pair of twisted
+epaulets.  Across the breast was a gorgeous belt, one mass of gold
+ornamentation, while the sword-belt and slings were similarly encrusted,
+and the sabre and sheath--carefully placed between his legs, so that it
+could be seen to the best advantage--was a splendid specimen of the
+goldsmiths' and sword-cutlers' art, and would have been greatly admired
+in a museum.  To complete the effect, the rajah wore an Astrakan busby,
+surmounted by a tall scarlet egret-plume, similar to that worn by a
+horse-artillery officer of the British army, the cap being corded,
+starred, and held in place by a golden chain cheek-strap.
+
+The effect ought to have been most striking, and so it was in one way;
+but it was spoiled by the presence of a jetty-black Malay attendant,
+dressed in an ordinary dark paletot and military-looking cap, holding
+over the rajah's head a white sun umbrella of common cotton, and the
+fact patent to any Englishman, that the uniform must have been ordered
+without the customary visit to the tailor, the result destroying
+everything with the horribly striking truth that it did not fit!
+
+Ned bit his tongue hard, and gazed to right and left at the swarthy
+courtiers of the monarch, six of whom were squatted down in the front
+row, some in little military caps, others in brilliant kerchiefs tied
+turban fashion about their heads, and all wearing brilliant silken
+sarongs.  These were the rajah's sword-bearers, and each held by the
+ornamental sheath a kris or parang of singular workmanship, with the
+hilt resting against the right shoulder.  The rest of the rajah's people
+were picturesquely arranged, and in their native dress looked to a man
+far better than their ruler, who was the incongruous spot in the group,
+which was impressive enough to an English lad, with its lurid
+fierce-looking faces and dark oily eyes peering from the mass of yellow
+and scarlet, while everywhere, though with the hilt covered by the folds
+of the sarong, could be made out the fact that each man carried at his
+waist a deadly-looking kris.
+
+All this was seen at a glance as they advanced, and Ned had thoroughly
+crushed down the desire to laugh at the dark potentate, when his uncle
+nearly made him explode by whispering: "Make your fortune, Ned.  Buy the
+whole party for Madame Tussaud's."
+
+He was saved from a horrible breach of court etiquette by the two
+officials advancing, bowing low to the rajah, and making a short speech
+to his highness, who nodded and scowled while the guard of spearmen
+formed up in a row behind, and Mr Braine saluted in military fashion,
+and went and stood half behind at the rajah's left elbow, listened to
+something the great man said, and then looked at the two visitors.
+
+"His highness bids me say that you are welcome to his court."
+
+"We thank his highness," said Murray, frankly.  Then to Ned: "Do as I
+do;" and he advanced and held out his hand.
+
+There was a slight movement amongst the sword-bearers and officials, and
+a dozen fierce-looking men seemed ready to spring forward at this
+display of equality.  But the rajah did not resent it; he smiled, rose,
+and took the extended hands in turn, making his plume vibrate and his
+busby topple forward, so that it dropped right off, and would have
+fallen in the dust but for the activity of Ned.  He caught it and
+returned it to the wearer, who frowned with annoyance as he replaced it
+in its proper position.
+
+"Dank you," he said, quite surlily, and he shook hands now.  "How der
+doo?"
+
+This last word was prolonged with quite a growl.
+
+"Quite well, and glad to pay our compliments to your highness," said
+Murray.
+
+The rajah's brow puckered, and he stared heavily, first at his visitors
+and then at Mr Braine, for he had reached the end of his English.
+
+That individual came to his rescue, however, and after a few formal
+compliments had passed, with the people all listening in stolid silence,
+Murray requested through his interpreter permission to pass on through
+the rajah's country.
+
+This brought forth a series of questions as to what the visitors would
+collect, and answers respecting birds, animals, and plants.
+
+The rajah listened to the answers, and then said something eagerly to
+Mr Braine.
+
+"His highness wishes to know if you understand anything about minerals
+and metals," said the latter.
+
+"Yes, I have made mineralogy and geology something of a study," replied
+Murray; and this being interpreted, the rajah spoke again for some
+little time with more animation than might have been expected from so
+heavy and dull a man.
+
+"I'm getting tired of this, Ned," whispered Murray.
+
+"Oh, it's worth seeing, uncle.  It will be something to talk about when
+we get home."
+
+"Yes, boy; but I want nature, not art of this kind."
+
+"Mr Murray," said their interpreter just then, after clearing his voice
+with a cough, as if to get rid of something which tickled his throat,
+and drawing him and Ned aside, "his highness desires me to say that he,
+is very glad to welcome to his court so eminent a naturalist."
+
+"My dear Mr Braine," said Murray, interrupting, "we are
+fellow-countrymen.  Never mind the flowery part; let's have the plain
+English of it all."
+
+"My dear fellow, I am translating almost verbatim.  His highness says
+that he has long wished to see a gentleman of your attainments, for he
+is anxious to have his country explored, so that the valuable metals,
+precious stones, and vegetable productions may be discovered.  He says
+that you are very welcome, and that a house shall be placed at your
+disposal, with slaves and guards and elephants for expeditions through
+the jungle to the mountains.  One of his dragon boats will also be
+placed at your service for expeditions up the river, and he wishes you
+every success in the discoveries you will make for him."
+
+"For him!" said Murray, looking bewildered; "but I want to make them for
+myself, and for the institutions with which I am connected in London."
+
+"Yes; it is very awkward," said Mr Braine.
+
+"Tell him I am highly flattered, but I must go on to-day.--Well, go on:
+speak to him."
+
+"I cannot.  I dare not."
+
+"Then I will."
+
+"But you can't; you do not know his language."
+
+"Then I'll show him in pantomime."
+
+"My dear sir, pray do nothing rash.  I understand this chief and his
+people.  You are quite strange to their ways.  I beg you for your own
+sakes to accept the position."
+
+"But it is making prisoners of us, sir.  English people are not
+accustomed to such treatment.  I will not be forced to stay."
+
+"My dear Mr Murray, you are losing your temper," said Mr Braine.
+"Just let me, as a man of some experience out here, remind you of what,
+in cooler moments, you must know: I mean the necessity for being
+diplomatic with eastern people.  Now pray look here.  I know how
+annoying all this is; but on the other hand, you will have facilities
+for carrying on your researches such as you could not create for
+yourself."
+
+"Yes; but I do not like to be forced."
+
+"I know that.  It is most objectionable."
+
+"And I see through him as plainly as can be: he wants me to find out
+gold, or tin and precious stones, and other things for his benefit.  It
+is degrading to a scientific man."
+
+"You are perfectly right; but I must speak plainly.  This man has
+perfect confidence in his own power, and he rules here like the Czar of
+Russia.  My dear sir, be guided by me.  You have no alternative.  You
+cannot leave here, and he will have no hesitation whatever in
+imprisoning you if you refuse.  Come, accept his proposal with a good
+grace, for your own and your nephew's sake--I may add for the sake of
+the follow country-folk you have met here to-day."
+
+"But my good sir," said Murray angrily, "this idea of forcing me makes
+me the more indignant and obstinate."
+
+"Yes; but forget all that in the cause of science."
+
+Murray smiled.
+
+"You are a clever diplomat, Mr Braine," he said.  "Well I give way,
+for, as you say, there is no alternative."
+
+"That's right," said Mr Braine eagerly, "and I hope you will not regret
+it.  There, the rajah is growing impatient.  He must not think you have
+spoken like this.  I shall tell him that you have been stipulating for
+abundance of help."
+
+"I do stipulate for that."
+
+"And freedom to pursue your investigations in every direction."
+
+"Yes; I stipulate for that too."
+
+For some time past the rajah had been frowning, and loosening his sabre
+in its scabbard and clapping it down again, while Ned noticed that, as
+if anticipating an unpleasant reminder of their master's anger, the
+people right and left squatted and stood like statues, gazing straight
+before them.  But when Mr Braine left the two strangers, and went back
+to the fierce-looking chief and made a long communication, which he had
+dressed up so as to gloss over the long consultation and Murray's
+defiant manner, the rajah's face lit up, and showed his satisfaction,
+the courtiers and attendants relaxed, and began to chew their betel.
+Ned even thought he heard a faint sigh of relief rise from the group, as
+Mr Braine bowed and returned to where the newcomers were standing.
+
+"You have acted very wisely, Mr Murray," he said.  "Come now, his
+highness wishes to speak to you."
+
+Murray could hardly crush down the feeling of resentment which troubled
+him, but he walked up with Ned quietly enough, and stood waiting and
+trying to attach a meaning to the words which the rajah said, feeling
+how valuable some knowledge of the language would be, and hardly hearing
+Mr Braine's interpretation.
+
+"His highness bids me say that he will be most happy to meet your wishes
+with respect to accommodation, and freedom to explore."
+
+The rajah spoke again.
+
+"And that boats, elephants, and men to clear a path through the jungle,
+are to be at your service."
+
+There was another speech in Malay, which Mr Braine did not interpret,
+apparently for the reason that the rajah now rose from his stool, and
+took a step forward to tap both Murray and Ned on the shoulder, standing
+looking from one to the other, and rolling his great quid of betel-nut
+in his cheeks as he tried to recall something he wanted to say.
+
+At last a smile came upon his heavy features.
+
+"Goooood--boyahs," he said thickly.  Then, drawing himself up, he stood
+fast, holding the scabbard of his sword in his left hand, threw his
+right over and grasped the hilt, and then in strict military fashion
+evidently, as he had been drilled by an instructor, he drew his sword,
+saluted, replaced the blade, faced to the right, marched a dozen paces;
+faced to the right again, and marched toward his bamboo and palm palace,
+the loose fit of his tunic and the bagginess of his trousers showing off
+to the worst advantage, till he was covered by his followers, who also
+marched after him mechanically, sword-bearers, men carrying a golden
+betel-box and golden spittoon, courtiers, and spearmen.  At last all
+were either in or close up to the house, only the two Malay chiefs, who
+had fetched the strangers from the doctor's bungalow, remaining behind.
+
+These two came up to them smiling in the most friendly way, just as
+Murray said: "What about our boat and the men?"
+
+"Oh, they will be all right," replied Mr Braine.
+
+"But the men?  Am I to send them back?"
+
+"No; his highness desires that they stay."
+
+Just then the chief who had been spoken of as the Tumongong--a kind of
+chief counsellor--made some remark to Mr Braine, who nodded.
+
+"These gentlemen," he said, "wish me to say that they hope we shall all
+be very good friends, and that they will see the rajah's wishes carried
+out as to your comfort."
+
+"And our guns and things in the boat?"
+
+The Tumongong spoke at once.
+
+"You are not to make yourself uneasy.  Everything will be right."
+
+Then profound salaams were exchanged, and the Malays went toward the
+rajah's house, while the Englishmen took the way that led to the
+doctor's.
+
+"I am beaten, Mr Braine," said Murray, rather bitterly.  "I said I
+would go."
+
+"You have acted very wisely, sir."
+
+"Humph!  Well, perhaps so," said Murray, rather gruffly.  "Here we are
+then, Ned: prisoners in the cause of science we'll call it.--But it
+seems to me, Mr Braine, that if we do not mind our P's and Q's, we
+shall be prisoners indeed."
+
+Mr Braine made no reply, but his looks seemed to endorse the other's
+words.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+MAKING THE BEST OF IT.
+
+"Ned," said Mr Murray, as they reached the doctor's, "run and tell the
+boatmen we are going to stay," and Ned started off.
+
+The boatmen did not seem in the least degree surprised upon Ned
+announcing to them that they were to stay for the present.  "It is
+kismet--fate," said Hamet, calmly.
+
+"I could have told ye that before," said a voice; and, looking up, Ned
+saw the good-humoured sun-browned face of the Irishman just projecting
+over the edge of the bamboo jetty, where he lay upon his chest smoking a
+pipe.
+
+"Hullo!  I'd forgotten you," said Ned, who had come down very thoughtful
+and dull.
+
+"Faix, and I hadn't forgotten you.  Didn't ye tell me to mind your duds
+and things in the boat, sor?"
+
+"They did; I didn't.  I say, if you knew that we should stay, why didn't
+you--But never mind."
+
+The man gave him a droll look.
+
+"There ye needn't mind spaking out," he said.  "I know.  The old 'un
+won't let ye go away again."
+
+"You know him?" said Ned excitedly.
+
+"Av course I do.  He niver lets any one go that he wants to stay."
+
+"Then why didn't you, an Englishman--Irishman, I mean--"
+
+"That's better, sor, though any one would hardly know me for an Irishman
+by my spache.  Sure there are times when I haven't a bit of brogue left.
+It's the sun dhries it out of me, I think."
+
+"But why didn't you warn us?"
+
+"Because there'd a been a regular shaloo if I had.  The other gintleman
+would have told your men here to pull away, and the dhragon boat would
+have been afther ye shying shpears, and you'd have been shuting, and the
+end would have been that ye'd been hurt; and think o' that now."
+
+"But we should have rowed right away."
+
+"Divil a bit.  They'd soon have caught ye or been firing their brass
+lalys at yez."
+
+"What's a brass laly?" said Ned.
+
+"Get out wid ye, sor: poking fun at me.  Who said a wurrud about lalys?
+I said lalys."
+
+"Well, so did I."
+
+"Not a bit of it; ye said lalys."
+
+"So did you."
+
+"Not I.  I said laly."
+
+"Spell it then."
+
+"Is it shpell it.  Well then, l-e-l-a-h, laly.  It's a big brass
+blunderbush thing on a shwivel.  There's two of 'em on each of their
+prahus, and they send a ball about two pound-weight sometimes, and other
+times a couple o' handfuls of old bits o' broken iron, and nubbles o'
+tin, and shtones.  Annythin whin they're spiteful."
+
+"But do you mean to say they'd have dared to fire at a boat with two
+Englishmen in it--I mean a man and a boy?" cried Ned, flushing.
+
+"Oh, don't go aiting yer wurruds like that, lad.  Shure ye've got the
+sperret of a man in ye, if ye're not shix feet high.  An' is it fire at
+a boat with Englishmen in it?  Why, I belave they'd shute at one with
+Irishmen in, and I can't say more than that."
+
+"Then we've rowed right into a nest of Malay pirates?"
+
+"Oh no.  You people at home might call 'em so, perhaps, but the old un's
+jist a rale Malay gintleman--a rajah as lives here in his own country,
+and takes toll of iverything that goes up and down.  Sure, we do it at
+home; only gintalely, and call it taxes and rates and customs.  And
+they've got customs of the country here."
+
+"But, I say," said Ned, as he found that he was getting a deeper insight
+into their position, "the rajah will soon let us go?"
+
+"Will he?"
+
+"Come, answer me.  How long will he want us to stay?"
+
+"Oh, for iver, I should say, or as much of it as ye can conthrive to
+live."
+
+"You're making fun of me," said Ned, frowning.  "But look here; you are
+not prisoners."
+
+"Prishoners?  No.  Isn't the masther the rajah's owen chief docthor, and
+Mr Braine his prime-minister, field-marshal, and commander-in-chief."
+
+"Then you people could go when you liked?"
+
+"Oh no.  Divil a bit.  The old un's so fond of us, he won't let us
+shtir, and he always sends four dark gintlemen wid shpears if I think
+I'd like to go for a walk."
+
+"Then you are all prisoners?"
+
+"Don't I tell ye no, sor.  They don't call it by that name, but we can't
+go away."
+
+"Oh, but this is abominable!" cried Ned, looking in the dry, humorous
+face before him.
+
+"Ye'll soon get used to it, sor.  But just a frindly wurrud.  I'd be
+civil, for they've an ugly way of handling things here, being
+savage-like.  There isn't a wan among 'em as knows the vartue of a bit
+o' blackthorn, but they handle their shpears dangerously, and ivery
+man's got his nasty ugly skewer in his belt--you know, his kris--and
+it's out wid it, and ructions before ye know where ye are."
+
+"Yes; I saw that every man had his kris," said Ned, thoughtfully.  "But
+can you stay and look after the boat?"
+
+"Didn't the masther say I was to.  But nobody would dare to touch a
+thing here.  Here he is."
+
+Ned turned sharply, and saw a little party approaching, consisting of
+Mr Braine, the doctor, and Murray, with the Tumongong at their side.
+
+"Tim," said the doctor, "you can superintend here.  The men are to carry
+everything in the boat up to the house next but one to ours."
+
+"The one close to the trees, sor?"
+
+"Yes.  You will not want any other help.  But mind that the boat is
+properly made fast."
+
+"Shall I stay too, uncle?" asked Ned.
+
+"No; come with me, and let's see our new quarters."
+
+They were in the act of starting when the Malay chief by their side held
+up his hand to arrest them, looking along the river with eager eyes,
+where a boat, similar to the one which had first come alongside their
+own, could be seen approaching fast, half filled with men, eight of whom
+were working vigorously at the oars, while half a dozen more sat beneath
+the awning, with the blades of their spears thrust out at the sides, and
+glittering in the sun.
+
+"Have they got him, I wonder?" said the doctor half aloud.
+
+"Got whom?" asked Murray.
+
+"A Malay who offended the rajah by a serious breach, and broke out of
+his prison about five days ago."  He added a few words in the Malayan
+tongue to the Tumongong, who responded.
+
+"Yes, they've got the poor wretch," said the doctor.  "Well, he was a
+bad scoundrel.  Let's stop and see them land."
+
+The second dragon boat was rowed quickly up to the jetty, the oars laid
+in, and the armed men landed, and stood ready while the rowers lifted
+out a savagely defiant-looking man, whose wrists and ankles were heavily
+chained.  Then a couple of more showily-dressed Malays stepped out, a
+little procession was formed, and the prisoner was then led, with his
+chains clanking and dragging in the dust, away toward the rajah's
+residence, the Tumongong talking rapidly to the fresh comers for a few
+minutes, and then rejoining the Englishmen to walk with them to the
+neat-looking house set apart for the enforced visitors.
+
+They went up the steps, to find the place light, cool, and rather dark,
+coming as they did out of the glare of the sun; but as their eyes grew
+accustomed to the gloom, it was to see that the place was neatly covered
+with matting, and that there was a darker inner room with more mats,
+evidently intended for sleeping.
+
+"I should hardly have expected that you had houses to let," said Murray,
+who, now that their position was unavoidable, seemed bent on removing
+any bad impression made by his rather warm display of temper.
+
+"We have none," said the doctor.  "This is the house of one of the minor
+chiefs, and he has been sent elsewhere."
+
+"But really--I would rather--oh, we can make shift in a humbler place
+than this."
+
+"It is the rajah's orders that you should come here, and we are all
+bound to obey him."
+
+"Oh, very well.  Then we will obey," said Murray.  "Look, Ned, here are
+our traps already.  But one moment, Doctor Braine, are our men to stay
+here too?"
+
+The doctor turned to the chief, who said quietly: "The man who is their
+servant is to stay.  The others will have a house to themselves."
+
+The next hour was spent in arranging their boxes and arms, Hamet
+assisting and calmly taking to his new quarters, as if nothing in nature
+could surprise him, and when all was done, Ned looked round eagerly.
+
+"Come, uncle," he said; "it isn't such a bad place after all."
+
+"No; far better than I expected, but it wants one thing."
+
+"What's that, uncle?"
+
+"Liberty to do what we like, boy.  If we had that, we could congratulate
+ourselves."
+
+"Well, try and think that you really have it," said the doctor.  "There
+now, what do you say to coming up to my place to rest till dinner-time?
+Braine has promised to come."
+
+Murray hesitated, but the doctor would take no denial, and leaving Hamet
+in charge of the place, they descended to find that the Tumongong, who
+had left them for a time, was again back, in company with the other
+officer.
+
+These made a communication to the doctor, who nodded, and the two
+officers then bowed gravely, and went away.
+
+"Message for you," said the doctor.  "You are requested--"
+
+"Ordered," said Murray, drily.
+
+"Well, ordered, not to leave the village without asking permission, so
+that you may have an escort; but you are quite at liberty to go anywhere
+you please about the place."
+
+"Ah, well," said Murray, "I am not going to complain any more to-day.  I
+have made myself a nuisance enough.  Hallo, Ned, here comes your saucy
+young Malay friend."
+
+Ned looked sharply round, the doctor having stepped forward hurriedly to
+speak to one of the Malays seated on the steps of his house, and there,
+sure enough, was the gaily-dressed lad they had seen that morning,
+followed by his companion of the boat carrying a basket and the rod the
+first had used.
+
+They saw them pass on, to be hidden directly by the trees, and they were
+still watching the place when the doctor returned.
+
+"Sorry to have left you," he said.  "One of my patients--he was mauled
+badly in a tiger-hunt, but he is coming round nicely now."
+
+Ned pricked up his ears at the words tiger-hunt, and feeling more
+satisfied now with his new quarters, he followed the doctor into his
+garden, and then up the broad steps to the shady verandah, where a
+pleasant evening was spent, the dinner capitally served, Tim Driscol,
+now very neatly attired in white, waiting at table, and giving the scene
+quite a flavour of home.  Then there were cigars and excellent coffee
+for the gentlemen, and a delightful long chat with the ladies beneath
+the shaded lamp which hung from one of the bamboo rafters, the doctor's
+daughter readily answering Ned's questions about their life and the
+natural history of the place.  Of the former, he learned that the doctor
+had been persuaded while at Malacca to accept the post through the
+Tumongong, who was there on some kind of embassy.  The terms had been
+tempting, and it had been arranged that he was to take his wife and
+daughter with him, all hesitation vanishing when the Malay chief
+introduced him to Mr Braine, who accepted his post directly he found
+that he would have the society of an Englishman, and in the end he too
+had brought his family.  Their reception had been most cordial, and they
+had only to ask for any addition to their comfort to have it instantly
+granted by the rajah.  He would give them everything, in fact, but
+liberty.
+
+"Then you are quite prisoners too?" said Ned, who had listened to all
+this with the greatest of interest.
+
+"I suppose so.  Both papa and Mr Braine were furious at first, and said
+that they would never forgive the Tumongong for having tricked them, but
+he said it was the rajah's orders, and that he dared not have come back
+without a doctor, and an officer who could drill the men.  And really he
+was so kind, and has always been such a good friend when the rajah has
+been in one of his mad fits, that we have all ended by liking him."
+
+"But to be prisoners like this!" said Ned.
+
+"Oh, we seldom think about it now.  Papa says we shall never be so well
+off again, and the rajah, who nearly kills himself with indulgence, has
+such bad health that he can hardly bear to see the doctor out of his
+sight, and consequently papa has immense influence over him."
+
+"But I could never settle down to being a prisoner," cried Ned.
+
+"Till you grow used to it.  Oh, don't mind; it is a whim of the rajah's,
+and you will soon have leave to go.  We never shall.  There, hark! what
+did I say?"
+
+She held up her hand, and Ned leaned forward, peering out into the
+darkness as the low distant cry of a wild beast was heard.
+
+"Is that a tiger?"
+
+"Yes, and it is so common that we scarcely notice it now.  They never
+come into the village; but of course it would be terribly dangerous
+anywhere beyond the houses."
+
+Ned still leaned forward listening, as the cry was repeated, and then,
+in a low voice, he said: "Look, just where the light of the lamp shines
+faintly, I thought I saw the gleam of a spear.  Can you see it?"
+
+"Oh yes! two--three," replied the girl, quickly.  "There are more."
+
+"But what are armed men doing there?"
+
+"Don't you know?"
+
+"No."
+
+"They are your guard.  But you need not take any notice of them.  Of
+course they will follow you about, and keep watch over your house, but
+they will never speak to you, or seem watching, unless you are straying
+too far."
+
+"This is pleasant," said Ned, wiping his forehead.
+
+"Oh, you will not mind after a day or two, and it is best: for it really
+is dangerous for an Englishman to be up here unless he is under the
+protection of the rajah."
+
+The pleasant evening came to a close, and after a friendly parting from
+their hosts, the two fresh additions to the rajah's village walked back,
+Ned declaring that he could easily make out their house, and they
+smiled, passed out of the gate, and without catching a glimpse of either
+of the Malays on guard, they reached their own abode, where a shaded
+lamp was forming an attraction to the insects of the jungle, and Hamet
+was patiently awaiting their return.
+
+"What a strange experience, Ned," said Murray, as they stood at the top
+of their steps, watching the bright stars and the fireflies which were
+gliding about among the low growth at the edge of the jungle, of which
+they caught a glimpse hard by.
+
+"But it is very beautiful and soft," said Ned, thoughtfully.  "What a
+lovely night!"
+
+"Yes; not much like being in prison, is it?"
+
+"No," said Ned; but, as he gazed, he could see the shadowy form of one
+of the guards, a fact which he did not mention, though the fact of the
+proximity of armed men seemed strange in connection with his uncle's
+next words.
+
+"We will not tug at the tether for a few days or weeks, Ned," he said.
+"I daresay we shall get some rare collecting, and when we are tired,
+we'll slip down to the boat some night and get right away.  Hamet, I
+daresay, could manage that."
+
+"He would do his best, sir," said the Malay, gravely.
+
+"Then now for a good comfortable snooze on those clean mats, for I'm
+tired out.  Come along, Ned.  Good-night, Hamet.  Where do you sleep?"
+
+"Across the door, sahib," said the man, who bore the lamp into the
+sleeping chamber, and then stretched himself across the entrance.
+
+"You can sleep too, Ned," said Murray, yawning as he threw himself on
+his simple couch.
+
+"No, uncle," said Ned.  "I am going to lie and think a bit."
+
+"Bah!  Sleep, boy.  It is only a bit of an adventure after all.
+Heigho-ha-hum!  Good-night."
+
+"Good-night, uncle," said Ned, as he too lay down, hearing the distant
+cry of a tiger through the mat-screened door; and then he began thinking
+about the adventures of the past day, and how strange their position
+was.
+
+Only began: for in spite of tigers, mosquitoes, and the fact that
+fierce-looking Malay spearmen were about the place, Ned's waking moments
+were moments indeed, and only few.  Certainly not a minute had elapsed
+before he was fast asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+A MORNING WALK.
+
+When Ned Murray opened his eyes again, it was to gaze at the faint dawn
+which was making its way into the larger room; and he lay puzzled and
+wondering for a few minutes before he could quite make out where he was.
+Then it all came like a flash, and he looked across the room to dimly
+make out the figure of his uncle fast asleep.
+
+Ned lay thinking for a few moments and then rose softly, ready dressed
+as he was, and stole out, with the bamboo flooring creaking beneath his
+feet.
+
+At the top of the steps he found Hamet, and after a few words spoken in
+a whisper, Ned said: "I don't suppose uncle will wake yet, but if he
+does, say I'm gone down to look at the river."
+
+The Malay nodded, and showed his white teeth, and Ned stepped quietly
+down, looking sharply round to have hard work to restrain a start, as he
+caught sight of four swarthy sentries standing spear in hand.  But he
+ignored their presence, and walked slowly along, but only to be aware of
+the fact directly, that two of them were following quietly in his steps,
+and looking, as he glanced back once, with his hands in his pockets and
+whistling softly, singularly ghostly and strange.
+
+For there was a heavy mist floating softly in the morning air, and as
+the boy slowly made his way among the houses, there was a feeling of
+chilliness that, in combination with the novelty of his position, made
+him shiver.
+
+His intention was to have a look round the place; and, after a glance at
+the doctor's house with its charming garden, he walked first in one
+direction and then in another, conscious of the fact that his two guards
+were always a short distance behind, but apparently bound on quite a
+different mission, for they never seemed to look at him once.
+
+Suddenly he altered his mind, and turned back to have a look at the
+rajah's own place, and in doing this he had to pass pretty close to the
+swarthy-looking spearmen, who merely drew back between two houses till
+he had passed, and followed as before.
+
+"Two for uncle and two for me," said Ned at last.  "Well, I never knew
+that I had two shadows before."
+
+The light was getting a little clearer above the mist, which did not
+seem to rise above the tops of the cocoa-nut trees, and he had nearly
+reached the clump, in the midst of which was the clearing, when he
+suddenly noticed a dimly-seen figure glide out from among the trees, and
+another, and another--three who barred his farther advance.
+
+"He has his guards too," thought Ned, and he turned back with the
+intention of going as far as the jetty, and then returning to see if his
+uncle was awake, when there was a sharp _clank_-_clink_ away to his
+left.
+
+The sound was familiar, but he could not recall what it was, though it
+came nearer and nearer, apparently from down a lane of houses.
+
+Then, all at once, he knew.  For from out of the mist came the dark
+figures of half a dozen men bearing spears, and directly after, between
+two more, the prisoner he had seen brought in the previous day; and as
+he caught a glimpse of the dark face, he could see that the man was
+slowly chewing away at his betel-nut.
+
+Six more spearmen followed, apparently led by an officer who marched
+erect behind the heavily-fettered prisoner, with one hand resting upon
+the handle of his kris.
+
+No one heeded the boy, and the party marched on toward the river-side,
+when, under the impression that the man was being taken down to embark
+once more, and be sent up or down the river, Ned followed, and his guard
+came now more closely behind.
+
+To Ned's surprise, the leaders of the party turned off a little to the
+right, leaving the jetty on their left, and with it the smaller boats,
+but they were evidently making still for the river, and halted upon its
+bank, just in front of where, half hidden by the mist, the large prahu
+swung at her anchorage.
+
+"They are going to hail a boat from the prahu and keep him imprisoned
+there," thought Ned; and as he fancied this, he began to consider how
+safe a place it would be for a man, so heavily chained that any attempt
+at escape by swimming must mean being borne down by the weight of his
+fetters.
+
+He walked close up, meaning to see the prisoner put on board the boat,
+but no one attempted to hail the prahu, and as Ned drew aside, he saw
+that the prisoner was led close to the edge of the swift river, which
+now began to look as if it were so much liquid opal, for bright hues of
+orange and purple began to gleam through the wreathing mist, and the
+plume-like dripping tops of the various kinds of palms stood out clearer
+in the coming light.
+
+"They are going to take off his chains first," thought the boy, as he
+drew nearer still, no one paying the slightest heed to his presence; and
+he had a full view of the man as the spear-bearers drew up in two lines
+whose ends rested on the river, leaving their officers standing by the
+prisoner, and undoing his bonds.
+
+Ned was not half a dozen yards away, and a feeling of satisfaction
+pervaded him as he saw the wrists set free, and heard the chain clank as
+it was thrown on the ground.
+
+The fetters from the man's ankles followed next, and fell to the ground,
+while Ned could not help wondering at the stolid aspect of the prisoner,
+who displayed not the slightest satisfaction at being freed from so
+painful and degrading a load.
+
+What followed was so quick that Ned had hardly time to realise what it
+meant, for the officer signed to the prisoner to kneel down, and he
+sullenly obeyed, while his lower jaw was working in a mechanical fashion
+as he kept on grinding his betel-nut.  The sun was evidently now well
+above the horizon, for the gray mist was shot with wondrous hues, and
+the palm-leaves high overhead were turned to gold.  There were sweet
+musical notes from the jungle mingled with the harsher cries and shrieks
+of parrots, and with a peculiar rushing noise a great hornbill flapped
+its heavy wings, as it flew rapidly across the river.  In short, it was
+the beginning of a glorious tropic day for all there but one, who knelt
+sullen and hopeless, only a few yards from Ned, who stood spell-bound,
+now that he realised what was to happen, too much fascinated by the
+horrible scene to turn and flee.
+
+For, as the man knelt there with the guard of spearmen on either side,
+one Malay, who seemed to be an officer, but whom Ned realised to be the
+rajah's executioner, took out a little handful of cotton wool from the
+folds of his sarong, tore open the loose baju or cotton jacket his
+victim wore, so as to lay bare the bronze skin upon his shoulder, and
+placed the wool over it like a loose pad just within the collar-bone.
+
+"Is he going to set fire to it and brand him?" thought Ned; but the next
+moment he drew in his breath with a hiss, as if he suffered pain, for
+the executioner whipped out, from its wooden sheath at his waist, a
+short kris with a curved handle and a dull thin steel blade.  This he
+held with his left hand perpendicularly, with the point resting in the
+centre of the cotton wool, and in the momentary pause which followed,
+Ned saw that the culprit was gazing straight at him in a dull heavy way,
+and that his lips were moving as he still ground the betel-nut between
+his teeth.
+
+It was but a momentary pause, and then, quick as lightning, the
+executioner brought his right hand with a smart blow upon the curved
+hilt of the kris, driving it perpendicularly into the victim's chest,
+transfixing his heart, and as rapidly drew it forth, while the prisoner
+fell back, without struggle or groan, splash into the river, where Ned
+saw him rolled over by the rapid current dimly-seen there, for the mist
+was heavy on the surface; but visible till there seemed to be a rush in
+the water, the dead man was snatched under, and the mist slowly rolled
+away, to leave the surface glittering in the morning sunshine, and
+taking a glorious tint of blue from the clear morning sky.
+
+Ned saw all this vividly, and then a mist gathered over everything
+again, as he tottered rather than walked a few yards to where he could
+throw one arm round a tall slim cocoa-nut tree, and hold on, for he felt
+sick, and he knew that the mist now was only in his eyes.
+
+But he saw the spearmen form up with military precision before and
+behind the executioner, as he calmly thrust his little kris back in the
+waist-folds of his sarong, and then the party marched off with their
+spears glittering in the morning sun, and from somewhere in the jungle a
+wild-fowl uttered his sharp short crow.
+
+"Am I going to faint?" thought Ned; and then he started and turned
+sharply round, for a voice said quickly: "Ah, my lad!  You there?"
+
+Ned saw that it was Mr Braine standing before him, looking at him
+frowningly, and with an air of disgust.
+
+"Yes; I came for a walk," stammered Ned, huskily.
+
+"And you saw that?"
+
+"Yes," cried Ned, with a passionate cry, as his blood, which had seemed
+chilled and to flow sluggishly through his veins, now throbbed in his
+temples.  "I could not stop them.  I did not know.  They have just
+murdered a man.  He fell into the river, and--and--oh, it is too
+horrible!"
+
+"It was not a murder.  It was an execution by the rajah's command," said
+Mr Braine, coldly.  "You ought not to have come."
+
+"I didn't know, sir.  I could not tell.  I thought--I don't know--I
+never imagined--"
+
+"I beg your pardon, my lad," said Mr Braine, kindly.  "I thought you
+were attracted by a morbid desire to witness the horrible."
+
+"Oh no!" said Ned with a shudder.  "I should have been too great a
+coward if I had known.  But has this man the right to do such things?"
+
+"The rajah!" said Mr Braine, shrugging his shoulders; "he is king here
+in his own country.  He has his tiny army and navy, and he has conquered
+the three petty chiefs nearest to his domain."
+
+"But the English--the Queen," said Ned.  "It seems terrible that a man
+like this should have such power.  Will not government interfere?"
+
+"No.  How could it?  But there, come with me, and try to forget what you
+have been seeing."
+
+"But one moment, sir.  Couldn't you have interfered to save the man's
+life?  Did you know he was to be mur--"
+
+"Executed, my boy.  Yes, and I appealed to the rajah for mercy; but he
+gave me so terrible an account of the man's life that I was silenced at
+once.  Come, you have plenty of time before breakfast.  I want you to
+see my home."
+
+Ned shivered a little as he gave a glance round at the scene, which
+looked so beautiful, that it seemed impossible that so great a horror
+could have taken place there.  Then he followed the Resident, and awoke
+to the fact that they were alone.
+
+"Where are the men who were following me," he said, and Mr Braine
+smiled.
+
+"Gone back to their quarters, I suppose," he said.  "They consider you
+are in my charge now."
+
+Ned gave him a curious look, which his companion interpreted directly.
+
+"Very well," he said, laughing; "think so if you like.  I suppose I am
+your guard.  Ah, here are your two friends," for the Tumongong and the
+other officer came up hurriedly, and made a communication to the last
+speaker.
+
+"I must put you off, Murray," he said, turning quickly to the boy.  "The
+rajah is taken ill.  You can wander about the place a bit; I daresay I
+shall be back soon."
+
+He went off with the two Malay officers, and Ned hesitated for a few
+moments as to which direction he should take, and ending by making for
+the river higher up the stream, so as to get right away from the spot
+that he could not recall without a shudder.  This part, too, looked
+particularly attractive with its groups of palms and large forest trees,
+some of which overhung the stream, one being covered with white flowers
+to its very summit.
+
+It was all very beautiful as he neared it, and he began thinking of how
+delighted his uncle would be with the orchids and other parasitical
+plants which cling to the boughs; but all at once, as he was looking
+round, he caught sight of one of his guards, and directly after of the
+other, for, as if by magic, they had reappeared, and the sensation of
+being watched again, coming upon the recollections of the morning
+adventure, seemed quite to rob the place of its beauty.
+
+"I may as well go back," he thought to himself, after wandering for a
+short distance among the trees, and stopping at last to lay his hand
+upon a branch which overhung the river, so that he could lean out and
+gaze down into the dark clear water, with some vague idea of seeing
+whether there were any fish.
+
+He could see none, but it was very attractive to gaze down into that
+dark clear water with its patches of floating lotus-leaves, from among
+which rose the bright blue waterlily-like flowers.  They seemed likely
+places for fish, and for a few minutes the grim horrors of the morning
+passed away, and he began to think of what a capital place that would be
+for carp-fishing, if it were an English river at home, and to wonder
+what kind of fish there would be there.  For that there were fish he
+felt convinced, from a slight swirling movement he had seen, and the
+shaking of the stems and leaves once or twice, as if something were
+moving somewhere below.
+
+That smooth shadowy pool in the river was very beautiful, and the sun
+streamed down through the leaves like a silver shower, as Ned still
+thought of the fishing, and this brought up the recollection of the boy
+he had seen on the river and at his return at night.
+
+"Perhaps he's the rajah's son," thought Ned.  "No," he continued
+inconsequently, "he couldn't be, because the rajah has lots of wives,
+and of course he would have plenty of sons.  I know," he thought, after
+a pause; "he must be the Tumongong's boy.  He did look something like
+him.  I shouldn't wonder if its--"
+
+Ned's thoughts seemed at that moment to have been cut off short, or, to
+use a railway phrase, shunted off on to another track--that is, from
+fancies about the Tumongong's son to the fishy inhabitants of the river.
+
+For once more he noticed that about twenty feet from the overhanging
+bank, formed of twisted roots, on which he stood, one of the largest
+beds of floating lotus-leaves was being agitated by what must certainly
+be quite a large fish forcing its way toward him, till he could see its
+long brown back just beneath the surface, and gliding very slowly
+nearer.
+
+It was impossible to make out what it was for the leaves, two or three
+of which were pushed up, and sank down again while others were forced
+aside.
+
+It was quite fascinating to watch it, and Ned was longing for some fine
+tackle, when there was a sudden rustling in the boughs overhead, and a
+dark animal that he could not clearly distinguish began leaping and
+bounding about, chattering, shrieking, and making other strange noises,
+as it shook the boughs and ran out on one over the water, to hang down
+by one hand and a foot, chattering and showing its teeth menacingly at
+the big fish which was still slowly gliding nearer to the bank.
+
+There was no mistaking what the animal was now, and wondering at its
+comparative tameness, Ned's attention was now diverted to what was the
+finest and most active monkey he had ever seen.
+
+"I didn't know monkeys liked fishing," he was saying to himself, when
+the movement in the water increased, the animal in the tree swung itself
+nearer, and there was a rush and splash just as the spectator felt a
+violent shock as if some one had seized him from behind, and losing his
+balance he fell backward, and then in alarm rolled over twice away from
+the river, and struggled up to his knees, just as a figure rushed at him
+again and dragged him farther away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+A HUNGRY CROC.
+
+The next moment Ned stood with clenched fists, about to fly at the
+Tumongong's son, as he had mentally dubbed him, but his fists
+unclenched, and he began to comprehend that he must have been in some
+danger from which he had been driven and dragged by the excited lad, who
+now snatched off the little flat military-looking cap he wore, and
+showed a crop of curly dark hair--not black, coarse, and straight like a
+Malay's--and as he wiped his streaming forehead with the silken sleeve
+of his baju, he cried fiercely: "What a jolly fool you must be to go and
+stand there."
+
+"Eh?  I?  Was I?  Would the monkey have bitten me?"
+
+"Yes, if you had pulled his tail, and he wouldn't have let you.  He
+bitten you?  No."
+
+"Then," said Ned, flushing a little, and feeling indignant at the young
+semi-savage's dictatorial speech, "why was I a jolly fool to go and
+stand there, pray?"
+
+"Hark at him!" said the lad, looking round as if he were addressing an
+audience; "he says, Why was he a jolly fool?  Oh, what a green one you
+are!"
+
+"Look here, sir," said Ned, shortly; "have the goodness to be a little
+more respectful in your speech.  I am not accustomed to be addressed in
+that manner."
+
+"Oh certainly, my lord," said the lad.  "Salaam maharajah, salaam."  And
+raising his hands above his head, he bowed down almost to the ground.
+"I didn't know you were such a grandee."
+
+"Never mind what I am, sir, and have the goodness to keep your place."
+
+"Yes, my lord.  Salaam maha--"
+
+"Stop!" cried Ned, angrily.  "I don't want you to do that tomfoolery to
+me."
+
+The lad made a grimace, and meekly crossed his hands upon his breast.
+
+"Now, sir, have the goodness to tell me why I was a jolly fool, and so
+green, as you call it.  Pity people can't teach you foreigners something
+better than slang.  Now then--answer."
+
+"Well, to go and stand under that tree with a croc stalking you."
+
+"Croc stalking you?  What do you mean?"
+
+"Don't you know the river's full of crocodiles?"
+
+"I know there are some there."
+
+"Some!" cried the lad.  "Why, it's as full as a pond is of
+sticklebacks."
+
+Ned stared at these words, coming out of eastern lips.
+
+"Why, when they krissed a fellow this morning, and tumbled him into the
+river, Dilloo Dee says one of them snatched the body under directly.  He
+told me just now.  Didn't you see that one coming at you?"
+
+"I saw a big fish under the lotus-leaves."
+
+"Big fisherman you mean.  Poof!" cried the boy, bursting into a roar of
+laughter, "it was a great croc, and I was just in time to knock you out
+of the way.  I thought he would have got you, he made such a rush."
+
+"Did--did you see him?" said Ned, turning a little white.
+
+"Only got a glimpse of his wet scales; but I knew he was there stalking
+you, by that monkey scolding him.  Oh my! how the little beggars do hate
+a croc."
+
+"Then--then, you saved my life, and I didn't know it," said Ned.
+
+"Eh?  Well, I s'pose I did, for if he had pulled you down, I don't
+suppose we should ever have seen you again."
+
+"Ugh!" shuddered Ned.  "How horrid.  What a dreadful country this is."
+
+"Get out!  I like it."
+
+"But tell me: would that thing have dragged me in?"
+
+"To be sure he would.  Why, it's only two days since he pulled a girl
+into the water.  She'd only gone down to wash a sarong."
+
+"Is it a big one?" asked Ned, after gazing in a horrified way at his
+companion.
+
+"Oh yes! a whacker--fifty or sixty feet long."
+
+"Nonsense!"
+
+"Well then, fifteen or twenty.  I know it's a big one.  One of our men--
+Dilloo, I think it was--saw him one day ashore.  Look here, old chap,
+tell you what.  We'll get some of the fellows to lend us a rope with a
+loose end, and a hook, and we'll set a night-line for the beggar, and
+catch him.  What do you say?"
+
+"I should like to, if we stay here."
+
+"Oh, you'll stay here," said the lad, laughing.  "Like fishing?"
+
+"Passionately."
+
+"So do I.  Caught two dozen yesterday after I met you.  I say, you and
+your uncle are bird and butterfly cocks, aren't you?"
+
+"My uncle is a naturalist, and I help him," said Ned, rather stiffly,
+for this easy-going address from a young Malay, who had evidently passed
+all his life among English people, annoyed him.  "But I say, what a
+knowledge you have of English."
+
+"Oh yes, I know some English," said the lad, laughing.
+
+"And Malay?"
+
+"Oh, pretty tidy.  I don't jabber, but I can make the beggars understand
+me right enough.  What's your name?  Murray, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But the other?  Tom--Dick--Harry?"
+
+"Edward."
+
+"Oh, where are you going to, Edward Gray?  What is it?  That's wrong.
+What does old Tennyson say?  Hullo! what's the matter?"
+
+"I--that is--" stammered Ned--"some mistake.  You speak English so
+well."
+
+"Of course I do."
+
+"But what is your name?"
+
+"Frank Braine."
+
+"Then you are not the Tumongong's son?"
+
+"Tumon grandmother's--ha! ha!  What a game!  Oh, I see now!  I forgot
+that I was in nigger togs.  You took me for one of them."
+
+"Of course I did."
+
+"Well, it's a rum one.  Won't father laugh!  That's why you were so
+cocky at first?"
+
+"Yes, I didn't know you were Mr Braine's son.  You are, aren't you?"
+
+"Course I am.  Been out here two years now.  I was at Marlborough--
+school you know--and I'd got the whiffles or something so bad, the
+doctor said I should die if I wasn't sent to a warm climate.  They sent
+a letter to the dad, and it was nine months getting to him.  Ma says he
+was in a taking till he'd got a despatch sent down to Singapore, to be
+dillygraphed home to England for me to come here directly.  He couldn't
+fetch me, you know.  The ould one, as Tim calls him, wouldn't let him
+go.  You know him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, they sent me out, and after they'd carried me on board, the
+captain of the steamer told one of the passengers that it was a shame to
+have sent me, for I should die before I was half-way out.  It made me so
+wild, that I squeaked out that he didn't know what he was talking about,
+and he'd better mind his own business.  And he didn't either, for I
+began to get better directly, and the old skipper shook hands with me,
+and was as pleased as could be, one day just before we got to Singapore;
+for I had climbed up into the foretop and laughed at him, I'd got so
+much stronger.  Then I had to go up to Malacca, and there old Bang-gong
+met me."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Tumongong, and brought me up here, and now I'm as strong as you are."
+
+"Yes, you look wonderfully brown and well."
+
+"And you took me for a nigger!  What a game!"
+
+"Of course it was very stupid of me."
+
+"Oh, I don't know.  But, I say, I am glad you've come.  You won't be
+able to go away again, but that don't matter.  It's a jolly place, and
+you and I and old Tim will go shooting and fishing, and--I say--I shall
+come with you and your uncle collecting specimens."
+
+"I hope so," said Ned, who began to like his new acquaintance.  "But
+don't you feel as if you are a prisoner here?"
+
+"No; not a bit.  I go where I like.  Old Jamjah knows I shan't run away
+from my people."
+
+"Jamjar?"
+
+"That's only my fun.  I call him the Rajah of Jamjah sometimes, because
+he's such a beggar to eat sweets.  He asks me sometimes to go and see
+him, and then we have a jam feed.  I'm pretty tidy that way, but he
+beats me hollow.  Perhaps he'll ask you some day, and if he takes to you
+and likes you, he gives you all sorts of things, for he's tremendously
+rich, and always getting more.  He wants to find gold and emeralds and
+rubies if he can, to make him richer, but none of his people have the
+gumption to look in the right place."
+
+"That's why he wants my uncle to go on expeditions then."
+
+"To be sure it is; and if he finds a mine or two for the old boy, he'll
+make Mr Murray a rich man."
+
+Ned looked at him thoughtfully, while the boy chattered on.
+
+"He gave me these silk things I've got on, and lots more.  It pleases
+him to wear 'em.  Make some of my old form chaps laugh if they saw me, I
+know; but they're very comfortable when you're used to them, and its
+safer to wear 'em when you go amongst strangers, too.  He gave me this
+kris," continued the lad, uncovering the hilt, which was wrapped in the
+waist-folds of his showy plaid sarong.  "That's the way to wear it.
+That means peace if its covered up.  If you see a fellow with his kris
+in his waist uncovered, that means war, so cock your pistol and look
+out."
+
+As he spoke he drew out the weapon from his waistband and handed it to
+Ned.
+
+"That handle's ivory, and they do all that metal-work fine."
+
+"Why, all that working and ornament is gold."
+
+"To be sure it is.  Pull it out: there's more gold on the blade."
+
+Ned took hold of the handle and drew the little weapon from its
+light-coloured wood sheath to find that it was very broad just at the
+hilt, and rapidly curved down to a narrow, wavy or flame shaped blade,
+roughly sharp on both edges, and running down to a very fine point.  It
+was not polished and clear like European steel, but dull, rough, and
+dead, full of a curious-looking grain, as if two or three different
+kinds of metal had been welded together, while up near the hilt there
+was a beautiful arabesque pattern in gold.
+
+"Ugh!" said Ned, returning it to its sheath; "it's a nasty-looking
+thing.  Is it poisoned?"
+
+"Not it.  A thing like that doesn't want any poison upon it."
+
+"But krises are poisoned."
+
+"I never saw one that was, and father says he never did.  He has asked
+several of the big men here about them, and they always laugh and say it
+is nonsense; that the only poison in them is given by a good strong arm.
+Everybody wears a kris here," he continued, as he returned the weapon
+to his waistband.  "Perhaps old Jamjah will give you one."
+
+"I don't want one," said Ned.  Then, suddenly, "It seems a stupid sort
+of handle, doesn't it?"
+
+"Yes; more like a pistol, but they like it, and they know how to use it
+too.  I say, I hope the old chap will ask you too, next time he asks me.
+It's capital fun, for you can hear all his wives whispering together
+behind the mat curtains, and they get peeping at you while you're having
+all the good things, and are longing to join in, but they mustn't be
+seen by a giaour, or the son of a giaour, as they call me.  I say, if
+you like I'll talk to the old fellow about you, and then he's sure to
+ask you."
+
+"No, don't please," replied Ned.  "I nearly burst out laughing when I
+saw him yesterday."
+
+"I say, it's precious lucky for you that you didn't.  He'd never have
+forgiven you.  Had he got on his grand uniform?  Yes, he would have, to
+show himself off, and he does look comic in it too.  You see it was made
+for him at a guess in London; and, my! it is rum to see him straddling
+about in it sometimes.  He's just like a peacock, and as proud of his
+feathers.  But if you had laughed it would have been horrible.  So mind
+what you are about, for he's sure to ask you some day, and he'll call
+you `goo-ood boy' if you eat enough.  I taught the old cock parrot to
+say that.  But, I say, aren't you getting hungry?"
+
+"Yes," said Ned, quickly, for that seemed to account for a faint feeling
+from which he suffered.
+
+"So am I.  Daresay the old croc is," said the lad, grinning.
+
+"Oh!" cried Ned, offering his hand, "I am grateful to you for that."
+
+"Stuff!  That's all right."
+
+"I shall never be able to repay you."
+
+"How do you know?  Some day you'll catch an elephant putting me in his
+trunk, or one of our prize striped torn tigers carrying me off, like a
+cat and a mouse.  Then it will be your turn.  Come on and have breakfast
+with us."
+
+"No, I can't leave my uncle."
+
+"Then I'll come and have breakfast with you.  Old Jamjah will send you
+your rations, and they will be good till you offend him.  Then you'd
+better look out for squalls."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Poison.  But old Barnes will put you up to some dodges to keep that
+off, I daresay.  Yes, I am hungry.  Come on."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+NED LOSES HIS HAT.
+
+The two lads had grown in an hour as intimate as if they had been
+friends for months, and they were chatting away together as they
+approached Murray's house, where Hamet was standing looking out.
+
+"Hah!" he cried; "you are here.  The master has been looking for you,
+and is gone again."
+
+"Here he comes!" cried Ned's new companion, taking off and waving his
+cap as Murray came striding up, looked strangely at the Resident's son,
+and then turned to his nephew.
+
+"I was getting anxious about you," he said.  "Keep by me, my boy.  Come
+along to breakfast.  We are going up the river directly after.  Mr
+Braine has been to say we are to go on with our work at once, and land
+and examine some hills about ten miles up."
+
+"I know," said Ned's companion, "Gunong Bu."
+
+Murray turned upon him sharply, but the lad was in nowise abashed.
+
+"I'll go with you, and show you.  I know the way through the jungle.
+There's an old path.  I've been--"
+
+"Thank you," said Murray, coldly.  "Come, my boy, the breakfast has all
+been sent on by the rajah."
+
+"I knew he would send," said their visitor.  "You keep friends with him,
+and you'll see how civil he can be."
+
+Murray frowned a little; and, amused by his uncle being deceived as he
+had himself been, Ned said quietly, "he has come to breakfast with us,
+uncle."
+
+"It is very kind of him," said Murray, coldly; "but he might have waited
+till he was asked."
+
+"And then you wouldn't have asked me.  I say, you; he thinks like you
+did, that I'm a nigger."
+
+"Well," said Murray, quickly, "are you not a Malay, in spite of your
+perfect English?"
+
+"Of course not, sir; I'm Frank Braine."
+
+"My dear sir, I beg your pardon," cried Murray.  "You should have told
+me, Ned.  Come in, my lads, I'm getting sharp-set;" and directly after,
+they were seated, eastern fashion, cross-legged on the mat, which was
+spread with Malay luxuries, prominent among which was some excellent
+coffee, and a hearty meal was made, with the Resident's son as much at
+home as if he had been a very old friend; and hardly was it ended, when
+Mr Braine appeared.
+
+"Ah, Frank," he said, smiling; "not long making yourself at home, I see.
+The boat's ready, Mr Murray," he continued, "and plenty of provisions
+on board.  I daresay you will get some new birds and insects on your
+way, and the rajah hopes you will make some discovery up in the hills."
+
+"He seems reasonable," said Murray, laughing.  "What would he like
+first--a gold-mine?"
+
+"Oh, you must humour him, and then you will have plenty of opportunity
+for your own work.  Will you want an interpreter beside your own man?"
+
+"No," said Frank, quietly.  "I'm going with them, father."
+
+"You, my boy?  Oh, very well, only try not to be rash; though I don't
+suppose you will have any adventures.  You know, I suppose, that we have
+tiger and elephant about here, so take a rifle in case you meet big
+game."
+
+The men were waiting below, and they were soon after despatched with
+Hamet to carry guns, ammunition, and the other impedimenta of a
+naturalist who is an enthusiastic collector.  The gentlemen followed
+soon after, Mr Braine seeing them down to the boat, which proved to be
+a handsome naga, fully manned.  The crew were well-armed, and as Ned
+glanced at their faces he, little observant as he was in such matters,
+could note that they were a strong, fierce-looking, determined party,
+who would stand at nothing their leader set them to do.
+
+There was a friendly wave of the hand, followed by that of a couple of
+pocket handkerchiefs, as the boat swung out into the stream and began
+rapidly to ascend, for the doctor and his ladies had just strolled down
+to the bamboo jetty, but too late to see the party off.
+
+"I say, don't do that," cried Frank, quickly, as Ned hung one arm over
+the side of the boat, and let the cool water run through his fingers.
+
+"Of course not.  I forgot Hamet did tell me."
+
+"There's a chap at the next place with only one arm.  He was hanging
+over the side of a boat holding his line with his hand, and a croc
+snapped it right off."
+
+"Is that a traveller's tale, squire?" said Murray, drily.
+
+"No, it isn't," said the boy, frowning.  "You don't believe it?  Ask him
+there if a croc didn't nearly seize him this morning."
+
+"What!" cried Murray.
+
+"Yes, uncle," said Ned.  "It was so, and Frank Braine snatched me away
+just in time."
+
+"Oh, get out!  I only pushed you out of his way.  They are nasty
+beggars."
+
+He turned to the Malay guard and said a few words, to which a chorus
+which sounded like assent came at once.
+
+"They say you have to be very careful, for the crocs kill a good many
+people every year."
+
+"Then we will be very careful," said Murray; "and I beg your pardon for
+doubting you."
+
+"Oh, that don't matter."
+
+"And let me thank you for helping Ned here this morning."
+
+"That's nothing," cried Frank, hastily.  "Hi!  Abdul!" he shouted to one
+of the rowers; and he hurried from beneath, the mat awning overhead,
+amongst the crew to the man in the bows, evidently to avoid listening to
+further thanks, and sat down to go on talking to the Malay, whose heavy
+stolid face lit up as he listened.
+
+"So you had quite an adventure?" said Murray.
+
+"Yes, uncle," replied Ned; and he then went on to tell of the horrible
+scene he had witnessed.
+
+Murray listened with his brows knit, and then after sitting thoughtful
+and silent for some minutes: "Mr Braine and the doctor have not
+exaggerated the situation, Ned," he said.  "Well, my lad, we must make
+the best of it.  I daresay we can spend a month here advantageously, but
+we must be careful not to upset the rajah, for, though he can be a
+capital friend, and send us out collecting in this royal way, it is
+evident that he can prove a very dangerous enemy.  You see he is a man
+who has the power of life and death in his hands, and does not hesitate
+about using it.  We are beyond help from the settlement, and
+unmistakably his prisoners."
+
+"Well, I don't mind being a prisoner, uncle, if he is going to treat us
+like this."
+
+"Good, lad.  I'll take a leaf out of your book, and make the best of
+things.  This is quite new ground for a naturalist, so let's set aside
+all worry about where we are, and think only of the wonderful objects
+about us."
+
+Ned was already following out that plan, and wishing his uncle would not
+worry about other things, for they were riding at a pretty good rate up
+the clear sparkling river, and passing scene after scene of tropic
+loveliness that excited a constant desire in the boy to go ashore and
+roam amongst grand trees of the loveliest tints of green, all different
+from anything he had seen before.
+
+Just then Frank came back.
+
+"Got your shooting tackle ready?" he said.
+
+"No, but I was thinking it was time," replied Murray, "and that we might
+as well land directly we see a bird or two.  I want to get all the
+specimens I can."
+
+"Land!" said Frank, with a merry laugh; "land here?"
+
+"Yes; not to go any distance.  Just for a ramble, and then return to the
+boat."
+
+"But you couldn't, nor yet for miles farther on."
+
+"Why?  The country on either bank looks lovely."
+
+"The trees do, but that's all jungle."
+
+"Well, I see that," said Murray, rather impatiently.
+
+"But you don't know what our jungle is, sir.  You couldn't get a dozen
+yards any way."
+
+"The trees are not so thick as that."
+
+"No, but the undergrowth is, and it's all laced together, and bound with
+prickly canes, so that at every step you must have men to go before you
+with their parangs to chop and clear the way."
+
+"Is a parang a chopper?"
+
+"They chop with it," replied Frank.  "It's the sword thing the men carry
+to cut down the wild vines and canes with."
+
+"Do you mean to say we couldn't get through there?" said Ned.
+
+"Yes, of course I do.  Like to try?  I did when I first came.  Why, in
+five minutes you'd be horribly scratched, and your clothes torn half off
+your back, and you so hot you couldn't bear yourself."
+
+_Cock-a-doodle-do_!
+
+It was a peculiar broken spasmodic crow from some little distance in the
+jungle, and Ned turned upon the Resident's son, laughingly: "Why, there
+must be a road there to that farm or cottage and back."
+
+There was an answering crow from farther away.
+
+"Is there a village close by?" asked Murray.
+
+"If there was a village, it would be here," said Frank, showing his
+white teeth.  "This is the high-road of the country, and the villages
+are all on the rivers."
+
+"But there must be people who keep fowls in there."
+
+"Yes," said Frank, merrily; "Mother Nature does.  Those are jungle cocks
+crowing.  I say, look out.  Don't you want one of those?"
+
+He pointed to where a lovely bluish bird, with a long tail ending in
+oval disks like tiny tennis racquets, was seated some distance ahead
+upon a bare branch; but almost as he spoke the bird took flight, and
+went right on, up the river like a flash of blue light.
+
+"Never mind; you'll have plenty more chances, and you'll soon know as
+much about the place as I do."
+
+The guns were brought out of their woollen bags and charged, and the
+boat glided on, steered closer in to one bank now, so as to give the
+naturalist a better chance of a shot; with the result that he brought
+down in the course of the next two hours, as they followed the winding
+course of the river, shut in on both sides by the tall flower-decked
+trees, two brilliant racquet-tailed kingfishers, a pink-breasted dove,
+and a tiny sunbird, decked in feathers that seemed to have been bronzed
+and burnished with metallic tints of ruby, purple, and gold.
+
+These were carefully picked up from the water in which they fell, laid
+in the sun to dry their feathers, and then put aside for preparation
+that evening.  After this specimens were seen of gorgeously painted
+butterflies, one being evidently seven or eight inches across, but
+capture was out of the question, and Ned watched them longingly as they
+flitted across the stream.
+
+"I can take you where you can catch them," said Frank; "along by the
+edge of the jungle where the rice-fields are; only the worst of
+butterfly catching there is, that a tiger may fly out and butter you, as
+they do the men sometimes who are at work over the rice."
+
+"Not a pleasant way of butterfly hunting, I must say," said Murray, who,
+gun in hand, was watching the edge of the jungle.  "What's the matter?"
+
+For the men had suddenly ceased rowing, and the naga glided slowly on,
+diminishing in speed till it was stationary, and then, yielding to the
+influence of the stream, began to glide back.
+
+Meanwhile an excited conversation was going on between the principal
+boatman and Frank Braine, the former pointing up into a huge tree whose
+boughs overhung the river, their tips almost touching the surface, and
+naturally both Murray and Ned gazed up too.
+
+"What is it--a monkey or a bird?" said Ned, eagerly.
+
+"Yes, I see it now," said Frank.  Then, telling the men in Malay to keep
+the boat stationary, he turned to Murray: "Here's a shot for you, sir.
+I couldn't see it at first.  Their eyes are sharper than ours.  Wait a
+minute till the boat's right.  That's it.  Stop now, both of you look
+right in through that opening among the leaves, and you'll see it on a
+branch."
+
+"What, some handsome bird?"
+
+"No; something that's been up there after the birds or monkeys.  Do you
+see?  Look where I'm pointing."
+
+"I am looking there," said Ned, eagerly; "but I can only see a great
+creeper all curled about and twisted in knots where it looks quite
+dark."
+
+"Well, that's it," said Frank, laughing; "that great creeper.  See it,
+Mr Murray?"
+
+"Yes, I see it now.  Wait till I change the cartridge for bigger shot."
+
+"Yes; use your biggest for him," whispered Frank; and Ned looked on
+wonderingly, refraining from asking questions, for he was met by an
+imperious "Hush!"
+
+"I can't see what he means, I suppose," thought Ned; and he watched
+eagerly now as Murray suddenly took aim and fired.
+
+Then for a few moments there was a violent rustling and breaking of
+twigs, and something heavy fell with a great splash beyond the screen of
+leaves formed by the lowermost drooping branches.
+
+"You hit him!" cried Frank, excitedly, and he gave an order to the men,
+who rowed in under the drooping boughs.
+
+"Now quick, the other barrel!" cried the lad.  "See him?  Too late.
+He's gone!"
+
+"I couldn't get a good sight of him," said Murray.
+
+"But what was it?"
+
+"A great serpent.  He glided out of the river in amongst those bushes."
+
+"Could we follow if the boat were rowed right in?"
+
+Frank shook his head.
+
+"Impossible," he said; and the boat was pulled out and began once more
+to ascend the stream.
+
+"How big was it?" said Ned, as the incident was discussed.
+
+"Impossible to say," replied Murray; "but I should say fifteen or
+sixteen feet long, and as large round as your leg."
+
+Another hour's steady pulling up against the stream brought them to
+quite a change in the character of the river-banks.  One side had the
+jungle as before, but on the other the forest receded more and more,
+till they gazed across a park-like plain dotted with clumps of huge
+trees, and rising more and more till a range of hills towered up looking
+wonderfully beautiful, wooded as they were to the summit.
+
+This meant a tramp, and the boat was run up beneath some trees, to one
+of which it was moored, while two of the guard busied themselves in
+spreading refreshments beneath the awning in a business-like way, which
+suggested that they had been used to such tasks before.
+
+"Rather hot for a long walk," said Frank, when the meal was finished;
+"but I don't mind, if you don't."
+
+Murray smiled with the calm contempt for heat usually displayed by an
+Englishman, took his gun and stepped ashore, followed by the boys, to
+find that half a dozen men armed with spears followed them, one stepping
+forward to act as guide, but after a few words from Frank, going back to
+his place with the rest.
+
+"Now then," he said, "what's it to be--birds or beasts?"
+
+"Birds to-day," replied Murray.
+
+"There you go then--a big one," cried the lad, as with a rushing, heavy
+beating sound of its wings, a great bird flow directly over their heads,
+uttering a hoarse cry, and with its huge curved bill bearing a curious,
+nearly square, excrescence on the top, plainly seen as the bird
+approached.
+
+"Why didn't you shoot?" cried Frank, as the bird went off unscathed.
+"Why, I believe, I could have hit that."
+
+"For the simple reason that I did not want to encumber myself with a
+bird I have had before."
+
+"Oh, I see.  There are lots of those about here, and I've found their
+nests."
+
+"What sort of a nest is it?" asked Ned.  "Anything like a magpie's?"
+
+"No!" cried Frank; "not a bit.  Big as they are, they build like a
+tomtit does, right in a hollow tree, but the one I saw had only laid one
+egg, and a tomtit lays lots.  It was in the trunk of a great worm-eaten
+tree, and the hen bird was shut in, for the cock had filled the
+entrance-hole with clay, all but a bit big enough for the hen to put out
+her beak to be fed.  What's that?"
+
+Murray had fired and brought down a gaily-feathered bird, green,
+scarlet, and orange, and with a sharp wedge-shaped beak fringed with
+sharp bristles.
+
+"A barbet," said Murray, giving the bird to one of the men to carry;
+"but like your hornbill, too common to be worth preserving."
+
+Other birds fell to Murray's gun as they went on.  A trogon was the
+next, a thickly-feathered soft-looking bird, yoke-toed like a cuckoo,
+and bearing great resemblance in shape to the nightjar of the English
+woods, but wonderfully different in plumage; for, whereas the latter is
+of a soft blending of greys and browns, like the wings of some woodland
+moths, this trogon's back was of a cinnamon brown, and its breast of a
+light rosy-scarlet blending off into white crossed with fine
+dark-pencilled stripes.
+
+The next was rather a common bird, though none the less beautiful in its
+claret-coloured plumage; but the striking part of the bird was its
+gaily-coloured beak of orange and vivid blue.
+
+The tramp in the broiling sunshine was so full of interest now, that Ned
+forgot the labour, and eagerly kept pace with his uncle, the Malays
+following closely behind, and carrying the specimens willingly enough,
+but with their swarthy faces wearing rather a contemptuous look for the
+man who, in preference to a quiet siesta beneath a tree, chose to tramp
+on beneath the burning sun for the sake of a few uneatable birds.
+
+"I say," cried Frank, "I'll tell you of a bird you ought to shoot.
+Hist--hist!"
+
+He made energetic signs to them to lie down among the low bushes through
+which they were passing.
+
+He was obeyed at once, and most quickly by the Malays, who crouched
+down, spear in hand, like an ambush in waiting for something far more
+important than the two birds of which the lad had caught sight in a
+narrow glade of a park-like patch of trees they were approaching, but
+which now remained invisible.
+
+"Well," said Murray, after waiting patiently for some few minutes with
+his gun cocked, "what did you see?"
+
+"Two birds you ought to have shot," the lad whispered back, "but they
+must have seen us.  No; look.  Go on first; creep to those bushes."
+
+He pointed to the edge of the clump, from out of which came slowly, with
+stately movement, a couple of long-necked birds, one of which carried
+behind him an enormous train of feathers which flashed in the brilliant
+sunshine.
+
+Murray needed no second hint, but crept carefully forward, taking
+advantage of every bush and tree which afforded him shelter, while the
+rest remained in concealment eagerly awaiting the result; even the
+Malays looking excited, with their soft dark eyes glowing and their
+heads craned forward.
+
+Murray soon reduced the distance between him and the birds--quite a
+quarter of a mile--and it seemed as if he would easily stalk them; but
+while he was a full hundred yards away, something seemed to have
+startled the game, which rose at once and made for the open, yet just in
+the midst of the disappointment felt at the waste of energy over the
+stalk, they curved round so as to make for the shelter of the trees,
+passing between the watchers and Murray.
+
+"Never mind," said Frank, "he'll have another chance."  Bang! following
+upon a puff of smoke, and the bird with the long train stopped in its
+flight, shot up a few yards, and then fell motionless.
+
+Ned uttered a cheer, and the whole party hurried forward, to reach the
+prize some time after Murray, who had reloaded and was carefully
+smoothing the bird's plumage.
+
+"A long shot, Ned," he said.  "That must have been fully eighty yards.
+It was the large shot did it.  There, you never saw a peacock like
+that."
+
+"Yes," cried Ned, "often."
+
+"No, my lad; look again."
+
+"Well, it is a little different.  The neck's green."
+
+"Yes, instead of blue.  That's the Javanese peacock, and a splendid
+specimen.  We'll hang this up till our return.  Anything likely to touch
+it if we hang it on a branch?"
+
+"No, I think not, sir," replied Frank; and after the bird had been
+carefully suspended fully six feet from the ground, the party walked on,
+to find that the ground was beginning to rise steadily, an indication of
+their nearing the hills.
+
+"So that's the bird you wanted me to find, was it?" said Murray, after a
+long silent tramp, for the bush had grown rather dense.
+
+"Oh no.  The birds I mean only come out of a night.  I've only seen two
+since I've been here, but you can hear them often in the jungle."
+
+"Owls?"
+
+"Oh no; pheasants, father says they are.  Birds with tremendously long
+tails, and wings all over great spots like a peacock's, only brown."
+
+"Argus pheasants," said Murray, quietly.  "Yes, I must try and get some
+specimens of them."
+
+The ground began to rise more rapidly now, till it was quite a climb
+through open forest, very different to the dense jungle by the
+river-side.  The ground, too, had become stony, with great gray masses
+projecting here and there, and still they rose higher and higher, till,
+hot and breathless, they stopped in a narrow gorge to look back at the
+narrow plain they had crossed, just beyond which, and fringed on the far
+side by the dark jungle, they could see the river winding along like a
+ribbon of silver.
+
+There were several umbrageous trees here, and the air was so fresh and
+comparatively cool that it was decided to halt now for an hour to rest.
+Then, after a good look round had been taken, Murray suggested that they
+should return by another route to where the peacock had been hung, after
+which they could go direct to the boat.
+
+The Malays lay down and began preparing fresh pieces of betel-nut to
+chew; but Murray's rest was short, and jumping up again, he took a
+geological hammer from his belt, and began to crack and chip the stones
+and masses of rock which peered from the barren-looking ground, the two
+boys, one of whom carried the gun, watching him intently.
+
+"Plenty of quartz, Ned," said Murray.  "Quite possible that one might
+find gold here."
+
+As he spoke, he broke a piece of gray stone which he had hooked out from
+among the grass, and laid in a convenient place.  A quick ejaculation
+came from his lips, and Frank cried excitedly, "Why, you haven't found
+gold?"
+
+"No, my lad, but I have found a valuable metal.  Look!"
+
+He handed the broken halves of the stone to the boys, while the Malays
+crouched together, chewed away at their betel, and watched them.
+
+"Well," said Ned, "I don't see any valuable metal.  Do you?"
+
+Frank shook his head.
+
+"That is a fairly rich piece of ore too," said Murray.  "Don't you see
+those little black grains running through the quartz?"
+
+"No.  These are all standing still," said Frank, laughing.
+
+"Facetious, eh?" said Murray, smiling.  "Well, those black grains are
+tin."
+
+"Oh, they do get tin somewhere up the river," said Frank, eagerly; "but
+it isn't a bit like this."
+
+"But it is like what this would be if it were smelted, young gentleman,"
+cried Murray; "and, judging from appearances, I should say that the
+rajah could get tin enough in these hills to make him as wealthy as he
+likes."
+
+"He ought to be satisfied, then, with what you have done, uncle," said
+Ned.
+
+"But he will not be, my boy.  He will not care to set up works, and
+he'll want us to try again for something better.  There, we'll take our
+specimens to show to Mr Braine, and start back now.  Give me the gun,
+and I'll go in the centre, and you two shall walk on either side of me,
+say fifty yards or so distant.  You may beat up some specimens, and give
+me a better chance.  Ask the men to keep about a hundred yards behind
+us."
+
+Frank went and spoke to the men, and told them what was about to be
+done, and they rose, took their spears and waited while the boys started
+off to right and left, Murray waiting till they had guessed their
+distances, and then at his signal, a low whistle, the start was made for
+the river, down the steep slope, and bearing off so as to leave their
+outward track on their left.
+
+It was a laborious descent, and Ned found the path he had to follow
+encumbered by loose gray stones, and full of gins and traps, in the
+shape of narrow cracks in the rock, and bramble-like canes ever ready to
+trip him up.  However, fortunately, the trees and bushes were pretty
+open on that dry hill-side, and he could pick his way.  But there was no
+shot, and he saw no sign of bird or reptile; only a few butterflies
+which started up from among the dry herbage, and went flapping away
+among the trees.
+
+Once or twice he heard the crackling of twigs on his left, and once he
+fancied that he could hear the Malays coming on behind him; but he was
+not sure, and he toiled on, bathed in perspiration, thinking how
+wonderfully still everything was out there, and how loud the rustling
+noise was he made with his boots in forcing his way through the scrub.
+
+All at once, just as he was thinking what a likely place that steep
+stony hill-side looked for snakes, a magnificent butterfly sprang up
+within a yard or two of his feet, and as he stopped short, he saw it go
+fluttering on in a zigzag fashion, and then pounce down all at once,
+only a little way on before him, and right in the direction he had to
+go.
+
+"I don't see why I shouldn't have a specimen too," he said to himself,
+as, regardless of the heat, he took off his straw hat, and crept
+silently on with his eyes fixed upon the spot where the beautiful insect
+had disappeared.  He was within a yard of it, with upraised hat ready to
+strike, when it darted up, and he made a bound forward, striking
+downward with his hat at the same time.
+
+The result was unexpected.  Ned's step was on to nothing, and, letting
+go of his hat, he uttered a cry of horror as he felt himself falling
+through bushes, and then sliding along with an avalanche of stones,
+apparently right away into the bowels of the earth, and vainly trying to
+check himself by stretching out his hands.
+
+One moment he saw the light dimmed by the green growth over the mouth of
+the opening, the next he was in utter darkness, and gliding down rapidly
+for what seemed, in his horror and confusion, a long period.  Then all
+at once the rattling, echoing noise of falling stones ceased, and so did
+his progress, as he found himself, scratched and sore, lying on his side
+upon a heap of stones, some of which were right over his legs.  It did
+not take him long to extricate himself, and stand upright with his hands
+resting on a cold rocky wall, and as he stood there in the darkness, he
+obeyed his first impulse, which was to shout for help.  But at every cry
+he uttered there was so terrible a reverberation and echo, that he
+ceased, and began to try to climb back up the great crack to the light
+of day.
+
+To his horror and despair he soon found that such a climb would be
+impossible in the darkness, and as a flood of terrible thoughts
+threatened to sweep away his reason, and he saw himself dying slowly
+there from starvation, it seemed to him that it was not quite so dark as
+he thought, and peering before him, he felt about with hand and foot,
+and changed his position slowly, finding that the stones beneath him
+were pretty level till he made one unlucky step on a loose flat piece,
+which began to glide rapidly down.  Although he tried hard to save
+himself, he slipped and rolled again for some distance before he could
+check his way, when he sat up with his heart bounding with joy, for,
+about a hundred yards or so before him, he could see a rough opening
+laced over by branches, through which gleamed the sunlight.
+
+And now, as he cautiously made his way toward the light, he began to
+realise that he was in a rough rift or chasm in the rock, whose floor
+descended at about the same rate as the hill-slope; and five minutes
+after, he forced his passage out through the bushes which choked the
+entrance, to hear, away on his left, a distant "cooey."
+
+He answered at once, and went on descending the hill, thinking how
+strange his adventure had been, and that after all it was only a bit of
+a fright, and that he had come part of the way underground, instead of
+above.
+
+And now the heat of the sun reminded him that he had lost his hat, and
+he stopped short with the intention of going back, but another shout on
+his left warned him that he must proceed or he might be lost.
+
+"And perhaps the Malays may find it," he argued; so tying his
+handkerchief over his head with a great leaf inside, he trudged on,
+answering the "cooeys" from time to time, till he drew nearer, and at
+last, in obedience to a whistle, joined his uncle about the same time as
+Frank.
+
+"Nothing to show," cried the former.  "I say, Ned, you got too far away.
+I thought at one time I'd lost you.  Why, where's your hat?"
+
+"Lost it," replied the boy, looking toward Frank as he spoke.
+
+That young gentleman was laughing at him, and this so roused Ned's ire,
+sore and smarting as he was, that he did not attempt to make any
+explanation of his mishap, feeling assured that he would only be laughed
+at the more, for not looking which way he went.
+
+They were all beginning to feel the effect of their walk in the hot sun,
+and in consequence they trudged back rather silently to where the
+peacock had been hung, and this was borne in triumph back to the boat,
+where the rest of the men were patiently awaiting their return.
+
+"Wonder what they've got ready for us," said Frank, rousing up a little
+as they came near the river.
+
+"Got ready?  What, refreshments?  Will they have anything?"
+
+"There'll be a tremendous uproar if they have not," cried Frank.  "The
+rajah is a regular old pirate, as my father says, and he helps himself
+to whatever he fancies from everybody round, but there's nothing stingy
+about him as you'll find."
+
+The lad was quite right in his surmises respecting refreshments, for the
+men had quite a pleasant little repast spread, and most welcome of all,
+a great piece of bamboo, about five feet long, hanging from the side of
+the boat in the full sunshine, with one end swaying in the river.
+
+"Look at that!" cried Frank.  "Know what that is?"
+
+"A very thick piece of bamboo."
+
+"Yes, but what's in it?"
+
+"I did not know anything was in it."
+
+"But you will know directly.  That's the big decanter, with a whole lot
+of deliriously cool drink in it.  I don't know what it is, only that
+it's the old chap's favourite tipple, and it's precious good."
+
+"Is it wine?"
+
+"Oh no; at least perhaps they call it wine.  It's somehow made with the
+sap out of the palm-trees, with cocoa-nut milk and fruit juice.  I don't
+know, and it doesn't matter.  As soon as you get your lips to a cup of
+it, you don't want anybody to talk to you till it's done."
+
+Ned soon had an opportunity of putting the contents of the bamboo to the
+test, and he quite agreed with Frank's description, for it was delicious
+after the long hot walk, and they all sat enjoying their meal as the
+boat glided rapidly down stream now, the men merely dipping their oars
+from time to time to keep her head straight.  They had spent a far
+longer time than Ned had expected, and the sun was sinking behind the
+jungle as the village was reached, and they disembarked, Hamet being
+ready to bear the spoils of the day up to the house, where Murray
+intended to commence preparing the skins at once, but found that Mr
+Braine was in waiting to insist upon the two newcomers dining with him
+at his place.
+
+"Never mind them," he cried, as Murray pointed to his specimens; "you
+can get hundreds more at any time, and Barnes and his people will be
+horribly disappointed if you do not come."
+
+To Ned's great satisfaction his uncle gave way, for he felt no great
+disposition to begin an unpleasant task after so hard a day, and the
+result was that after a change they went up to the Resident's house, to
+reach there just at the same time as the doctor, his wife, and daughter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+A SERIOUS COMPLICATION.
+
+In a few weeks all thought of considering themselves as prisoners was
+forgotten, and Murray and Ned were as busy as it was possible to be in
+that hot steamy climate.
+
+There was, however, one point about which Murray made a complaint, and
+spoke to Mr Braine upon the subject, and that was the presence of armed
+men as guards; for wherever they went, even if it was from one end of
+the village to the other, there were these quiet dark sentinels, and so
+sure as either Murray or his nephew came to the conclusion that they
+were alone, the next moment one of the men would be seen pretty close at
+hand.
+
+"Never mind, uncle," Ned said, laughingly; "the sun always shines here,
+so one must expect to have shadows."
+
+"But I don't like it, Ned; it worries me," said his uncle; and as stated
+he complained to Mr Braine, who promised to speak to the rajah, and two
+days later came to the house where its occupants were busy skinning and
+drying their specimens.
+
+"The rajah has sent me to ask if he can do anything more for you,
+Murray," said their visitor.  "He has been saying again that he is
+delighted with your discovery of the tin, and that he shall some day set
+men to work mining and smelting, but he hopes you will persevere, and
+discover a good vein of gold.  You are to speak as soon as you are ready
+for a long expedition, and the elephants will be brought up."
+
+"Let's go soon, uncle," said Ned.  "I want to have an elephant ride."
+
+"Patience, patience, boy.  There, that's not such a bad imitation of
+life, is it?" said Murray, holding out a beautiful amethystine-looking
+kingfisher.
+
+"Capital!" said Mr Braine, smiling at the enthusiasm his new friend
+brought to bear in his pursuit.
+
+"Do for us?" said Murray, thoughtfully; "do for us?  No, I think not.
+He is wonderfully civil; feeds us too well; the attention we get is
+excellent, and you people treat us as if we were your brothers."
+
+"You are satisfied, then?" said Mr Braine.
+
+"Yes, I think so; eh, Ned?"
+
+"I am enjoying it thoroughly," replied the latter.
+
+"Oh yes, of course.  So long as you can be always off on some prank or
+another with Braine's unbroken colt.  It suits you, you lazy young dog."
+
+"Oh, uncle, what a shame!  Frank and I have brought you in some splendid
+specimens."
+
+"Well, pretty tidy; but that rare trogon's tail feathers were wanting in
+the three central pens."
+
+"We'll get you another, then," cried Ned.
+
+"You like the place, then?" said Mr Braine.
+
+"Like it, sir!  I never imagined being a prisoner was half so good."
+
+"Ah yes--prisoners," said Murray, looking up from his work, which he was
+still pursuing in spite of the arrival of his visitor.  "Here! hi!
+Hamet!"
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Go and turn those skins over carefully, and put them out of the sun.
+They are drying too fast."
+
+"Yes, master."
+
+"Yes; prisoners," continued Murray.  "You did not take my message to the
+rajah about those spearmen always following us about."
+
+"I did, and that was my principal reason for coming and interrupting you
+this morning."
+
+"Ah!" cried Murray, looking up with an unfortunate bird turned inside
+out in one hand, and a brush laden with preserving paste in the other;
+"what did he say?"
+
+"That he esteemed the visit and presence of so great a scientific man
+too highly to run any risk of his coming to harm.  That many of his
+people were not so enlightened as those about the court, and were likely
+to resent the presence of an Englishman."
+
+"And boy," said Ned in an undertone.
+
+"And boy," said Mr Braine, smiling; "and that he would die of grief if
+anything happened to you; whereas, if harm happened when you had your
+guard, he could punish them?"
+
+"Poor wretches!" said Murray, brushing away at his bird-skin.  "Soft
+soap.  Gammon, Braine.  He is afraid that we shall slip off, eh?"
+
+"Yes; that is the plain English of the matter."
+
+"And the men are to follow us still."
+
+"Yes.  You must put up with it."
+
+"Ah, well, the place is so rich that I will not grumble.  I must say
+that the men are never too attentive, and it would be unpleasant if we
+were to be speared and krissed; eh, Ned?"
+
+"And skinned and preserved as specimens of the English for his
+highness's museum," said Ned, quietly, as he carefully drew the skin of
+a lovely blue and drab thrush over its skull.
+
+"No one to do it," said Mr Braine, laughing.
+
+"Well, I shall not grumble again," continued Murray.  "Tell him we'll go
+soon right up to the hills through the jungle, and that I'll try and
+find him a gold-mine.  You were quite right, Braine; we could not have
+done better for natural history if we could have gone where we liked."
+
+"I am sure you couldn't."
+
+"Ladies quite well--Mrs Braine and the Barnes's and Greigs?"
+
+"Yes; but complaining that you do not visit us all more often."
+
+"Very good of them, but I must get on with my work."
+
+"And I with mine."
+
+"Oh, don't hurry away.  Stop and smoke a cigar.  How's that boy of
+yours?"
+
+"Quite well, thank you, Mr Murray."
+
+They looked up sharply, and there was Frank standing in the veranda
+looking in.
+
+"Hullo! busy, Ned?"
+
+"Yes.  Two more birds to do."
+
+"Oh, what a bother!  I want you particularly.  I say, Mr Murray, why
+don't you let Amy Barnes skin these little tiny sun-birds?  It wants
+some one with pretty little fingers like hers."
+
+"Because, sir, it is not fit work for a lady," replied Murray, shortly.
+
+"Ha, ha! what a game!  Why, she asked me to get her a few, and I set
+that one-eyed chap to knock some down with a sumpitan--you know, Ned, a
+blowpipe, and she has had six these last three days, and skinned them
+all beautifully.  She gave me one to show me how well she could do it.
+Here, where did I stick the thing?"
+
+He began searching his pockets, and ended by dragging out a rough tuft
+of glistening metallic feathers, at which he looked down with a comical
+expression of countenance.
+
+"A delightful specimen," said Murray, grimly.
+
+"Yes, now.  But it was beautiful when she showed it to me.  I oughtn't
+to have put it in my pocket, I suppose.  But, I say, Mr Murray, can't
+you spare Ned?"
+
+"What do you want him for, Frank?" said his father.
+
+"To try for that big croc that hangs about the river half-way between
+here and the stockade.  He has just taken another poor girl, father."
+
+"What!" cried Mr Braine, with a look of horror.
+
+"I only just heard of it.  She was reaching over to pick lotus-leaves
+close by, where you were so nearly caught, Ned."
+
+"Eh?" cried Murray, looking up sharply.  "Oh yes, I remember, and you
+are thinking of trying to shoot this monster?"
+
+"No; going to catch him," said Frank.
+
+"You two boys?"
+
+"They will have some of the men to help them," said Mr Braine.  "The
+brute ought to be destroyed."
+
+"Why don't your rajah do it?"
+
+"Because he does nothing that does not tend toward his pleasure or
+prosperity," replied Mr Braine, bitterly.  "Have you made any
+preparations, Frank?"
+
+"Yes, father; we're all ready.  Only waiting for Ned."
+
+He gave the latter a merry look as he spoke.
+
+"Like to go?" said Murray.
+
+"I don't like to leave you so busy, uncle, and seem to neglect preparing
+the specimens."
+
+"But that would be getting another specimen," said Frank, merrily.  "Mr
+Murray may have it when it's caught, mayn't he, father?"
+
+"You go along with you, sir," cried Murray, with mock sternness.  "You
+are spoiling my boy here.  Be off with you, and mind and don't get into
+any danger.  Here, you Ned, go and wash your fingers well first.  Don't
+neglect that after using the paste."
+
+Five minutes after, the two lads were off toward the bank of the river
+near where the rajah's stockade was situated--a strongly-palisaded place
+commanding the river, and within which four of the light brass guns
+known as lelahs were mounted.  Mere popguns in the eyes of a naval
+officer, but big enough, to awe people who traded up and down the river
+in boats, and whose one or two pound balls or handfuls of rough shot and
+rugged scraps of iron and nails were awkward enemies for the slight
+timbers of a good-sized prahu.
+
+"There will not be any danger for the boys, eh?" said Murray, looking up
+at where Mr Braine stood thoughtfully smoking his cigar.
+
+"Oh no; they will have quite a little party of active men with them,
+ready to despatch the brute with their spears if they are lucky enough
+to catch him; but that is very doubtful."
+
+He relapsed into silence, and Murray went on busily with his work, for
+he had had a successful shooting trip on the previous afternoon, and was
+trying to make up for it before his specimens decayed, as they did
+rapidly in that hot climate.  He was so intent upon his task as he sat
+at the rough bamboo work-table he had rigged up, that for a time he
+forgot the presence of his silent visitor, till, looking up suddenly he
+saw that Mr Braine was gazing thoughtfully before him in a rapt and
+dreamy way.
+
+"Anything the matter?" he said.
+
+Mr Braine started, looked at his cigar, which was out, and proceeded to
+relight it.
+
+"No--yes," he said slowly; "I was thinking."
+
+"What about?  No, no.  I beg pardon.  Like my impudence to ask you."
+
+"No.  It is quite right," said Mr Braine, slowly, and with his brow
+knit.  "You are one of us now, and in a little knot of English people
+situated as we are, there ought to be full confidence and
+good-fellowship so that we could help each other in distress."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Murray, laying down his work.  "But, my dear
+fellow, don't be so mysterious.  You are in trouble.  What is wrong?"
+
+Mr Braine walked to the door to see that Hamet was out of hearing, and
+then returning, he said in a low voice: "Look here, Murray; it is of no
+use to mince matters; we are all prisoners here, at the mercy of as
+scoundrelly a tyrant as ever had power to make himself a scourge to the
+district round."
+
+"Well, it is as well to call a spade a spade," said Murray.
+
+"Both Barnes and I were doing badly, and we were tempted by the offers
+we received from the rajah, and certainly I must own that, from a
+worldly point of view, we have both prospered far better here than we
+could have done in an English settlement.  But we are not free agents.
+We never know what mine may be sprung upon us, nor how the chief people
+among the rajah's followers may be affected toward us through petty
+jealousies."
+
+"I see--I see," said Murray.
+
+"So far we have got on well.  For years and years Barnes, who is very
+clever in his profession, has made himself indispensable to the rajah,
+and has also gained some very good friends by the way in which he has
+treated different chiefs and their families in serious illnesses, and
+for accidents and wounds.  While on my part, though mine is a less
+satisfactory position, I have by firmness and strict justice gained the
+respect of the rajah's fighting men, whom I have drilled to a fair state
+of perfection, and the friendship of the various chiefs by acting like
+an honourable Englishman, and regardless of my own safety, interceding
+for them when they have offended their master, so that now they always
+come to me as their counsellor and friend, and I am the only man here
+who dares to tell the tyrant he is unjust."
+
+"I see your position exactly," said Murray; "but what is behind all
+this.  What is wrong?"
+
+"Perhaps nothing--imagination, may be, and I don't know that I should
+have spoken to you yet, if it had not been for an admission--I should
+say a remark, made by my son just now."
+
+"I do not understand you.  What did he say?"
+
+"That Miss Barnes--Amy--had been devoting herself to the preparation of
+some of the tiny gems of our forests."
+
+"Yes, yes, and very strange behaviour on the part of a young lady too."
+
+"I do not see it," said the Resident, gravely.  "She is a very sweet,
+true-hearted, handsome womanly girl.  Let me see: she is past one and
+twenty now, and has always displayed a great liking for natural
+history."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Murray, hurriedly.  "The collection of
+butterflies and beetles she showed me is most creditable."
+
+"And it is only natural that, situated as she is, a prisoner in these
+wilds, she should be much attracted by the companionship of a gentleman
+of similar tastes, and of wide experience and knowledge."
+
+"Oh, nonsense, nonsense!" said Murray, fidgeting.  "She has been very
+patient and kind of an evening in listening to me, though I am afraid I
+have often bored her terribly with my long-winded twaddle about
+ornithology and botany."
+
+"I can vouch for it you have not, and also that you have caused great
+disappointment when you have not come and joined us."
+
+"Oh, fancy, my dear sir," said Murray, tugging at his great brown beard,
+and colouring like a girl; "your imagination."
+
+"It is her father's, her mother's, the Greigs' and my wife's imagination
+too; and this experiment of hers--commenced directly after you had been
+telling us all how difficult you found it with your big fingers to
+manipulate the tiny sun-birds--confirms what we thought."
+
+"My dear sir, what nonsense!" cried Murray, sweeping a bird-skin off the
+table in his confusion, as he snatched up his pipe, lit it, and began to
+smoke.  "I talked like that because I wanted that idle young scamp, Ned,
+to devote his fingers to the task.  I had not the most remote idea that
+it would make a young lady commence such an uncongenial pursuit."
+
+"Straws show which way the wind blows."
+
+"Look here, sir," cried Murray, jumping up, and making the bamboo floor
+creak as he strode up and down.  "I am not such a fool or so blind as
+not to comprehend what you mean.  Miss Amy Barnes is a very sweet,
+amiable young lady."
+
+"Far more so than you think," said Mr Braine, warmly.  "She is a good
+daughter--a dear girl, whom I love as well as if she were my own child.
+I shall never forget the way in which she devoted herself to my boy when
+he came out here, still weak, and a perfect skeleton, and it is my
+tender affection for the girl that makes me speak as I do."
+
+"Then, then--oh, I am very sorry--very sorry indeed," cried Murray.  "I
+wish to goodness I had never come.  It is nonsense, madness, impossible.
+I am nearly forty--that is over four and thirty.  I am a confirmed
+bachelor, and I would not be so idiotically conceited as to imagine,
+sir, that the young lady could have even a passing fancy for such a
+dry-as-dust student as myself.  I tell you honestly, sir, I have never
+once spoken to the lady but as a gentleman, a slight friend of her
+father, would."
+
+"My dear Murray, we have only known you a few weeks, but that has been
+long enough to make us esteem and trust--"
+
+"Exactly; and it is preposterous."
+
+"That means, you could never care for the lady well enough to ask her to
+be your wife?"
+
+"Never--certainly--never--impossible--that is--at least--no, no, no,
+quite impossible.  I am a bookworm, a naturalist, and I shall never
+marry."
+
+"I am sorry," said Mr Braine, thoughtfully, "for, to be frank, I rather
+thought there was a growing liking on your part for Amy."
+
+"A mistake, sir--a mistake, quite," said Murray, warmly.
+
+"And it would have been a happy circumstance for us now, at this rather
+troublesome time."
+
+"Eh?  Troublesome?  What do you mean?  Is anything more the matter?"
+
+"Yes," said Mr Braine, with his brow full of lines.  "I may be wrong--
+we may be wrong.  We have dreaded something of the kind might happen,
+but years have gone on, and we have had no occasion to think anything
+serious till now."
+
+"You startle me.  What do you mean?" said Murray, excitedly.
+
+"Well, you see the rajah is a Mussulman."
+
+"Yes, of course.  Allah, Mahomet, and so on."
+
+"He has several wives."
+
+"Yes, whom he keeps shut up like birds in a cage.  Well, what of that?"
+
+"Last night we were all very much disturbed.  It was before you came
+in."
+
+"Ah!  Yes, I noticed you were all very quiet.  Why was it?"
+
+"The rajah had sent Amy a present.  It was a magnificent specimen of
+goldsmith's work--a large bangle of great value."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Gentlemen, especially eastern gentlemen, do not send such presents as
+that to ladies without having some ulterior object in view."
+
+"What!" roared Murray, in so fierce a tone of voice that Hamet came
+running in.
+
+"Master call?"
+
+"No, no: go away.  Nothing.--Here Braine, you horrify me.  That old
+tyrant dare to--to think--to send her presents--to--oh, it is horrible.
+The old scoundrel!  He to presume to--oh!"
+
+"We may be mistaken.  It may be only a compliment."
+
+"Nothing of the sort, sir.  He meant an offer of marriage, which is sure
+to follow, and--oh, the insolent, tyrannical, old scoundrel!"
+
+Mr Braine looked at Murray with a grave smile.
+
+"This indignation's all real?" he said.
+
+"Real?  I could go and horsewhip him."
+
+"Then you do care for Amy Barnes, in spite of your short acquaintance,
+Murray; and I tell you frankly I am very glad, for it may put a stop to
+a terrible complication, which might have risked all our lives."
+
+Murray's face was scarlet, and he stood looking at his visitor without a
+word, for in his heart of hearts he owned that he was right, and that
+out there, in those wild jungles, he, Johnstone Murray, naturalist, who
+had never thought of such a thing before, had found his fate.
+
+"Yes," said Mr Braine again, thoughtfully, "a serious complication,
+which might have risked all our lives."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+THE WHITE HEN.
+
+Meanwhile Ned and Frank had gone off eagerly to the attack upon the
+lurking water-dragon, terrible, in its way, as that which Saint George
+slew, and about half-way to the stockade they caught sight of Tim
+Driscol, seated under a tree, puffing away at a homemade pipe, composed
+of a short piece of bamboo with a reed stuck in the side.  He had a
+neatly-made little basket by his knee, and as he saw the lads coming, he
+tapped the ashes out of his pipe, thrust it in his pocket, and rose to
+pick up his basket, in which there was evidently something alive.
+
+"Bedad and I began to think ye didn't mane to come," he said, with his
+eyes twinkling.
+
+"Oh, I should have come, Tim, if he hadn't," replied Frank.
+
+"Av coorse ye would.--No offinse, Mr Murray, but why don't ye have a
+dress like the young master here?  Don't he look fine?  I hear you took
+him for a young rajah."
+
+"You come along, and don't talk stuff!" cried Frank.  "Is that the
+chicken?" and he nodded toward the basket.  "Well sor, I'd like to tell
+the truth when I can."
+
+"What do you mean?  Haven't you got a chicken?" cried Frank, wrathfully.
+"No, sor."
+
+"I gave you orders to get one for a bait, and if you haven't got one,
+it's no use for us to go on."
+
+"I did go to get one, sor."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"And the baste at the farthest off house said he'd find one for me."
+
+"Well?  Why, you have got it," cried Frank; "I can hear it rustling in
+the basket."
+
+"That isn't a chicken, sor."
+
+"What is it, then?" cried Frank, impatiently.
+
+"It's what he said was a chicken, sor."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"I belave it's the ouldest hin about these parts, sor.  He jabbered away
+in his haythen dialect, and swore it was a tinder young chicken; but
+it's an ould hin, that's laid eggs till she's tired, and won't lay any
+more, and he wants to sell her."
+
+"But is it white?"
+
+"Oh yes! it's white enough, sir."
+
+"That will do, then.  I don't suppose the croc can tell whether a bird's
+tender or tough.  Come along."
+
+Frank led on, leaving the palm houses behind, plunging among the trees,
+and winding in and out, till Ned recognised the spot where he had
+stopped to watch the river, and there he could see, lying about in the
+shade, eight or nine of the Malays, most of whom had spears, which stood
+leaning against the trunks of the trees.
+
+"Now then, you two must talk English.  I have got to speak in Malay, for
+I am going to do all the ordering this time.  I say, Ned, you like
+fishing," he added, laughing.  "You shall hold the line."
+
+"But what are you going to do?"
+
+"Wait a bit and you'll see," cried the lad; and he began to order the
+Malays about, the men hurrying here and there, and, evidently at his
+command, keeping right away from the banks of the river.
+
+"Don't want to scare our fish," he said, hurriedly, to Ned.  Then, as a
+man came up with a coil of rope, Frank undid a part of it, and showed
+that some feet of the end were not twisted, but all loose.
+
+"Want to cutoff that bad bit?" said Ned, producing his knife.
+
+"Bad, eh?  Why, that's the beauty of it.  I'm going to tie the hook on
+to it just there."
+
+"But if you fish for a crocodile like that, he'll break away."
+
+"Not he.  They never do.  If I fished with a hard piece of rope, he'd
+bite right through it."
+
+"Then he must bite through that loose stuff.  What is it--some kind of
+hemp?"
+
+"No; fibre of the gamooti palm, and his teeth will only go through the
+loose stuff and bother him."
+
+He asked for something in Malay, and one of the men handed him a
+curiously-shaped hook, which he attached to the loose fibrous rope, and
+then took a piece of stout twine from his pocket.
+
+"Now, Tim," he cried, laughing, "give me the worm."
+
+Tim opened the basket a little way, thrust in his hand, drew out the
+unfortunate hen, which was quite white, and began shrieking and flapping
+wildly till her wings were held down to her sides.
+
+"Are you going to bait with that?" said Ned.
+
+"Yes.  Can't afford to bait with little boys and girls," replied Frank,
+merrily; "they come expensive, and the mothers don't like it."
+
+"But you are going to kill it first?"
+
+"Kill it?  What for?  We shouldn't get a bite if we did."
+
+"But it's so horribly cruel."
+
+"Is it?  Well, I suppose it is, but if it wasn't killed this way, it
+would have been killed directly to make into a curry.  This is a better
+end for it, for we shall save people's lives."
+
+"If ye catch him, Masther Frank," said Tim.
+
+"Oh, we shall catch him, Tim.  You'll see.  There, hold still."
+
+As he spoke, Fred was busy tying the twine round the hen with ingenious
+knots, till the poor bird looked as if it had been put in harness;
+while, firmly secured in amongst the string bandages, and hidden by one
+of the wings, the hook lay ready for the reptile, if it did not prove to
+be too cunning to touch the bait.
+
+"There!" cried Frank, at last; and he then said something to the Malays,
+from whom a murmur that was a chorus of approval, arose.
+
+"Are you going to throw it into the river close by where I saw the
+monster!" whispered Ned.
+
+"Throw it in?  Why, it would drown the bird."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Oh, I see you don't understand croc fishing," continued Frank, securing
+a piece of the fibre twine to one of the legs of the hen, and another to
+a stout peg of wood, leaving about five feet clear for the bird to move
+about.
+
+These preparations made, Frank took the bird under his arm, twisted the
+rope twice about the hand which held the peg, and then, sticking a short
+stout staff in his belt, he stooped down, and, keeping the tree in which
+Ned had seen the monkey, between him and the water, he crept silently
+forward, dragging the rope after him, till he was close up.  Then,
+taking the peg to which the hen was tethered, he drove it quickly and
+firmly down into the ground, as near to the edge of the bank as he could
+reach.
+
+Ned watched him excitedly, and as he recalled his own adventure, he was
+in dread lest the reptile should make a rush at the gaily-clad figure,
+so occupied in his task that he would have been quite at the monster's
+mercy.
+
+Similar thoughts evidently troubled the Malays, for five of the men took
+their spears from where they leaned, and stood some thirty feet behind
+the lad, ready to rush forward to his help.  But there was no need.
+Frank worked quickly and well, driving the peg down into the ground with
+the club, sufficiently tightly to keep the hen from getting free, but
+not hard enough to prevent its being drawn by the reptile, supposing
+that the twine did not break.
+
+It was only a minute's work before the club was thrust back into his
+waistband, and a quantity of the rope hauled down to the bank.  Then the
+lad trotted rapidly back, leaving the hen walking disconsolately up and
+down with the hook beneath its wing, and dragging the loose rope here
+and there; while, so little was the poor thing troubled, that it began
+to scratch and peck about beneath the tree by the time Frank was talking
+eagerly to the Malays, who now lay down again with their spears ready.
+
+"Shall I howld the rope, sor?" said Tim.
+
+"No.  Mr Murray likes fishing," replied the lad, with a grin; "and he
+shall hold the line till there's a bite.  Better tie that other end,
+though, to that little tree."
+
+Tim obeyed, and then seated himself in the shadiest place he could find,
+and took out his pipe again.
+
+"Now, Ned, lay hold; and when the fish bites, give him plenty of line.
+Don't strike."
+
+Ned took the rope offered to him eagerly, and yet with a feeling of
+reluctance, for the game was formidable.
+
+"Let him go back into the river, and swallow the bait; then we'll talk
+to him.  Now all lie down and be quiet."
+
+The Malays were already as silent and motionless as a group in bronze,
+and Tim and the lads followed their example, every one watching the
+white hen, which, in happy ignorance of its perilous position, still
+pecked about quite close to the edge of the bank.
+
+"Think it will come?" said Ned, after they had crouched there in silence
+for quite an hour.
+
+"Can't say," whispered back the other.  "More likely perhaps to bite of
+a night or early in the morning.  Most likely to bite if we were not
+here.  Fish always do if I leave my rod for a bit.  Getting tired of
+waiting?"
+
+"No; it's too exciting."
+
+"No need to hold the rope without you like."
+
+"But I do like.  Will he pull very hard?"
+
+"When he's hooked, but you must not let him pull hard when he first
+takes the hen.  It's just like some kinds of fishing; you don't want to
+strike till the fish has swallowed the bait."
+
+Another hour in that hot silence, and no signs of a crocodile.  The
+Malays were all watchful, their dark eyes fixed on the white bird, and
+their spears ready; but Tim Driscol had fallen asleep with his pipe in
+his mouth, and the sight of the Irishman with his eyes closed, and his
+breath coming regularly, had a drowsy effect upon Ned, who half lay
+there on his side watching the glaring river, with the water looking
+every here and there like damascened metal.  Then all at once, as Tim
+Driscol's breath came thickly, the hen was not there, the rope was
+running out fast, there was a sudden jerk, and Ned's eyes opened with a
+start.
+
+"Don't go to sleep," whispered Frank.  "He may come at any time."
+
+"Don't go to sleep!"  Then he had been asleep and dreaming, for there
+was the hen scratching about on the bank, and the rope lying just as it
+was before.
+
+"I had only just closed my eyes, had I?"
+
+"About five minutes, and your head was wagging about like a big fruit on
+a stalk.  You don't want the croc to drag you into the river too."
+
+These last words effectually drove away the drowsy sensation brought on
+by the silence and heat there beneath the trees; and, after a glance
+round to see that the Malays were all as watchful as ever, Ned settled
+down again to think about the white hen; about his own narrow escape,
+and then about the horrible mishap that morning, and of the poor girl's
+feelings as she felt herself seized by the great reptile.
+
+"They ought to kill them all, Frank," he whispered.
+
+"Kill whom?"
+
+"The crocodiles.  It is horrible to let these creatures be about the
+place."
+
+"Very well; let's kill 'em all, then.  There'll be plenty of sport.
+We're beginning with this one."
+
+"But he does not come."
+
+"Well then, let's give it up now and go.  He is too artful.  I daresay
+he sees us, and will not come till we are gone.  We'll go away and come
+back this evening.  That's the way the Malays catch the wretches.  They
+don't stop to watch, only let the rope be tied to a tree, and then come
+back, and they often find one on."
+
+"How do they kill it, then?"
+
+"Same as we're going to kill this one when he is hooked; but, oh murder,
+I'm getting so precious hungry; let's give up now.  I'll tell them we're
+not going to stay."
+
+He crawled to the men, whispered softly to them for a few minutes, and
+then came back, pausing to rouse up Tim, who looked very stupid.
+
+"Ready?" said Ned, who was still holding the rope attached to the hen.
+"No.  I don't think I should like to give up.  He may come yet."
+
+"I don't know," said Frank.  "The brute isn't hungry perhaps.  I am, and
+I daresay there's a white chicken waiting at home nicely curried, and
+with plenty of cocoa-nut cream in it, and the whitest of rice round,
+ready for me.  I'm hungry, and can bite; so can you.  Let's be off and--
+eh?  What?"
+
+"Hist!" whispered Ned; "the water is moving.  Look! look!"
+
+They could only see a little of the water near the bank, where the
+lotus-leaves were, but they were evidently being moved by something
+passing through them, and the pale blue blossoms were nodding.
+
+Then almost directly there was a splash, a hideous head appeared on the
+bank, the wretched hen uttered a cackling shriek and leaped up to the
+full extent of the tether, a loud snapping noise was heard.  They had
+just a rapid view of a huge scaly, dripping body in the act of turning,
+a great undulating tail waved in the air--there was a loud splash; and,
+thrilling with excitement, Ned saw the slack coils of rope running out,
+and that the bait was gone.
+
+"That's right," whispered Frank excitedly, as a suppressed murmur rose
+from the Malays; "give him plenty of line.  He won't go very far.
+There's lots of length;" and he stood looking on as, excited as he, Ned
+dragged at the rope, and passed it rapidly through his hands as it kept
+on running toward the bank, and into the river more and more and more,
+till only about ten yards were left before the end was reached--the end
+tied to a young cocoa-nut tree.
+
+One of the Malays sprang up, whipped out his kris, and was going to cut
+the rope, for a check might have made the crocodile leave the bait
+before he had swallowed it, and the intention was to run with the end
+over to the river's brim, thus giving another fifty feet of line to run;
+but, just as he raised his kris, the great reptile ceased drawing out
+the rope, and Frank gave his young companion a congratulatory slap on
+the shoulder.
+
+"Hurrah!" he cried; "he will not go any farther.  He has got a
+lurking-place down there, under those lilies, and he is busy swallowing
+it."
+
+He turned and asked one of the men a question, and the answer confirmed
+his opinion.
+
+"Yes; it's all right," said Frank.
+
+"Shall I strike now?"
+
+"Oh no; give him plenty of time to swallow his chicken curry.  I say,
+wait a bit; won't he find it warm in a few minutes."
+
+"But I must strike soon.  Let me do it."
+
+"Oh yes; you shall strike, and then we'll have a lot of the fellows
+ready to catch hold, for that fellow's seventeen or eighteen feet long.
+I know, and you don't know, how strong these things are."
+
+Ned made no reply, for he was suffering from a strange feeling of
+emotion: his heart beat violently, there was a sensation of suffocation
+in his breast, and the hands which held the rope trembled and twitched.
+
+"Feel frightened, sor?" whispered Tim, smiling in his face.
+
+"No, I don't think I'm frightened, because I wouldn't let go on any
+account."
+
+"I know.  I felt just like that the first time I saw one caught, and the
+men let me howld the line."
+
+"But it must be time to strike now."
+
+"Why, you talk as if you had a rod in your hand, and a fish had taken
+your bait," cried Frank.
+
+"Yes; it seems just the same."
+
+"Only it isn't fishing: its reptiling.  Give him plenty of time."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because perhaps he hasn't swallowed it, and is lying down there chewing
+it over in his jaws.  If you pulled now, you might jerk it out of his
+mouth."
+
+Ned uttered a sigh, as if he were getting rid of a great amount of
+pent-up emotion while he stood there grasping the rough rope with both
+hands, waiting and feeling more impatient than he ever had before.
+
+"You'll see, when we pull him out, how useful the loose strands of rope
+are.  They'll be stuck between his ugly teeth.  My word, it will make a
+mess all about here.  It will be wet and beaten down, and made into a
+regular puddle."
+
+"Will he struggle much?"
+
+"I should think he will.  Mind his tail."
+
+"You mean his head."
+
+"No, I don't; I mean his tail.  Of course he'll snap and bark, but he
+tries to sweep people over with his tail, just as if he were mowing you
+off the ground.  Hullo! he's moving now.  Ready?  Give the rope a jerk,
+and hold tight."
+
+Ned obeyed his instructions, for the rope was beginning to glide over
+the bank again, and, as it tightened, Ned gave it a sharp jerk, went
+down headlong directly, and as he still clung to the rope, began to
+glide rapidly toward the river.
+
+"Oh murther!" roared Tim.
+
+"Let go!" shouted Frank.  But in his excitement Ned held on, and he was
+dragged within a yard of the river before there was a tremendous check
+put on the rope by the Malays, who stopped its progress, and enabled Ned
+to struggle up, Frank joining him, and the fight now began.
+
+At first there was nothing but a steady strain on the line, as if the
+end were tied to a dead tree at the bottom of the river, and this kept
+on for some minutes, neither side stirring.
+
+"Oh, he's a beauty!" said Tim, who was hauling hard.
+
+"I told you he was a big one," said Frank; but Ned made no answer.  The
+interest was too deep, and he held on to the rope with all his strength.
+Then, all at once, a peculiar vibration ran through it, as if the
+crocodile had rapidly shaken its head, and the next moment there was a
+tremendous jerk, and right out in the river, a violent movement in the
+stilly flowing water, as if the monstrous brute had suddenly wallowed
+and twisted itself round, the water rising in eddies and then becoming
+discoloured with clouds of mud which flowed slowly by them, the
+direction the reptile had taken being somewhat up the river.
+
+The plunge was tremendous, and the rope was nearly jerked out of the
+men's hands, but they held on, threw themselves back, and once more the
+dull steady strain was there, the reptile lying like a log at the
+bottom.
+
+"Look at that now!" cried Tim.  "I belave he's tired, and gone to
+slape."
+
+"He's a coward, and won't fight," cried Frank.  "Let's have him out at
+once," he shouted in Malay to the men, but their leader gave a decided
+negative.
+
+"Says he'll begin to fight directly," continued Frank; and hardly were
+the words out of his mouth when there was another fierce shaking of the
+rope, a furious plunge, and the brute began to make the line rush
+through the water here and there.  The lotus-leaves were cut and torn
+off and floated down the river, till, where the beautiful bed of flowers
+lay, all was muddy water churned up by the savage efforts of the beast,
+which tugged and dragged and sometimes drew the Malays a little nearer
+the brim; but just as Ned was wondering whether they had not better let
+go, the men recovered their lost ground again, and the water eddied and
+bubbled as the mud rose to the surface.
+
+"He's trying to burrow down," said Frank; "wait a bit, and he'll show
+himself.  It's precious deep just there."
+
+The fight went on, and Ned was beginning to think that their captive
+ought now to grow tired, when the strain suddenly ceased, and the whole
+party went down backward with their heels in the air.
+
+"The hook's broken out.  Oh!" cried Ned, struggling to his knees, his
+voice showing his disappointment.  "Ah!" he yelled, "mind! run!" for he
+suddenly caught sight of a fearful pair of open jaws thrust out of the
+water not half a dozen yards away, the monster making a savage charge
+right up to the bank, before its head sank down.
+
+"Look at that now!" shouted Tim.
+
+"Gone!" cried Ned; "and a good job too."
+
+"Not he," said Frank, laughing.  "Look!"
+
+For the rope was running out again, showing that the hook was fast; and,
+as the boys seized the line once more, the men let it go a little, and
+then gradually tightened it, with the result that the crocodile turned
+itself over and over, thrusting its loathsome head out, curving over and
+diving down again, its tail appearing above the surface, waving, and
+giving the water a tremendous slap, which sent the spray flying right
+out over the bank.
+
+It charged again right to the bank, but did not attempt to throw itself
+out; always turning and plunging down again into deep water, the violent
+efforts testing the strength of the rope and the hold of the hook, but
+nothing gave way, for the strands were nearly new, and the toughest of
+the tough.
+
+And so the fight went on, minute after minute, the men perspiring and
+the boys' hands beginning to grow sore.  How long the violent plunging
+and churning up of the water lasted they never attempted to guess, for
+the interest in the fight was too engrossing as the monster now made a
+rush to escape down the river, now up again, and at last made so
+desperate a rush straight out as if to go across, that the party were
+taken unawares, and were jerked right forward, losing their footing and
+falling.  Ned and Frank had to let go, to save themselves from being
+dragged into the river, and as they lay close to the edge, the rope
+passed over them, and Ned shouted, "Gone!" while Tim threw himself down
+in despair.
+
+And so it seemed, for half the men had also let go, and the others had
+so bad a hold that they followed their companions' example, so that all
+the labour seemed to have been thrown away.
+
+It was all the work of a few moments, and the reptile was now well out,
+and apparently escaping, when there was again a tightening, and the
+young cocoa-nut palm shivered and bent as the knots were tested where
+the end was secured.
+
+The next moment, with a low cry of excitement, the men had seized the
+line again, and eased the strain on the young tree; then steadily
+dragging the reptile's head round, and drawing it back toward the bank
+till half the rope was recovered.
+
+The struggle recommenced, for the monster seemed to be as strong as
+ever, but it was now allowed to have no rest, and at last it was drawn
+to within some twenty feet of the bank, and four of the men let go and
+went back.
+
+"Here, hi! don't run away!" cried Tim.
+
+"What are they going to do?" said Ned, panting with his efforts.
+
+"Gone to get their spears.  We're going to have him out now."
+
+"And we're nearest!" cried Ned.
+
+"Yes.  Afraid?  Shall we go back?"
+
+"Do you want to?"
+
+"No."
+
+"More don't I," said Ned, desperately.
+
+"It's all right," said Frank.  "We can run out of his way if he makes a
+jump at us.  You'll easily know if he's going to.  You'll see him hump
+up his back if he's going to rush at us.  But what you've got to mind is
+his tail.  He'll try, as I told you, to flip you into the water.  He may
+break your legs.  Now then, be ready for a good haul.  Here they are
+with their spears."
+
+The four men came back, two going on each side of the rope toward the
+bank, and standing ready with their weapons to try to plunge them into
+the reptile's throat.  Then the principal Malay said a few words,
+uttered a shout, and the strain was increased a little, then a little
+more, as the creature began to be drawn nearer the bank; then they moved
+faster and faster, Ned wondering whether the rope and hook would stand;
+and as he ran on with the men, he looked back and saw the reptile's head
+with its jaws wide appear above the muddy bank, then its fore-paws were
+over, and the next moment it was gliding over the grass, striking right
+and left with head and tail; while, as it was dragged right away from
+the river, and the men paused, it raised itself up high on its feet,
+arching up its back like an angry toad of monstrous dimensions, and
+snapped its jaws.
+
+"Pretty darlin'!" cried Tim.  "Oh, how proud his mother must be.  Look
+at his smile."
+
+Frank uttered a triumphant shout, and Ned joined in, but only feebly,
+for he was too much excited and on the watch for a charge from their
+captive.
+
+Two or three of these were made as the men attacked it with spears; but
+the strain of the rope on the reptile's head prevented it from doing any
+mischief, and though it laid about it, thrashing furiously with its
+tail, no harm was done, while the men contrived to give it thrust after
+thrust in the soft under-parts of the neck, weakening it so, that at
+last they managed to turn it over on its back, and one of the Malays
+leaped upon it, and with a great knife ripped it up nearly from end to
+end.
+
+Ned turned away sickened as the men now unfastened the rope from the
+tree and retied it, so as to give the reptile a very short tether.
+
+"There's no need for that now--is there?" said Ned, as he stood wiping
+his brow.
+
+"No need to what?"
+
+"Tie it up."
+
+"Only, that if they did not, the brute would crawl back into the river."
+
+"What, wounded like that?"
+
+"Oh yes.  They don't seem to mind much.  They'll go back into the water
+even after the Malays have cut them open and taken out their inside.
+They always do that to see whether they are man-eaters.  They're doing
+it now.  Come and look."
+
+"No," said Ned.  "I'm satisfied.  We've caught him.  That's all too
+horrible."
+
+By this time the report was being spread that the monster had been
+taken, and footsteps were heard approaching, quite a little crowd hiding
+the reptile from the boys, and out of which crowd rose directly after a
+low wailing sound.
+
+"How horrid!" whispered Frank.
+
+"What does it mean?  Are they sorry we've killed it?"
+
+"No, they have found something inside the beast which tells them that we
+have caught the right croc.  I daresay it's the one that took the poor
+girl."
+
+Frank was right, and after a time the lads returned, the crowd--a part
+of which had gone back in procession toward one of the houses--making
+way for them.
+
+The men standing about the horrible reptile gave them a quiet but warm
+greeting, and there was a look of triumph in their eyes as one of them
+told Frank, what he afterwards interpreted to his companion, that this
+was undoubtedly the monster that had taken the poor girl; and they
+showed him too a silver ornament, blackened and strange looking, which
+must have been in the creature for perhaps months.
+
+Ned turned shuddering away from this recital to examine the hideous
+mud-coloured brute, Frank eagerly showing him how the loose strands had
+opened out as the reptile bit at them, its great teeth passing through
+without damaging the strength of the rope; and it was interesting to see
+how the hook had taken too fast a hold to be dislodged.  Then he
+examined the great bulky body with its crooked legs and claws, and the
+formidable tail, everything tending to show that it was a reptile just
+in the full vigour of its existence.
+
+"They never get bigger than this, do they?" said Ned, after a careful
+measurement had proved the crocodile to be within an inch or two of
+eighteen feet, and bulky in proportion.
+
+"Bigger?  Yes, half as big again.  My father saw one twenty-five feet
+long, but he says those very large ones are so heavy that they are slow
+and not so dangerous.  It is those fellows from fifteen feet to eighteen
+that the men are most afraid of.  They can quite dart through the water
+like a fish."
+
+"What will they do with it?"
+
+"They are going to leave it here till our people have seen it, and then
+throw it in the river again.  And I hope," added Ned merrily, "it will
+be a lesson to all the others, and that they will behave better.  Here,
+come along, and let's get something to eat.  I say, what a horrid mess!"
+
+"It's dishgusting, sor," said Tim.  "Here, I must light a pipe to take
+the taste out of my mouth.  But it's a puzzle--a reg'lar conundhrum,
+that's what it is."
+
+"What's a conundrum?"
+
+"Why sor, whatever crocodiles could have been made for.  But I say,
+Masther Frank, he thought it was a chicken.  He nivver knew it was a
+tough ould hin."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+THROUGH THE JUNGLE.
+
+A few days later, in which interval several little boating journeys had
+been made, the results of which could be seen in Murray's house, which
+was rapidly beginning to show traces of its being intended for a museum,
+the morning broke fine and comparatively cool; and just at sunrise Mr
+Braine came to where Ned and his uncle was seated at their early
+breakfast, to announce that the preparations settled upon the previous
+evening had been made.
+
+Murray had finished his meal, but Ned was still engaged in getting ready
+for a tolerably long fast to mid-day, when a good meal would be
+prepared.
+
+He was still lingering reluctantly over his breakfast when Frank
+appeared, and as soon as the two boys were together, Murray drew Mr
+Braine out into the veranda.  "Well," he said; "any fresh news?"
+
+"No," replied Mr Braine; "and in spite of my long experience of the
+man, I am half-disposed to think that I may be wrong."
+
+"Then you do not think I need stay?"
+
+"Oh no."
+
+"Because I should not like to be out of the way if there was any
+trouble."
+
+"You need have no fear for to-day.  He has been perfectly quiet and
+interested in some affairs connected with the rajah of the next state.
+This man has offended him, and I should not feel a bit surprised if war
+broke out between them."
+
+"I don't care what breaks out so long as you are wrong in your ideas
+about that affair," said Murray, excitedly.  "It worries me so that I
+hardly like to leave the place to go collecting."
+
+Mr Braine smiled to himself as he saw how genuine Murray's interest
+was.
+
+"You shall have the earliest information if anything is wrong," he said.
+
+"But why wait for anything to be wrong.  Would it not be much better for
+the ladies to leave this place at once?"
+
+"Much better, of course."
+
+"Then why not make a strong effort, and get them down to Malacca?"
+
+"For the simple reason that no efforts we could make would be half
+strong enough.  The only way would be to try to escape."
+
+"Well, why not try that?"
+
+"Because there is such a thing as failure, my dear fellow, and that
+would mean placing us all in a ten times worse position than we are in
+now."
+
+Murray frowned and looked intensely miserable.
+
+"Come," said Mr Braine; "don't let us conjure up what may be imaginary
+troubles.  Call those boys, and be off before the sun gets more power.
+I tell you that you may go away perfectly contented, for this man moves
+very slowly, and we shall have ample warning of any danger before it
+comes."
+
+Murray sighed, and it was in rather a half-hearted manner that he handed
+his guns and cases to Hamet, who bore them off, and directly after they
+heard him talking to some one, whose voice told at once, from its
+peculiar, highly-pitched intonation, that it was Tim Driscol, who the
+next minute appeared at the door.
+
+"Beg pardon, sor," he said, "but masther says if it's at all convaynient
+would you--"
+
+"What's the matter?" cried Murray, eagerly, catching the man by the arm.
+
+"Oh, jist nawthing as ye may say, sor.  A little out of ordher for want
+of fresh air, and the masther says if ye wouldn't mind takking me with
+ye to-day, I might be a bit useful."
+
+Murray turned away with an impatient gesture, and exchanged glances with
+Mr Braine.
+
+"I'm very sorry, sor," said Tim, quite crest-fallen, for he had been
+longing intensely to go on the trip.  "The masther thought it would do
+me good, or I wouldn't have asked."
+
+"Oh yes, you can come, my man," said Murray.  "Take hold of that bag of
+cartridges, and go on after Hamet."
+
+"Thank ye, sor," cried the man eagerly; and taking up the bag, and
+giving the two boys a delighted look, he hurried off.
+
+"Sure, if I stay near him, and he looks at me," said Tim to himself, "he
+may alter that bit of him that he calls his mind."
+
+As soon as Tim was out of hearing, Murray said excitedly: "There, you
+will be another man short.  I had better give up the expedition."
+
+"Nonsense! go, and I would try and make a discovery of metal if I could,
+even if it is only tin again.  If you could hit upon gold, even if it is
+only some poor deposit in a stream, it would be worth everything to us
+now, from making him more friendly to us.  Spend a little time over that
+as well as over the birds."
+
+"Then you would go?"
+
+"Certainly, and at once."
+
+"Ready, boys?" cried Murray, quickly now, for he felt that if he thought
+much more about the trouble at the doctor's home, he would not be able
+to go.
+
+"Yes; all ready," cried Frank, presenting himself first.  "Let's be off.
+You are not waiting for us."
+
+"Go on, then.  The elephants are standing in front of the rajah's."
+
+The boys needed no second request, but hurried off to find three of the
+huge, clumsy-looking animals, with their attendants and a party of
+spearmen, standing bowing their heads and waving their curled-up trunks
+to and fro.  They were fitted with strong basket-work howdahs, and the
+smallest one was evidently the bearer of the refreshments, its
+rattan-cane howdah being more roomy and of a rougher make.
+
+The arrangements were soon finished, and Murray mounted into the howdah
+of the first elephant, followed by Hamet and one of the rajah's men; the
+second elephant was devoted to the two boys and Tim, who took his place
+in the most solemn manner.
+
+"Be on your guard for the branches," said Mr Braine.  "They stretch so
+across the way, that on a tall elephant you have to mind, or you may be
+swept off."
+
+With these parting words of warning, he gave the word, the mahouts
+touched their mounts' heads with an iron crook, and the party moved off,
+passing with its rather large guard of spearmen right by the doctor's
+and the merchant's houses, where the ladies stood in the verandas, and
+waved them a farewell.
+
+"Want the tiger's skin?" shouted Frank to Amy.  "You shall have it, if
+we get one."
+
+She nodded laughingly, and said something; but they were too distant to
+hear the words, and directly after, the long regular shuffling gait of
+the elephants had taken them out of sight.
+
+"We are not going near tigers, are we?" said Ned, rather excitedly.
+
+"Of course we are.  You can't go anywhere here without going near
+tigers, and if you don't go near them, they come near you.  Wait a few
+minutes till we are well out of the village, and then you'll see the
+sort of place our road is.--Won't he, Tim?"
+
+"Indade he will, sor.  It's a beautiful road, with a wall on each side,
+or a hedge, if you like to call it so, as fresh and green as a country
+one, only a dale more scratchy."
+
+Their way took them past the clump of trees in which the rajah's house
+was hidden, and the boys looked eagerly between the trunks, but the
+growth was too dense for them to see anything, even from their elevated
+perch, as the elephants went swinging by with the spearmen, some now in
+front and some behind.
+
+"Like it?" cried Frank.
+
+"Yes, I think so," replied Ned.
+
+"Don't feel sea-sick, do you?"
+
+"How can one feel sea-sick, when there is no sea--no boat."
+
+"But you do feel a little giddy with the motion; don't you?"
+
+"I did," replied Ned; "but it is going off fast, and I am beginning to
+like it."
+
+"Yes, it's all right as long as the forest isn't too dense, and the
+elephant holes too deep."
+
+"What are elephant holes?"
+
+"Oh, wait a few minutes and you'll soon see that.--Won't he, Tim?"
+
+"That he will, sor, and here we are."
+
+For they had left the village behind, crossed the rice and fruit
+grounds, and there, all at once, without any preparation in the way of
+bushes or outstanding trees, was the jungle, with its huge growth rising
+up like a green wall shutting in some strange territory.  It was even
+more formidable looking than the walls that shut in the river, and as
+Ned looked to right and left in search of the entrance to the way they
+were to take, he quite realised how dangerous it was for the poor folk
+who worked in their rice-fields close up to the black jungle and its
+lurking creatures.
+
+"There you are," said Frank.  "Now then, you must keep your eyes open
+for snakes and your ears for tigers.  Your uncle will shoot if he gets a
+chance; won't he?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Ned.  "I don't think he is well, he has been so
+quiet lately; but I should hardly believe he would let anything go by."
+
+"Nor I.  He's such a shot," said Frank.  "My father is pretty good, but
+Mr Murray is twice as sure.  But we shall see no tigers going through a
+wood like this.  The worst of it is, they can see you."
+
+For as he was speaking, the first elephant had gone, as it were,
+straight into the solid green wall of verdure, and disappeared.
+
+"Now then, Trousers," cried Frank.
+
+"What do you call the mahout Trousers for?" asked Ned.
+
+"I didn't.  I was speaking to old India-rubber here."
+
+"Well, why do you call him Trousers?"
+
+"Because elephants always look to me like a big body and two pairs of
+trousers.  Now then, look out for canes and scratches."
+
+For the elephant they were on shuffled into the narrow track, whose
+sides and roof brushed the great cane howdah, and in a few moments they
+had passed from the glaring sunshine into the hot dank gloom of the
+forest, where the swishing noise of the abundant growth, forced aside
+and trampled down by the huge animals, was for a time the only sound.
+
+"I say, he on the look-out, or out you'll go.  We're getting into the
+wet now."
+
+Frank's words were uttered just in time to make Ned seize hold of the
+side of the howdah, for the elephant they were on began to lurch and
+roll, as its legs sank deep in the soft mud and water which filled a
+series of holes in the track, and the driver turned round to them and
+smiled.
+
+"Tell him to guide the elephant better," said Ned, as this rocking
+motion went on.  "He is letting it put its feet in all these holes."
+
+Frank laughed.
+
+"It's all right," he said; "they always do that.  The holes are the old
+footprints of other elephants, or their own, when they came along here
+before, and they get deeper and deeper, and full of mud and water.
+Elephants always keep to the old footprints, because they believe they
+are safe."
+
+"But he could make them go on the hard ground."
+
+Frank said something to the driver, who smiled as he replied.
+
+"I told him what you said, and he says nobody could make an elephant
+step out of them.  Look back; the other one is doing just the same."
+
+That was plain enough, and Ned now turned his eyes on Tim, who was
+seated cross-legged in the hind corner of the howdah, with his arms
+resting on the edge.
+
+"Ye'll soon get used to it, sor," he said, smiling.  "Shakes ye up
+wondherful though at first.  They're great onaisy pigs to ride.  Would
+either of you gentlemen object to my shmoking my pipe?"
+
+"Oh no, smoke away, Tim, but don't make a noise with the match."
+
+"Nivver fear," was the reply; and the man began to prepare his
+bamboo-pipe, while Ned gazed wonderingly at the narrow view of the dense
+growth on either side, and the way in which the trees were laced
+together over their heads by rattan-canes and other creepers, whose
+leafage helped the spreading boughs far overhead to shut out the
+faintest ray of sunshine.  In front, the way was blocked by the
+hind-quarters of the elephant Murray was on; behind, the smaller
+elephant with the provisions shut in the track, so that the spearmen who
+followed could only at intervals be seen, and the gloom grew deeper as
+_suck_, _suck_, the elephants drew their great limbs from the track
+holes, or plunged them in, sending a gush of mud and water flying out on
+either side.
+
+"Is the forest all like this?" said Ned at last.
+
+"The jungle is."
+
+"But are there no other paths?"
+
+"Not that I know of."
+
+"Then how do the animals get about?"
+
+"Oh, some use these tracks, but the tigers and bears creep along under
+and through the trees and bushes.  They can go anywhere.  We couldn't,
+without the men cut a way for us."
+
+_Skrit_, _skrat_, _skrat_! went Tim's match loudly, and the elephant
+uttered a tremendous squeal, plunged forward, and ran its head against
+the hind-quarters of the one in front, which trumpeted shrilly, and
+catching the panic rushed on; the store elephant following, in spite of
+the mahouts, who strove hard to check them in their headlong course, but
+in vain.
+
+"Down, down!" shouted Frank.  "Hold tight."
+
+His advice was needed, for the plunging and rolling of the great
+frightened animals was terrible, and for a while they tore on along the
+narrow track with the mud and water flying, and the growth from the
+sides and roof threatening to drag the occupants of the howdahs from
+their seats.
+
+At the end of about a mile, the first elephant was checked, and of
+necessity the second and third had to stand, which they did with their
+heads pressed against the other's tail.
+
+"Any one hurt?" cried Murray, looking back.
+
+"No, all right--all right," cried the boys.
+
+"What was it scared your elephant?"
+
+"Oh murther, don't tell him, Masther Frank," whispered Tim, who then
+desperately told the truth.
+
+"It's all right, sor.  I sthruck a match to light me pipe.  That's all."
+
+"Well then, don't do it again."
+
+"No, sor."
+
+"Go on slowly now," cried Murray, and progress was again made.
+
+"An' I should think we would go slowly," muttered Tim.  "I belave I
+haven't a whole bone left, and what's more, I didn't light me pipe."
+
+"And you must not now," cried Frank, laughing.  "Oh, I did get such a
+switch from one of those canes.--How did you get on?"
+
+"Something nearly pulled me out of the howdah," replied Ned, "and I'm a
+bit scratched."
+
+"Bit scratched, sor?  Look at me," cried Tim, showing his bleeding
+hands.  "These baskets, if ye are to have a ride in 'em, ought to have a
+lid to shut down."
+
+The elephants uttered a low sigh now and then, as they shuffled and
+splashed along the muddy track, whose gloomy monotony was so wearisome
+that Ned turned at last to his companion.
+
+"I say," he cried, "is it all going to be like this?"
+
+Frank laughed.
+
+"Oh no; only for a few miles.  Then we shall get to some open ground."
+
+"You've been along here before, then?"
+
+"Oh yes, twice; but till you get through the jungle it is very dreary."
+
+Ned sat swaying and giving with the movements of the elephant, thinking
+what a terrible journey it would be for any one who had to walk, and
+looking back from time to time at the spearmen behind, who seemed to get
+along lightly enough, when he caught sight of one.  Several, however,
+had climbed on to the rear elephant, while two had hold of the ropes of
+the one he rode.
+
+All at once, just as if seen through a tunnel, there was a patch of
+light, and soon after the party emerged into an opening of a few acres
+in extent, where the sun had full power, and the growth of orchid and
+flowering tree lit up the scene with glowing colour.  Here they heard
+the cries of birds, and were just in time to catch sight of the metallic
+green, gold, and purple of half a dozen peacocks before they hurried out
+of sight among the trees.
+
+Murray obtained a few specimens of parrot and sunbird here, though, in
+their half-hour's halt before the leading elephant was started, and once
+more plunged into the continuation of the green leafy tunnel, which by
+contrast seemed darker than the first part.
+
+By degrees the way of progression grew so wearisome that Ned turned to
+his companions to find both fast asleep, and he turned again to gaze
+before him at the hind-quarters of his uncle's elephant, feeling sour
+and ill-used and heartily sick of the tedious ride.
+
+But all his ill-humour faded away an hour later when the elephants
+passed out of the tunnel once more into an undulating paradise of tree
+and flower, rising gradually higher and higher to hills that appeared to
+be of a lovely blue; and as if roused by the glow of the sun, both Frank
+and Tim started up.
+
+"Oh, here we are, then, at last," cried the latter.  "Then, I suppose,
+the first thing is something to eat."
+
+He was quite right, for about a mile farther on toward the hills, the
+elephants were halted close to a stream, over whose glancing water a
+huge tree of the fig tribe spread its gigantic branches, and offered a
+most tempting refuge from the sun.
+
+The elephants were tethered, and the rajah's men rapidly unloaded the
+pannier they had brought, to spread a tempting meal beneath the tree;
+and this being ended, the first elephant was again brought into use to
+bear Murray, the two boys, and Tim, on toward the hills shooting and
+exploring.
+
+This part of the expedition was so beautiful, and the specimens shot so
+satisfactory, that the wearisome nature of the journey out was
+forgotten, and that back, which had hung before Ned like a cloud, was no
+longer thought of.
+
+He said something in respect to it as they walked on beside the
+elephant, carrying a spare gun and ammunition, and Frank laughed:
+
+"It was tiring, but we had not had any dinner then, and that makes all
+the difference.  I say, Mr Murray, suppose a tiger came now, what
+should you do?"
+
+"Fire at it, of course."
+
+"With small shot?  Oh!  I say, hadn't you better load your rifle?  I'll
+carry it."
+
+"Yes; it would be wise," replied Murray.  "You'll promise to give it me
+if there is a chance."
+
+"Of course."  And the rifle was handed out of the howdah by Tim, loaded,
+and shouldered by Frank as they once more went on, getting now on to
+higher ground, where the rugged incline of the gully down which the
+stream whose course they followed ran, induced Murray to begin examining
+the stones that lay loose on one side of the little river's rocky bed.
+
+Then there was another tramp onward, and a couple more specimens fell to
+the naturalist's gun.
+
+"That's as many as we shall care to skin to-night, Ned," he said.
+"Let's see now if we can't discover some metal."
+
+"Whoo-hoo!" shouted Tim, from up in the howdah.  "Look sor, look! shoot!
+There he is!"
+
+They followed Tim's pointing hand, to see, about a couple of hundred
+yards away, in an open spot where a gully ran up into a patch of forest,
+a full-grown tiger, whose stripes showed out clearly in the sunshine,
+as, with head erect and tail lashing his sides, he watched the
+approaching party; but before Murray could seize the rifle, the lithe
+animal gave a couple of leaps and had disappeared.
+
+"Gone!" ejaculated Murray.  "It would be no use to try to hunt him up,
+without beaters."
+
+So the search for minerals was commenced again, with no further result
+than the discovery of a little tin, specimens of which were thrown up to
+Tim, and another halt was made.
+
+By this time the sun was beginning to descend, and after a little
+hesitation, for the place was full of attractions, Murray said
+unwillingly, "I suppose we must go back now."
+
+"Too soon yet, uncle," said Ned.  "I should like to have a shot at
+something."
+
+"Another time, my lad," said Murray.  "We have been longer than I
+thought, and we have all that dreary ride back through the jungle.  It
+will be dark before we get back.  Yes; let's turn now at once," he
+continued, displaying a little anxiety as he thought of his conversation
+with Mr Braine that morning, and wondered that he could have so
+forgotten himself in his favourite pursuit as to have ignored the
+position of those at the village.
+
+The lads acquiesced at once, and they mounted the elephant to look
+wonderingly from one to the other now, as they noted how anxious Murray
+had become, and impatient in his orders to Hamet to tell the driver to
+hurry the elephant along.
+
+"What's the matter with your uncle?" whispered Frank at last.  "Does he
+want something to eat?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Ned.  "I can't quite make him out.  He was all
+right coming, and thought of nothing but the shooting; now he's all in a
+fidget.  There!"
+
+This was in consequence of Hamet reporting that the driver said he could
+get the elephant along no faster, as the road was so bad and stony.
+
+Murray threw himself back impatiently, and sat gazing straight before
+them, while the elephant nodded and shuffled slowly along.
+
+"For suppose," thought Murray, "anything should happen while I am away,
+I should never forgive myself.  I wish now I had not come."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+TWO HOURS LATE.
+
+"It is only fancy," said Murray to himself, as, after what seemed to be
+an interminable length of time, they came in sight of the big tree where
+the other two elephants stood swinging their trunks, and the rest of the
+party were standing about watching for their return.  There was no time
+lost now, for the day was getting well on, and the Malays showed plenty
+of eagerness to be once more well on their road, so as to be through the
+jungle before dark.
+
+"I'm afraid we have rather overdone it, boys," said Murray, after a long
+silence, during which the elephants plodded patiently on, and their
+guard kept up a low muttered conversation to themselves.
+
+"It would have been better if we had started half an hour sooner," said
+Frank, coolly; "but it don't matter, that I see.  Once we get into the
+jungle track the elephants will go through it back to their quarters,
+and we can lie down and get a nap if we like."
+
+All this was shouted from one elephant to the other, for the same order
+had been maintained as in coming.  "No danger, is there?" said Ned.
+"Danger?  Well, perhaps a little.  Tiger might catch one of the men, as
+a cat does a mouse.  You see how close they'll all keep to the elephants
+as soon as we enter the jungle."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!  No tiger would attack a party like this."
+
+"Wouldn't he!  You'll see."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Well no, I don't mean that; only that if a tiger is hungry he'd attack
+anything."
+
+It seemed to be a long journey to the jungle track, and evening was
+growing very near, as once more the elephants plunged into the narrow
+dark tunnel, where the mud rarely grew dry in the huge footprints worn
+by the heavy animals into deep pits, each of which seemed like a trap,
+out of which the labouring beast had to drag its leg.
+
+The change from the golden glow of the late afternoon to the gloom of
+the jungle path was again sudden, and it evoked the remark from Ned: "If
+it is like this now, what will it be when it's dark?"
+
+"Why dark?" cried Frank, laughing.  "Oh, you needn't mind.  There's no
+fear of the elephants taking the wrong turning, because there isn't one.
+If the drivers keep them going, we shall be sure to get back home."
+
+Then the monotonous slush slush of the elephant's tread began, mingled
+with the squeaking of the strong basket-work howdah, and an occasional
+snort from one of the great animals, as it found the task of extricating
+its legs harder than usual.  For a time the Malays had kept up their low
+murmuring conversation, but this soon dropped off as the darkness
+increased, and they crept up close, as Frank had suggested, to the heads
+of the elephants, contriving so that one of the animals should form the
+rear-guard, and thus protect them from attack.
+
+It was not long before the conversation between those on the two leading
+elephants dropped off, so that by the time it was quite dark the journey
+was being continued in almost absolute silence, as far as talking was
+concerned.
+
+And it was dark: so black that the occupants of the howdahs could not
+see each other when close together, and the only way to avoid the boughs
+which brushed against them constantly was to crouch as low down as was
+possible.
+
+Ned had been sitting silently for some time thinking all kinds of
+horrors, and of how huge serpents might be hanging from the boughs, or
+tigers watching them in the darkness, ready to spring in among them,
+when suddenly he started, for there was a low guttural sound like a
+suppressed roar close at hand, and directly after, a cold chill ran
+through him, for as the elephant went on with its slow swaying motion,
+something which seemed to be long and round glided past his face, passed
+over his shoulder, and then swept about his neck.
+
+The scene up the river came back instantaneously, and in those moments
+Ned mentally saw a creature like that at which his uncle had shot,
+hanging from somewhere above, and seeking to coil round his body to
+crush him in its folds.
+
+It was all momentary, but in that brief space of time Ned sat
+motionless, and then his breath escaped with a low hiss, as he felt that
+it was Frank's arm feeling for him, and directly after the boy's lips
+touched his ear.
+
+"Ned," he whispered, "here's a game.  Oh Tim's asleep and snoring."
+
+"Well, I don't see any game in that.  I wish I was."
+
+"Don't be snaggy.  I mean to have a bit of fun with him."
+
+"What could you do?"
+
+"You know how he has been fidgeting about the tigers."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Look here, then: you sit fast, and I'll just feel how he lies, and then
+get out of this jolly old basket, hold on to the side, and then jump in
+on him, take him by the neck, and give a good loud snarl.  I can imitate
+the tigers exactly."
+
+"And suppose he hits you with all his might?"
+
+"I shouldn't give him time.  I should roll off directly.  He'd declare a
+tiger had jumped into the howdah, and brag about how he had escaped."
+
+Ned was silent.
+
+"Well, wouldn't it be a game?  Why don't you answer?  What are you
+thinking about?"
+
+"Tim scratching a match, and frightening the elephant," said Ned
+quietly.
+
+"What? this morning?"
+
+"Yes; and of how it rushed off."
+
+"Ah!  I never thought of that," said Frank.  "Perhaps it would scare it,
+and that would be awkward in the dark."
+
+"Let me get down and walk before you begin," continued Ned.
+
+"Oh, bother!  I shan't do it now.  I say, I don't know where we should
+all be if he started now."
+
+"I don't know where we are without his starting," replied Ned.  "It
+seems to me as if the thing's going right through the blackest part of
+the forest as it is."
+
+"Nonsense!  And look: it isn't so dark now.  We're out in that part
+where we rested this morning."
+
+That was plain enough, for a load seemed to have been suddenly lifted
+from their spirits.  The air felt warm and fresh.  The peculiar dank
+odour of the trampled leaves and mud was wanting, and right above them
+were the purple heavens ablaze with glorious stars, looking brighter and
+larger than they had ever seemed before.
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Ned, taking a long breath; "that's better."
+
+But the pleasurable feeling soon passed away, for at the end of five
+minutes, the jungle track was entered upon again, and plash, plash,
+plash, plash, on they went, with the howdah creaking to the elephant's
+swing, and the boughs now dripping with moisture brushing against them
+as the elephants plunged on.
+
+"Why, we shall be hours yet," said Ned.  "Oh, I am getting so sick of
+this.  It was bad enough this morning when it was daylight.  Hark!
+What's that?"
+
+"Tiger," said Frank, in a subdued voice, "on the prowl.  But I don't
+suppose he'll come near us."
+
+Frank's words did not inspire confidence.  On the contrary, they made
+Ned feel very nervous, and begin to envy Tim's ability to sleep all
+through the perilous jaunt.  For dangerous it was, since, setting aside
+the risk of an attack by some hungry tiger, there was always the
+possibility of one of the elephants coming down when floundering through
+the mud.
+
+On still, with the motion at last growing so wearisome that the dangers
+were forgotten, and both of the boys began to nod, but roused up again
+as a hail came from the foremost elephant.
+
+"Getting tired of it?"
+
+"Horribly!" they shouted back; "and it's a long way yet."
+
+Then the nodding began again, their crouching attitude fostering it, and
+the darkness was lit up by the dreams which came with their sound sleep,
+out of which they both started together; the change in the elephant's
+movement, from a rolling, plunging progress, something akin to that of a
+boat at sea without its smoothness, to a regular steady walk, waking the
+boys at once.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Frank.  "Out of the jungle.  Not far to go now."
+
+As he spoke, they could see lights, and the elephants stepped out
+freely, bringing them in a very short time to the front of the rajah's
+grounds, where a group of men were standing, and among them Mr Braine,
+Mr Greig, and the Tumongong, who all advanced.
+
+"You are late," cried the former.  "Make haste and get down here; we
+have been waiting these two hours."
+
+"Sorry to have kept you," cried Murray, as the elephants went down on
+their knees.
+
+"Never mind, we'll talk later on.  The rajah desires that you all come
+and have your evening meal with him, and tell him what you have done."
+
+"Impossible to-night.  We are not fit."
+
+"Never mind that," said Mr Braine, rather hurriedly; "he expressed a
+wish for you to come, and come you must.  He has been waiting two hours.
+The ladies are all there, and the doctor too.  A dinner has been
+prepared for us in a room to ourselves.  You will have an audience with
+the rajah afterwards."
+
+The mention of the ladies being there swept away all Murray's
+objections, and he descended, while Frank said aloud:
+
+"Then I shall take Ned on home to have something with me."
+
+"No, no," cried Murray, hastily; "he must see to the specimens and guns
+being safely housed."
+
+"Impossible!" cried Mr Braine, "and we are wasting time.  The rajah
+said all, and he will be impatient.  Your man Hamet must see to
+everything.  Come along."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+THE RAJAH'S RING.
+
+Murray was anxious, unwilling, and willing altogether, as he followed
+the Tumongong and a guard of the rajah's men into the lantern-lit
+clearing before the house; and from thence they were ushered into a room
+hung with mats, where water was brought in brass basins for their
+ablutions, before they were shown into a long dimly-lit room, where a
+meal was spread on mats upon the floor, while upon cushions at one end
+the rajah himself was seated conversing with the doctor and the ladies.
+
+He rose and received the rest of his guests with dignity, pointing out
+to them the places he wished them to occupy, and then, to the surprise
+of all, he took the head of the board himself; a compliment which the
+Englishmen looked upon with suspicion, as possibly meaning something,
+opposed as it was to his ordinary customs.
+
+To the boys it was delightful, for everything in the dimly-lit room was
+attractive: the group of guards and officials who stood behind and about
+the rajah in their showiest silks; the chief in his native costume now,
+in which bright-yellow silk predominated; and as Ned gazed at him, he
+could not help thinking how much better he looked in a dress which
+became him, for he looked now like an eastern prince, and the boy
+whispered so to his companion.
+
+"Yes; he don't look such an old guy now," said Frank, in the same tone.
+"We English people can wear our clothes without looking foolish," he
+said, complacently.  "They can't wear English things without being
+scarecrows."
+
+"But, I say, where are his wives?  There are no ladies here," whispered
+Ned again.
+
+"Locked up, put away in the cupboard.  Heads chopped off, perhaps,"
+whispered Frank.  "You didn't suppose they would be here to sit down and
+eat with such infidels as we are!"
+
+"Oh, I didn't know."
+
+"Well, I did.  It's a wonder to see the old chap here.  He's got some
+scheme in his head, or he wouldn't be so civil.  I wonder what it is.
+You see they're all obliged to come if he gives orders.  But be quiet:
+don't talk and ask questions.  I'm hungry, and the things he gives you
+to eat are precious good, though often enough you don't know what they
+are."
+
+"But, I say, tell me this," whispered Ned; "and I won't ask you any more
+questions.  There will not be anything one don't like to eat, will
+there?  I mean anything queer."
+
+"What, young crocodile fatted with niggers, pickled boa constrictor, or
+curried baby?"
+
+"Don't chaff.  Tell me."
+
+"Look here: do you want to know what to do?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Then you eat just the same as I do, and you can't be wrong."
+
+Ned took the advice, and, like his companion, he was very soon enjoying
+himself thoroughly; too busy, in fact, to take much notice of the
+others, till Frank began to make remarks.
+
+"I say, how nice Amy Barnes looks, doesn't she!  Got quite a colour."
+
+Ned glanced at her, and saw that she was flushed and looked excited, but
+was evidently doing her best to be at ease, talking readily enough with
+the Resident, and letting him translate in answer to some remark made in
+a grave and stately way by the rajah, who scarcely ate anything, but
+kept on giving instructions to his attendants to take this dish or that
+wine to his guests.
+
+"What's the matter with your uncle?" said Frank, suddenly; "not poorly,
+is he?"
+
+"Matter?" said Ned, looking across to where Murray was seated.
+"Nothing; he only looks cross."
+
+"But he is hardly eating anything.  Overdid it to-day in our walk, or
+else riding the elephants has made him queer.  It makes some people ill,
+like going to sea for the first time."
+
+Just then the rajah spoke to one of the attendants, who directly after
+went and filled Murray's cup with some kind of palm wine, and then the
+Resident's, and the doctor's.
+
+"The rajah will take wine with us, Murray, in the English fashion," said
+Mr Braine; and though Murray felt as if he would like to refuse, he
+told himself that so far he had no real cause, and that such an act on
+his part might mean peril to all present.  So in a very distant quiet
+way he took wine, the rajah merely putting his cup to his lips, while as
+Murray drank he could not help thinking how easily such a man might get
+rid of any one he disliked, and how little likelihood there was of his
+being ever called to account for the murder.
+
+These thoughts gave a bitter flavour to the by no means unpalatable
+draught.
+
+He had no time to dwell further on the thoughts which had been troubling
+him ever since he had entered the place, for the rajah spoke to Mr
+Braine, who bowed and turned to the naturalist:
+
+"Our host is eager to know whether you have made any fresh discoveries."
+
+Murray replied that he had only found more tin, and this was interpreted
+to the rajah, who scowled a little, and then spoke rather sharply to Mr
+Braine, who again interpreted.
+
+"His highness is disappointed," he said, "for he is sure that there is
+an abundance of gold, and that there are precious stones in the hills.
+He wishes you to go again."
+
+"Orders me to go again, you mean," said Murray, warmly.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, man, be careful," whispered Mr Braine; but with a
+smile upon his face the while.  "You do not know.  Our lives may be at
+stake.  Help me, pray.  The ladies.  Have you a specimen of anything you
+found?"
+
+Murray glanced at Amy, who gave him an imploring look, and, drawing a
+deep breath, he felt ready to diplomatise, give up self, and smother his
+indignation for the sake of those before him.
+
+The rajah's eyes were fixed upon him keenly, and he met them without
+flinching, but he mastered the anger at his heart, and thrusting his
+hand into his jacket pocket, drew out a couple of fragments of quartz.
+These he passed over to Mr Braine.
+
+"The best I could do," he said.  "I searched well, but this is the only
+metal I could find."
+
+Mr Braine took them to the rajah, whose eyes glittered with cupidity as
+he saw the specimens; but as soon as he took them in his hands he
+returned them with a gesture of impatience, saying something quickly to
+Mr Braine, who bowed, looked troubled, but smiled directly, and said
+aloud:
+
+"The rajah bids me say that your last discovery of tin was ample, Mr
+Murray, and he begs that you will start again to-morrow, making
+arrangements to be away three or four days, so that you may have time to
+penetrate right into the hills."
+
+"But hang it all!" began Murray; and then he stopped, for he saw a
+frightened look in the faces of the ladies, and he altered his tone.
+
+"I'll see to-morrow morning," he said.
+
+"That will not do," said Mr Braine, quickly; and Murray was conscious
+that the Tumongong's eyes were fixed upon them, and that he was
+evidently comprehending every word they said.  "My dear fellow, I must
+ask you to give way, or at all events seem to give way.  Pray, be
+careful.  That chief understands what we say, and I cannot be sure
+whether he is an enemy or friend."
+
+This last was in a whisper.
+
+"But really, Mr Braine, this is getting beyond bearing."
+
+"No.  Try to bear it for all our sakes--at all events now, and we'll
+talk it over later on.  May I answer that you will go?"
+
+"Yes," said Murray, bowing his head, as he uttered the monosyllable
+unwillingly.
+
+Mr Braine turned to the rajah and spoke to him, his words evidently
+calming the great man's wrath, for he nodded and turned smilingly to
+address a few words to Mrs Barnes, and then to Mrs Braine, to which,
+with a little hesitation, they replied in the Malay tongue.
+
+After that he turned smilingly to Amy, and evidently paid her some
+compliment, for she started a little and coloured, her eyes being
+directed the next moment at Murray, as if to apologise for having
+listened to the prince's words, while the Englishman bit his lip till it
+bled.
+
+Meanwhile the attendants glided about silently, plying each of the
+guests with wine, fruits, and sweets, to all of which Frank helped
+himself liberally; and the guards and attendants, dimly-seen in the
+feebly-lit place, looked like so many statues cast in bronze.
+
+"I say," whispered Frank, as he cut open a mangosteen, "do you notice
+anything?"
+
+"Yes.  Uncle looks horribly cross.  He can't bear to be ordered about."
+
+"S'pose not.  No man does.  But I say, don't you notice anything else?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, I do.  Strikes me we are going to have a storm."
+
+"Are we?  Well, I want to look at the lightning."
+
+"Nonsense!  I mean a row.  My father looks as if he had been getting
+into trouble with the rajah, and the ladies are all on the fidget.  So's
+the doctor.  I can't make it out."
+
+"I fancied they looked as if they were not enjoying themselves."
+
+"So did I, but then I wasn't sure, and it was such a beautiful supper,
+and I did enjoy it so.  You did pretty well."
+
+"Yes," said Ned, "I liked it."
+
+"I know," whispered Frank; "they think it's time to get up and go to the
+drawing-room, and leave us gentlemen to our coffee and cigars, and there
+is no drawing-room that they can go to, and they daren't get up for fear
+of offending the grand panjandrum."
+
+Just then the rajah, clapped his hands, and coffee was brought in,
+another attendant bearing a tray with some clumsy-looking cigarettes,
+and others bringing great pipes with water receptacles, and charcoal
+pans to supply lights.
+
+The men bore pipes to the doctor and Mr Braine, and then to Murray, who
+took one of the clumsy-looking cigarettes, formed by so much tobacco
+crammed into the dry sheaths of a peculiar palm.  Then the attendant
+came on to where the two lads were seated together, and offered them
+pipes.
+
+"Go on, you ugly brown-nosed animal," said Frank; "what would they say
+if I tried to smoke?"  Then, uttering a negative in the man's tongue, he
+let him pass on.
+
+"Wasn't it tempting, Ned?" whispered the boy.  "Offering a pipe to us
+like that.  I don't see why we should not have a try.  Pass those
+sweets, and let's have some more of that lemonady stuff.  I want a
+durian, too, and I don't see any.  Wonder whether old Pan would mind if
+I asked for one."
+
+Just then the Tumongong came to where they were seated, and with a grave
+smile said a few words to Frank, who turned to his companion.
+
+"The rajah says you are to come and see him to-morrow.  He will send for
+you to look at all his curiosities."
+
+"But how can I come if I go with my uncle?" replied Ned.
+
+"Says how can he come if he goes shooting and gold-hunting with his
+uncle?" said Frank, in English.
+
+The Tumongong smiled sadly, and replied in Malay.
+
+"Tells me you're not to go with your uncle to-morrow, but to come here,"
+said Frank, interpreting.  "Never mind; I'll go with him."
+
+The Tumongong said a few words.
+
+"Oh, I'm to stop too.  Very well.  I don't mind.  I'll stay, and we'll
+make the old boy give us plenty of fruit and sweets.  He will, I know.
+Go and tell him," he continued, "that we kiss his feet."
+
+The Tumongong smiled, patted Frank on the arm, as if he were a
+favourite, and returned to stand behind where his master was seated,
+smoking, and gazing amiably from one to the other, favouring Murray
+several times, and each time their eyes met, the rajah raised his golden
+cup to his lips, and sipped a little coffee.
+
+At last, when the patience of every one of the English party was
+thoroughly exhausted, the rajah rose, which was taken as a signal for
+their dismissal; but the potentate reversed the etiquette of an English
+parting by shaking hands with the gentlemen first, and smiling almost
+affectionately upon Murray, whose hand he grasped warmly, while the
+Englishman's grip was cold and limp.  Then turning to the ladies, he
+bade Mrs Braine, Mrs Greig, and Mrs Barnes good-night, after the
+custom of his country, and lastly, held out his hand to Amy, who could
+hardly master herself sufficiently to place hers within it.
+
+As he grasped it firmly, he bent down and said a few words in a low
+tone, which made the girl shrink away with a horrified look, while
+Murray would have started forward, but for Mr Braine's restraining
+hand.
+
+But the rajah retained the hand he held, and slipping a ring from his
+little finger, he placed it on one of Amy's, accompanying it with a
+meaning look, and then drawing back to march slowly toward the hanging
+mats which, divided the room from the next, and passing through followed
+by the chiefs and attendants; while the visitors lost no time in making
+for the veranda, below which an armed guard bearing lanterns was
+waiting, ready to escort them as far as the doctor's house, and here
+they salaamed and retired.
+
+"Come in, Braine--come in, Mr Murray," said the doctor, excitedly.  "I
+should like a few words with you both.  Go in, my dears.  Mrs Braine,
+please, don't leave them yet."
+
+The ladies went hurriedly up the steps into the open veranda, and Mr
+Braine turned to his son.
+
+"Walk home with Ned," he said quickly.  "You can stay with him till I
+come with Mr Murray."
+
+"Yes, father," replied the boy, and the two lads went off together
+toward Murray's house.
+
+"They're going to have a confab," said Frank, "that they don't want us
+to hear.  I was right; there's going to be a storm."
+
+"But isn't it very strange?" said Ned, eagerly.  "What does it all
+mean?"
+
+"I'm regularly puzzled," cried frank.  "It's impossible, of course, but
+it looks so like it, that I can't help thinking so."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"That I hope I'm wrong, but it looks as if the old boy has taken a fancy
+to Amy."
+
+"What--an English lady!  Impossible!" cried Ned, indignantly.
+
+"'Taint impossible here; if the rajah says he will; but if it isn't so,
+why did he give Amy Barnes that ring?"
+
+"I don't know.  Why did he give you that kris?"
+
+"Oh, that was for a present.  I don't understand such things, but I
+believe when a gentleman gives a lady a ring, it's because he means to
+marry her."
+
+"But he can't; he has a wife."
+
+"A wife!" cried Frank.  "Lots.  But that doesn't matter out here."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+A TROUBLED NIGHT.
+
+As soon as Amy entered her home, she let the pent-up agony and fear
+which she had hidden for hours have vent in a burst of passionate
+weeping, and hurried away to her own room, closely followed by her
+mother and Mrs Braine, leaving the gentlemen standing in the
+half-darkened room, silent, agitated, and each waiting for the other to
+speak.  But for some minutes no word was spoken, and the silence was
+only broken by the creaking sound of the bamboo flooring, as in a
+violent state of agitation, Murray walked the room from end to end.
+Just then a low cat-like cry came from the jungle, repeated and answered
+from different directions, and influencing Murray, so that he went and
+stood at the opening, gazing across the veranda at the fireflies gliding
+here and there like tiny wandering stars, and listening to the cries
+which told him that on the jungle side they were surrounded by enemies.
+
+As he stood there motionless, strange hoarse barking sounds came from
+the river, with an occasional faint splash, and then a loud beating
+noise, as if some monster were thrashing the surface of the river with
+its tail.  Then, again, from the forest arose other strange cries,
+croakings, whinings, and sounds to which it would have been hard to give
+a name, but all suggestive of the black darkness around being full of
+danger, and after his experience that day of the forest track, he found
+himself thinking of how impossible it would be for any one seeking to
+leave the village to escape in that direction.
+
+Then there was the river.
+
+"Yes," he thought; "that would be easier, for it was a broad highway,
+swiftly flowing down toward civilisation and safety."
+
+Murray felt a bitter twinge of annoyance at that moment, as he thought
+of how he had sacrificed everything to his love for science, and as soon
+as he had found it necessary to accept his position, hardly troubled
+himself to think of the whereabouts of the boat in which he had arrived,
+and of where the men who formed her crew had been placed.
+
+"Hamet will know," he thought as, in a vague way, he began to make
+plans, when he was interrupted by Mr Braine's voice uttering the one
+word, "Well?"
+
+Murray turned at once and stood close to the other occupants of the
+room, drawing his breath hard, and longing to plunge at once into the
+conversation, but shrinking from the emotion by which he was half
+suffocated.
+
+A silence of some moments succeeded Mr Braine's questioning word, and
+the faint murmur of women's voices could be heard from the inner rooms.
+
+"Yes; there is no doubt about it now," said the doctor.  "I have always
+dreaded this, but lived on in hope."
+
+"And I," said Mr Braine, sadly.
+
+"The base, treacherous--"
+
+"Hush!"
+
+Mr Braine laid his hand upon his old friend's arm, and pointed
+downwards to the floor, beneath which lay the open space formed by the
+house being raised on posts, while the flooring was so slight that
+anything spoken in the room could easily be heard by a listener below.
+
+"There is not likely to be any one there who could understand us," said
+the doctor, impatiently.  "Man, man, what is to be done?"
+
+There was a few moments' silence, and then Mr Braine said despondently:
+
+"I am at my wits' end.  I never felt our helplessness so thoroughly as
+at the present moment."
+
+Murray drew a long deep breath, and the veins in his temples seemed to
+throb as he stood listening to his companions' words, and waiting to
+hear what they intended to do next.
+
+At last he could contain himself no longer.
+
+"We are wasting time, gentlemen," he said.  "I have not heard you say a
+word that promises to help us out of our difficulty."
+
+"Ah, Mr Murray!" said the doctor, "I had almost forgotten you.  Yes, it
+is us indeed.  Well, sir, you see now our position; what can we say or
+do?"
+
+"Surely you are not going to stand still, and see that insolent savage
+force his attentions upon your daughter."
+
+"Sir, I would sooner see her dead than hurried into such a degrading
+position, but you know how we are situated, and our utter helplessness."
+
+"But you will send for help.  Mr Wilson at his station--Dindong--
+assured me that in a case of necessity he would see that we were
+protected."
+
+"How would you send the message, sir?"
+
+"By some Malay.  He must be bribed heavily.  Plenty would be glad to
+make the venture."
+
+"Where will you find them, sir?  Do you know that you would be sending
+the man to certain death?"
+
+"Surely not."
+
+"The river is closely watched night and day.  No boat could pass down
+unseen."
+
+"But a man might swim say a few hundred yards," cried Murray.  "I would
+go myself."
+
+"And if you escaped the crocodiles, which is not likely, what would you
+do then?"
+
+"Land, and follow the stream by the bank."
+
+The doctor uttered a low laugh.
+
+"My dear sir, you do not know what you are saying; the bank for miles
+inland is utterly impassable."
+
+"Then the other way by that elephant track."
+
+"Farther into the enemy's country.  No, sir; there is only one route--
+the river; and so far, I can only see violence as the way, and we are
+too weak to attempt that--too weak, or the rajah is too strong."
+
+"Then do I understand you to mean that you are going to remain
+prostrate, and bow down your necks for this man to trample upon you?"
+
+"Mr Murray," interposed Mr Braine, "you are too hard.  You are losing
+your temper.  Recollect, sir, that we are placed in a position whose
+difficulties you even now hardly realise."
+
+"Indeed you are wrong, Mr Braine!" cried Murray, hotly.
+
+"Then remember, sir, you are speaking to a gentleman--a father, whose
+heart is wrung by the position in which he is placed."
+
+"Yes, I am wrong," said Murray, warmly; "but have some pity for me too.
+Doctor Barnes, you cannot be blind to what I think and feel.  All this
+is agonising to me.  Look here, sir; do you think I have not brains
+enough to see that this man reads me and my sentiments toward your
+daughter.  The scoundrel--the insolent barbarian! he is actually
+jealous, and under his smiling civility, he is trying to crush me down
+or to sweep me out of his path.  Do you not see what this expedition
+to-morrow means."
+
+"Ah, I did not think of that!" cried Greig, excitedly.
+
+"But I did," said Murray.  "I will not go so far as to say that the
+wretch means to have me killed, but I do say that as my presence here
+might interfere with his plans, I am to be either put out of the way, or
+kept up the country a prisoner, doing his work until such time as he
+considers it safe for me to return."
+
+"Murray is right," said Mr Braine; "too right, I fear.  You must not,
+you shall not risk the journey to-morrow alone.  I must speak plainly
+now.  I would not answer for your life."
+
+"I will not go," said Murray, firmly.  "I am a quiet enthusiast, but
+there is some old Scottish blood in my veins, gentlemen, that can be
+roused, and I'll fight to the death before I will see this wrong done."
+
+"As we all would," said Mr Braine, warmly.  "God bless you, Murray!
+You will be a tower of strength to us; but this is not a time for
+fighting.  We are weak--the rajah is strong.  He is cunning, too, with
+all the smiling deceit of these people, who throw you off your guard so
+as to get a better opportunity for striking."
+
+"But we must act and at once, Braine."
+
+"Yes, but it must be with quiet and dissimulation; cunning for cunning.
+Violence is useless."
+
+"I don't know," said Murray, fiercely.  "The future of a lady whom I
+boldly tell her father I love and reverence so dearly that, though my
+suit may be hopeless, though she may never look upon me as aught but a
+friend, I will die in her service to save her from such a fate as
+threatens her.  My life is, I know, menaced now.  Well, I had better try
+to do some good before I go, if it is only to rid the world of this
+tyrannical scoundrel and--"
+
+Murray stopped short, the doctor darted to a chest and snatched out a
+revolver, and Mr Braine seized a sword hanging upon a couple of hooks
+against the wall; for all at once a violent scuffling and panting arose
+from beneath their feet, telling that two men were contending, and all
+doubt as to who one of them might be, was set aside the next moment by a
+familiar voice.
+
+"Ah-hah! would ye--ye thayving baste?  Shure, would ye?  Take that, and
+that, and that."
+
+It was plain, too, what the donations were from the sounds which
+followed them--dull heavy thuds of blows delivered by a sturdy fist.
+
+The struggle was continued as all hurried out into the veranda, and down
+the steps to plunge below the house into the intense darkness, where all
+was now silent.
+
+"Who's there?" said the doctor.  "Driscol, where are you?"
+
+There was no reply.
+
+"Surely the poor fellow has not been stabbed!" cried the doctor
+excitedly.  "Wait till I fetch a light."
+
+He hurried back, leaving Murray and Mr Braine trying in vain to
+penetrate the darkness, so as to make out whether any one was near.
+Then the doctor's steps were heard overhead, and his voice came down so
+distinctly, that both felt how a listener would hear every word.
+
+"Don't be alarmed," he said.  "Driscol caught some Malay scoundrel
+prowling about."
+
+"Where is my husband!" said Mrs Braine.
+
+"Down below with Murray.  How is Amy?"
+
+"Calmer now."
+
+"That's right.  Back directly."
+
+And then the doctor's step made the bamboo creak as he crossed the room.
+
+"Whoever it was must have heard every word we said," whispered Mr
+Braine.
+
+Just then the lamp the doctor carried shone down through the steps, and
+directly after among the posts which supported the house.
+
+"Well?" he said, holding the lamp above his head; "heard any one?"
+
+"Yes," said Mr Braine in a low tone.  "You."
+
+"You heard me speaking?"
+
+"Every word you said."
+
+"How unfortunate!  But where is my man?  There is no one here."
+
+"Thank goodness!" said Mr Braine.  "I was afraid the poor fellow had
+been stabbed.  But let's look round."
+
+The lamp's light was directed in all directions, but there was no sign
+except in one spot where the ground had been trampled, and a
+climbing-plant torn down.
+
+"We must try to follow the trail," said the doctor; but at that moment
+steps were heard, and the whisking noise of some body passing through
+the bushes and shrubs the doctor had collected about the back of his
+house.
+
+"Who's that?" cried Mr Braine, sharply.
+
+"Only me, sor.  Is the master there?  Oh, there you are, sor.  I wint
+after him, sor, for he made me a bit mad shticking at me with his kris
+thing."
+
+"Are you wounded?"
+
+"Only just a bit of a prick, sor.  I've put my hankychy round it.  In me
+arm here.  It's jist nawthing."
+
+"But who was it?  What does it mean?" said the doctor, hastily examining
+the man's arm, while Mr Braine held the light.
+
+"Who was it, sor?  Well, I hardly know.  It was so dark, but if I was to
+guess by the face of the man, I should say it was Mr Tumongong--an'
+what a name for a gintleman!--and what does it mane?  Well, sor, I was
+having just a little whiff out of me bamboo-pipe, and takking a look
+round, or a feel round, it was so dark, before going to bed, when I
+heard a bit of a rustle, and I backed under the house to get away, for I
+thought it was a tiger; but it was a man, and he kept on coming nearer
+till he was right underneath here, and close to where we stand, and
+hiff--!"
+
+"Did I hurt you?" said the doctor, who was binding Tim's wound.
+
+"Yes, sor, thank ye, sor.  It did rather, but I don't mind.  Well, sor,
+he was listening to you gintlemen up-stairs; and as I thought it moighty
+ondacent, I laid howld of him, and nipped him, and we scuffled a bit,
+and then he pricked me wid his kris, and I hit him two or three cracks
+wid me fist, for I had no stick.  Then he went off in the dark, and I
+afther him; but there wasn't a chance of catching him, for he went
+through the trees like a sarpent, and of course, sor, the man who runs
+has a better chance than the man who runs afther him."
+
+"Did you see where he made for?" said the doctor.
+
+"And is it see on a night like this, sor?"
+
+"No, no.  Of course not.  There, come into the house, it must have been
+some scoundrel trying what he could pick up.  Come, Braine."
+
+They went back up the stairs into the room where Mrs Barnes and Mrs
+Braine were anxiously awaiting their coming, and told them that it was
+only a scare.
+
+"Driscol heard some one about the place, and tried to hold him," the
+doctor said.  "Don't be alarmed."
+
+"But I am alarmed," said Mrs Barnes, excitedly.  "I am sure there is
+some great trouble coming upon us."
+
+"Then act like a true Englishwoman," said the doctor; "help your
+husband.  Don't hinder him by being weak and hysterical."
+
+"I'll try," said Mrs Barnes, speaking firmly.
+
+"That's right.  Now Braine, what do you propose doing next?"
+
+"Nothing.  We must wait."
+
+"But Amy--my child?"
+
+"I am thinking of her as much as you are," said Mr Braine, "and I see
+no other course but to stand firm, and to give the rajah to understand
+that such a thing as he is bent upon is impossible.  Mr Murray will
+stand by us."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Braine, moodily.  "But--"
+
+"For Heaven's sake, do not raise difficulties, man," cried the doctor.
+"We can do nothing to-night, but rest and gain strength for any trouble
+which may come to-morrow.--My dear," he continued to his wife, "you will
+stay with Mrs Barnes to-night; she and Amy will be glad, I am sure, of
+your company."
+
+"Indeed yes," cried the doctor's wife, gratefully.
+
+"I can do no good, Barnes, so I will go on with Murray here, and bring
+back Frank.  You will send to me if there is the slightest need.  There,
+good-night, all.  This has been a scare, but it may have had its crisis,
+and a few days hence, I hope we shall all be laughing at our fright."
+
+He shook hands, and moved towards the door.
+
+"Now, Greig, Murray," he said.
+
+But Murray was standing grasping Mrs Barnes's hand, "Tell her," he
+whispered, "that some means shall be devised to save her from such
+another insult as this."
+
+Mrs Barnes pressed his hand; and then hastily shaking hands with Mrs
+Braine and the doctor, he hurried out into the garden and joined the
+others, after which the Greigs went to their own place.
+
+"Those boys will think we are never coming," Murray said, speaking more
+cheerily now.
+
+"Well, we will soon relieve their anxiety," replied Mr Braine.  "Come,
+that's better.  We must not treat this as a panic, and exaggerate the
+difficulty of our position."
+
+"I do not," said Murray, quietly.  "It needs no exaggeration.  Look!" he
+whispered; "we are followed, are we not?"
+
+"I can hardly see for the darkness.  Possibly.  His men are always on
+the watch.  No European monarch was ever better served by his secret
+police."
+
+"But tell me," said Murray; "are you going back quietly to your place as
+soon as you have fetched Frank?"
+
+"Not directly, perhaps, but very soon.  We had better separate, and seem
+to be treating all this calmly, for our acts are certain to be reported
+to the rajah."
+
+"And what about our words at the house?"
+
+"What? the possibility of them having been heard, and the information
+conveyed to the rajah?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I cannot say.  Let us both sleep on it.  To-morrow I may have some
+plan."
+
+"And the boys.  Are they to know?"
+
+"As little as possible.  Here we are.  How quiet and peaceful the place
+seems!  Asleep, I suppose.  Tired of waiting."
+
+There was a dim light in the house devoted to Murray and his nephew; and
+as they reached the steps, the naturalist felt a pang of annoyance at
+not seeing Hamet start up and challenge them, for, as a rule, he was
+always in the veranda on the watch.
+
+"It has been a long and weary day," said Murray, with the depression
+from which he suffered affecting his voice.  "Will you go on first?"
+
+"No; you are the master; lead on."
+
+Murray stopped short.
+
+"Look here," he said.  "Let the boys sleep.  Stop here with me.  I will
+soon make some coffee, and we will sit and smoke and talk."
+
+"No, no," said Mr Braine, hastily.
+
+"But it is hard indeed if we cannot hit out some plan before morning.
+There, go up quietly.  You will stay?"
+
+"No," said Mr Braine, firmly.  "You forget what was said when we came
+away.  I must be at my own place in case Barnes wants me."
+
+"Yes, of course," said Murray, quickly.  "Then I will come back with
+you.  One minute.  Let me see if the boys are sleeping all right, and
+say a few words to Hamet."
+
+He sprang up the steps lightly, and entered the house, but no Hamet was
+there to challenge him, neither were the boys in the outer room
+stretched on the mats, as he expected to find them--asleep.
+
+Murray looked round quickly, and at a glance saw that the guns had been
+brought in and hung on their slings, the two baskets containing the
+specimens shot, and the others were hung upon the pegs arranged for the
+purpose, and the lamp was burning dimly on the rough table.
+
+He caught up the light, and shading it with his hand, stepped lightly
+over the mats, and looked into the inner room, drew a long deep breath,
+and stepped back to stand thinking a few moments before he set down the
+lamp.
+
+He stepped to the doorway.
+
+"Come up," he said.
+
+Braine obeyed.
+
+"Sleeping soundly?"
+
+"Take the light.  Look," said Murray, in a low voice.
+
+Mr Braine glanced at him, surprised by his strange manner, and then he
+caught up the light, and went and looked in the room in his turn.
+
+"Gone!" he said, in a low excited voice.  "What is the meaning of this?"
+
+Murray shook his head.
+
+"There was no mistake about the directions?  I told Frank to go home
+with your boy to bear him company, and to wait until I came.  Oh, I see.
+The foolish fellow!  He must have misunderstood me, and taken Ned home
+with him.  They are waiting for us there."
+
+"And Hamet?  My follower?"
+
+"Gone with them."
+
+"He would not have known."
+
+"Then the boys have been here.  Frank was fagged out, and said he would
+not wait for me any longer, and he has gone home.  Your boy and Hamet
+have accompanied him to see him safely there."
+
+"You are speaking without conviction, Braine," said Murray, sternly.
+"You say this to comfort me, and you are thinking differently.  What
+does this mean?  What desperate game is this man playing?  I swear that
+if harm has come to that poor boy, though I die for it, I'll shoot this
+rajah like a dog--like the cowardly cur he is."
+
+"Hush! don't be hasty.  You know that your threat may have been heard,
+and will perhaps be reported to the rajah."
+
+"Let them report it."
+
+"Be sensible, man," whispered Mr Braine.  "I feel all this as keenly as
+you do, and I cling to the hope that we may find the boys at my place.
+Come with me."
+
+Murray made no answer, but went to one of the cases he had brought up
+the river in the boat, and took from it his revolver and some
+cartridges, charged the weapon, and then thrusting it into his breast,
+he turned to the Resident.
+
+"I am ready now," he said, in a low harsh voice.  "Come on."
+
+The bamboos creaked, and the house shook with the heavy steps of the two
+men, as they went down, and conscious all the time that they were
+watched, and fully expecting to have their way barred at any moment,
+they retraced their steps, to halt for a minute and listen, as they came
+opposite the entrance to the doctor's garden.  But all was silent there,
+and the lamps were burning just inside the door.
+
+"Come on," whispered Mr Braine, with his voice trembling with the
+intense strain from which he suffered.
+
+The distance was very short, not many yards on in the direction of the
+rajah's place, and here they crossed a carefully-tended garden toward
+the veranda, about whose creepers the fireflies were gleaming.
+
+But there a low fierce voice challenged them from the darkness, and
+Murray's hand flew to his breast.
+
+"I, Yussuf," said Mr Braine, quietly; and then, in Malay, he asked if
+the boys had come, and received his answer.
+
+"Not here, and they have not been," he whispered to Murray.
+
+"No.  There is some other meaning to it," said Murray, sternly.  "The
+rajah has had them seized.  To-morrow I was to have been sent out of the
+way, but this is a fresh plan.  Is it in consequence of what was
+overheard at Doctor Barnes's?"
+
+"It is impossible to say," replied Mr Braine.  "I am beginning to feel
+bewildered.  But we must be calm.  No great harm can have befallen them.
+It is part of some plan to force Barnes to consent to this hateful
+marriage."
+
+"Then we must take time by the forelock, and go."
+
+"It is impossible, I tell you."
+
+"There is no such thing in a case like this, man," cried Murray,
+angrily.  "Have you not thought of what I feel?"
+
+"Sir," retorted Mr Braine, bitterly, "have you not thought of what I
+feel?"
+
+"Forgive me," said Murray, humbly.  "I am half mad with rage and
+excitement.  But, for pity's sake, propose something upon which I can
+act.  If I could be doing something, I could bear it better."
+
+"I can propose nothing," said Mr Braine, sadly.  "We are so surrounded
+by difficulties, so hedged in by danger, that we cannot stir.  You must
+remember that any premature action on our part might hasten the
+catastrophe we want to avert."
+
+"But he would not dare--"
+
+"Murray!" replied Mr Braine, with energy, as they stood there in the
+intense darkness, the speaker conscious that several of the rajah's
+spearmen were close at hand, "he would dare anything in his blind belief
+that he is too powerful for the English government to attack him."
+
+"Then he must be taught."
+
+"And I," continued Mr Braine, as if not hearing the interruption, "have
+been for years doing what seems now to recoil on my unhappy head,
+strengthening his belief in himself by training his people for him, and
+turning savages into decent, well-drilled soldiers, who have made him
+the dread of the country for hundreds of miles round."
+
+"Come on and tell Doctor Barnes," said Murray at last, and they hurried
+back, almost brushing against two sentries standing among the trees, men
+who followed them silently, and then paused as they entered the gates,
+where they were joined by three more, looking shadowy and strange by the
+fireflies' light.
+
+As they reached the foot of the steps, the doctor stepped forward, and
+then said that he would descend.
+
+"She is asleep at last," he whispered.  "Thank you for coming.  You need
+not be so anxious now.  Go back, and I promise you both that I will send
+Driscol on if there is the slightest need of your help.  There is not
+likely to be anything but a quiet insistence on his part, and this must
+be met firmly."
+
+"There is likely to be something more than quiet insistence, Doctor
+Barnes," said Murray, sternly.  "We have come to bring bad news.  Those
+two lads have been spirited away."
+
+"What!" cried the doctor, excitedly.  "No, no; surely not.  They were
+favourites with the rajah.  Some accident or some prank.  They are only
+boys; perhaps my man Driscol has--No, no, no.  He is here in the house.
+But think again; had they any idea of trying some kind of night fishing,
+or shooting?  Yes, of course.  I heard Frank tell my child that he was
+going to sit up and watch with a Malay--of course--in the jungle, to try
+and trap or shoot a specimen or two of the argus pheasant for you, Mr
+Murray.--That is it, depend upon it, Braine."
+
+"No," said the Resident, despondently.  "He would not have gone to-night
+after such a weary day, and he would not have gone without telling me
+his plans.  He told me everything, even to his trifling fishing trips on
+the river.  There is something more--an accident, or he has been carried
+off."
+
+"What! by the crocodiles?" said Murray, suddenly.
+
+"No, no; I don't fear that.  Come, man, we must be up and at work now."
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Murray, eagerly, for he was quivering
+with the intense desire he felt to be in action.
+
+"I am going to the Tumongong.  He has always been my friend."
+
+"The man who was watching and listening to-night!"
+
+"It could not have been the chief.  He is too much of a gentleman at
+heart.  Your servant was mistaken.  Come on, Murray.  We will come and
+tell you when we have been.  He must know what has been done."
+
+"He will not betray his master's secrets," said Murray, bitterly.  "It
+is more than his life is worth."
+
+"I shall not ask him to do that," said Mr Braine, slowly; "but I think
+he will set our hearts at rest as to the safety of our boys.  Will you
+come?"
+
+"Yes," said Murray, thoughtfully, "I will come.  No: I cannot think of
+anything else having happened to them.  It must be the rajah's doing.
+Come on then, and let us know their fate."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+PRISONERS.
+
+Everything looked dark as the Resident and Murray reached the
+Tumongong's handsome residence--handsome, though merely erected of
+bamboo and palm--but as they approached the steps, sounds were heard
+within, and very shortly after being summoned, the rajah's officer
+appeared fully dressed.
+
+"Can I speak to you without being overheard?" said Mr Braine in
+English.
+
+The Malay replied in his own tongue that he was prepared to hear
+anything the Resident had to say.
+
+"But will what I say be overheard, I asked you?" cried Mr Braine,
+impatiently, still speaking in English, so that Murray might hear his
+words, knowing as he did that the Malay perfectly understood everything.
+
+"I am quite ready to hear you," replied the Tumongong.
+
+"And will what I say be carried to the rajah?  Look here, Tumongong.  I
+have always been on good terms with you since I came here, though I do
+consider you acted unfairly by me in not warning me in Malacca as to
+what my position would be."
+
+"I am the servant of his highness," replied the officer, "and I have my
+duty to do toward him.  When I have done that, I am your friend."
+
+"Then tell me this: those two boys, my son and his young companion--
+where are they?"
+
+Dark as it was, Murray saw the Malay start, but he was perfectly calm
+the next moment.
+
+"I do not know," he said.
+
+"Is this the truth?"
+
+"I do not know where they are," replied the Malay.
+
+"Have they been seized by the rajah's orders?"
+
+"I do not know.  The rajah, our master, is king, and does what seems
+good to him."
+
+Mr Braine made an impatient gesture, but masking his anger, he said
+appealingly:
+
+"Tumongong, you have always been my friend, and the friend of my boy.  I
+am in agony about his fate.  He and his young friend have disappeared
+since we left the rajah's to-night.  Tell me where he is."
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Is he safe?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"You do know, and you will not speak," cried Mr Braine passionately.
+"The rajah has had them seized."
+
+"The rajah is my master, and does what is good in his own eyes.  If he
+has done this thing, it is wise and good.  I do not know."
+
+"Then I will go to the rajah himself, and he shall tell me.--Ah!"
+
+Murray had been standing listening impatiently to this conversation, a
+portion of which was translated to him, but he had now suddenly grasped
+his companion's arm, and drawn his attention to the open place or
+veranda at the top of the steps, and upon Mr Braine looking up, he
+dimly saw that there was a figure standing there with a group of others
+behind, and in spite of the gloom he had no difficulty in seeing who the
+foremost figure was, and comprehending why the Tumongong had been so
+guarded in his replies to them.
+
+Mr Braine addressed himself to the dimly-seen figure at once, speaking
+now in the Malay tongue.
+
+"Your highness has heard all I have said," he cried.  "Tell me, has some
+accident befallen those two boys, or have they been taken away by your
+orders?"
+
+It seemed to be a different man entirely who was now speaking, and
+though Murray could not comprehend a word, he grasped the rajah's
+meaning plainly enough, as he uttered what was evidently a command, to
+which Mr Braine spoke again sharply now.
+
+The rajah uttered a low guttural word, and Murray now cried: "What does
+he say?"
+
+"Go!"
+
+"But I insist," cried Murray.
+
+The rajah spoke again, and a dozen armed men ran from behind and leaped
+actively to the ground.
+
+Murray's hand darted to his breast, but Mr Braine caught his wrist.
+
+"Madness!" he said.  "Wait."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Do you want to throw away two lives that are valuable to our friends?"
+whispered the Resident.  "Do as I do.  It is folly to resist now."
+
+That moment the rajah spoke again, the men formed up around Murray and
+Mr Braine, and their leader said something to the latter.
+
+"Come, Murray," he said, bitterly.  "I have drilled these men to some
+purpose.  We are prisoners, I suppose."
+
+He took his companion's arm, and they were marched off through the
+darkness.
+
+"Where will they take us?" said Murray, who was raging with pain and
+indignation at his inability to struggle against such force.
+
+"To a boat, I suppose, and then put us on board one of the prahus,"
+replied Mr Braine.  "I might have known what would come of all these
+years of service."
+
+They marched on in silence for a minute or two, and then Mr Braine
+uttered an ejaculation full of surprise; for their guards faced round to
+the left, and marched the prisoners into the Resident's own garden,
+where the leader said a few words and pointed up.
+
+"Prisoner in my own place?" said Mr Braine to the officer.
+
+"His highness commands that neither you nor the bird man leaves the
+house till he gives orders."
+
+"It might have been worse, Murray," said Mr Braine, as they ascended
+the steps, and dimly made out that the leader of the little party of
+guards was posting his men here and there.
+
+"Been worse!" said Murray, angrily, as he threw himself upon a divan,
+"impossible!"
+
+"Possible," said Mr Braine, quietly.  "We are not quite prisoners, and
+are at liberty to plot and plan.  They are very cunning, these people;
+but we English have some brains.  It must be getting on toward morning.
+Let's have some coffee, and a quiet smoke."
+
+"Oh, how can you take things so quietly!" cried Murray.
+
+"Because I am more at ease.  Those boys are alive.  He would not kill
+them.  He felt that they were in the way of his plans.  They must have
+done something to make him act as he has done."
+
+"If I could only be sure of that," said Murray, "it would be one trouble
+the less."
+
+Mr Braine clapped his hands.  A quiet-looking Malay entered the room,
+trimmed the lamp, and went out again, to return with water-pipes and a
+pan of charcoal; after which he retired as silently as he came, and once
+more entered bearing a tray with coffee.
+
+"Smoke, drink your coffee, my dear fellow," said Mr Braine, quietly.
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"You must, man; you want your brain clear and your body rested."
+
+"How can you speak so coolly, with those poor people in such agony?"
+
+"Because I am helping them--or preparing to," said Mr Braine,
+cheerfully.  "Then the game is not lost; be guided by me, and you shall
+marry Amy, and some day we will talk and chat over these troubles, which
+time will soften, and they will not be so horrible then."
+
+"But if it comes to the worst," cried Murray.  "If this wretched despot,
+presuming on his power, insists upon that poor girl becoming his wife--
+Wife?  No; it is an insult to the name."
+
+"He will not succeed," said Mr Braine, sternly; "even monarchs are not
+all-powerful.  The night before the marriage, if everything else has
+been tried, that man will die."
+
+"What! be murdered?" cried Murray, in horrified tones.
+
+"No; the cup of his iniquities will be full; he will be adjudged worthy
+of death; he will die, and a new rajah will reign."
+
+"A new rajah!  Who will it be?"
+
+"Hush! these places are very thin; our words might be heard."
+
+"But tell me.  You can trust me."
+
+"Hist! some one."
+
+There was a foot upon the steps, and the Tumongong entered and saluted
+both gravely.
+
+"His highness bids me tell you," said the officer, "that he does not
+forget the many good services you have done for him.  He desires now
+that you content yourselves by staying here, where you will have
+everything you desire."
+
+"Except liberty," said Mr Braine, bitterly.
+
+"Except liberty," replied the Tumongong.  "Good-night.  Sleep.  Be
+obedient, and your lives are safe."
+
+He bowed and left them, and as soon as he was out of hearing, Mr Braine
+told Murray what had passed.
+
+"Then our lives are safe?"
+
+"If we are obedient."
+
+"I shall be obedient till I see an opportunity to strike, sir.  But go
+on; tell me who will reign in his stead."
+
+"That man," said Mr Braine, quietly puffing at his pipe.
+
+"The Tumongong?"
+
+"Yes.  Still waters run deep."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Hush, man!  Keep that in your breast.  I know, and I am certain.  He is
+our friend, but is compelled to act as he does.  You saw just now--you
+heard his words--so did the Malays by the door, and every sentence will
+be reported to the rajah," said Mr Braine.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"If the tyrant dreamed that his officer was friendly toward us to the
+extent of trying to give us help, he would be marched to the river-bank
+at sunrise; there would be another execution, and the world would hold
+one honest man the less.  Now, drink your coffee, and lie back and
+sleep."
+
+"I cannot."
+
+"You must.  We can do nothing but wait the turn of affairs, and the more
+coolly we take these matters, the better able we shall be to act.  Now
+try and rest."
+
+Murray shook his head, and sat wondering how a man whose son had been
+suddenly snatched from him could drop into a calm and restful sleep.
+Then he wondered how Amy and the ladies were, and then he ceased
+wondering, for when the sun rose above the river mist and the tops of
+the jungle trees, it shone in between the mats hanging over the doorway,
+lighting up the Resident's room, and the divan where Murray lay back
+utterly exhausted, and now fast asleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+WHERE THE BOYS WERE.
+
+"Doesn't matter out here, doesn't it?" said Ned.  "Well, I tell you what
+it is.  I shall talk to uncle about it, and he'll speak to the doctor,
+and tell him it would be disgraceful."
+
+"Don't talk so loudly; those fellows are close behind."
+
+"But they can't talk English."
+
+"No; but some of them have heard so much that I often think they
+understand a little of what is said."
+
+"I don't see any one about."
+
+"Perhaps not, but they're following us all the same, and if you were to
+make a rush off now, very likely you'd run up against one of them, ready
+to stop you.  But I don't know," continued Frank, looking stealthily
+about; "I've got regular cat's eyes now, with going to the jungle edge
+of a night to set and watch traps with the men.  I don't see any one
+about.  What do you say to a walk down to the jetty?"
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To hear the crocodiles at play.  They have fine games there of a night,
+splashing and chasing one another."
+
+"Oh no.  I'm too tired, really."
+
+"You are a chap!  Why, we might take one of the boats and have a row.
+Go off to one of the prahus, and startle the beggars.  No, that wouldn't
+do, because they might throw spears at us."
+
+"But they couldn't hit us if they did."
+
+"Couldn't they!  You don't know.  They throw them splendidly.  Why, I
+know fellows here who could hit you with a spear every time at thirty
+yards, and send the thing right through you."
+
+"Ugh!" ejaculated Ned, with a shudder.  "Come along, and we'll get Hamet
+to give us some coffee."
+
+"And bring us pipes.  I say, let's try and smoke."
+
+"Nonsense!"
+
+"Well then, let's go down to the jetty.  You can see the fireflies down
+by the river-side.  They look wonderful on the other bank."
+
+"Then let the monkeys and crocodiles look at them.  I don't want to look
+at anything.  I'm so tired."
+
+"Then sit in a sampan, and I'll row you about among the crocs."
+
+"I'm not going to sit in Sam's pan or anybody else's pan," cried Ned.
+"I want to lie down and rest.  That elephant has shaken me all to
+pieces, and I'm so sore; I'm just as if I had been caned all over."
+
+"Perhaps you have," said Frank, laughingly.  "Your uncle has been giving
+it to you.  I say though, seriously, I'll ask the rajah to give you a
+set of native togs.  You'd find them so cool and comfortable."
+
+"And look just such a guy as you do."
+
+"You want me to punch your head, Ned.  Guy, indeed!"
+
+"Do.  Try."
+
+"Not I.  Ill-tempered beggar, that's what you are.  I say, there are no
+guards watching us.  Let's go and have a game somewhere."
+
+"Yes, a game at coffee and cushions," said Ned.  "Here we are.--I say,
+Hamet, can you give us some coffee, quick?"
+
+The Malay was busy arranging the rifle and guns which had been used that
+day, and he nodded; but, instead of hurrying to prepare the meal, he
+laid his hand on Ned's arm.
+
+"Something wrong?" he said.  "Trouble?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know," replied Ned, carelessly; "nothing much.  Why do you
+ask?"
+
+"Hamet think so," he said, his peculiar pronunciation sounding strange.
+"The master want to go away back down the river?"
+
+"Eh?  Yes, but we can't.  They have taken the boat and the men."
+
+"Yes; but Hamet knows where now.  Always been try to find boat and men."
+
+"But you couldn't find them.  My uncle can't, and you don't know, do
+you, Frank?"
+
+"No; they took them all right away somewhere.  But never mind about
+them.  You can have the rajah's boats when you like, and you don't want
+to go away."
+
+"How do you know?" replied Ned, thoughtfully.  "We might want to go
+perhaps all in a hurry, and it would be handy to know where our own boat
+and men are."
+
+"Oh, bother!  Don't be shabby, and talk about going.  We've had no fun
+at all hardly yet.  Where's that coffee?"
+
+"But it would be handy to know where the boat is kept in case of there
+being trouble; and I know my uncle has been annoyed at its being so
+hidden away."
+
+"Yes; the master angry," assented Hamet.  "My boat--my men."
+
+"And you know where it is?" said Frank.
+
+"Yes; one of my men came and told me to-night.  They all want to go back
+home, and they are kept at work."
+
+"Yes!" exclaimed Ned, "we ought to know."
+
+"Very well then," cried Frank, rather ill-humouredly; "he knows where
+the boat is, and when you've done collecting, and we've had no end more
+trips, you can get your things onboard again, and go."
+
+"But we ought to know too," said Ned, "in case of there being trouble.
+We might want to go in a hurry."
+
+"Yes; that's right," grumbled Frank.  "Well, you are shabby.  I haven't
+had a companion for years now; and as soon as I've got one, you want to
+take him away."
+
+"But you used to do without one before I came."
+
+"Yes; but then I hadn't had one.  I say, never mind about all that.
+Settle down here till we all go.  Perhaps we shall some day."
+
+"Hamet show the young master where the boat is?"
+
+"Yes," said Ned eagerly; and he forgot his weariness in the desire to
+know that which had been concealed from him.
+
+"Why, I thought you were too tired to stir," cried Frank.
+
+"I wanted you to go down to the river to a boat, and you were gruff and
+wouldn't come."
+
+"Hamet did not say down by the river."
+
+"Where do you suppose it is, then?" cried Frank, laughing; "up in a
+tree?"
+
+"Yes; down the river.  Hamet knows."
+
+"Let's go and see where it is, Frank," said Ned eagerly.
+
+"What for?  I'm too tired now."
+
+"Suppose you and your father wanted to go too."
+
+"We should have a naga and plenty of the rajah's men."
+
+"No, you would not.  He would not let you go."
+
+"No more he would," said Frank, thoughtfully.  "All right then, if you
+really mean to go, I'll come.  I can guess where it is, though, and it
+will not be a very nice walk."
+
+"Not far.  Soon go," said Hamet.  "Then the master know if he want
+boat."
+
+"Are the men in it?" said Ned.
+
+"No.  All on board big prahu."
+
+"Let's go and see, Frank."
+
+"Very well, but you mean `feel.'  Why not wait till morning?"
+
+"No can go then," said Hamet, quickly.
+
+"Very good reason," said Frank, as thoughtful now as his companion.
+"Yes, we might as well know.  My father has often said he wished we had
+a boat of our own that we could use if we wanted to go away in a hurry,
+because the rajah had gone in a mad fit."
+
+"Young masters come?"
+
+"Yes.  Go on and we'll follow," said Frank; "but look out for the
+crocs."
+
+Hamet gave them a keen look, held up his hand, and threw himself down,
+crawled to the doorway, and out on to the veranda.
+
+"Looking out for squalls," said Frank, laughingly.
+
+In a minute Hamet was back.
+
+"Can't see men.  All dark.  No one.  No speak.  Keep close to Hamet."
+
+"Yes; we'll follow," said Ned, and after lowering the lamp a little by
+putting the wick back amongst the oil, they crept out on to the veranda,
+where all listened for a time and tried to pierce the darkness.
+
+It was very quiet.  Only a cry from the jungle, and a faint splash from
+the river; and descending quickly, Hamet took about a dozen paces at a
+run, and then stopped for the boys to overtake him.
+
+"No one.  No spears," he whispered, evidently fully convinced that his
+sharp run would have in some way brought him in contact with the guard
+if they had been there.
+
+Then, going off quickly in the direction of the jetty, he turned off
+when about half-way there, and led his young companions in and out among
+the houses, and after passing them, away along the edge of the
+rice-fields that skirted the village, the boys following in perfect
+silence for about a quarter of an hour, when Frank whispered: "He's
+going wrong, right away from the river."
+
+"Hist!" whispered Hamet, and he went on again for another ten minutes,
+before Frank tried to speak again.
+
+"It's all right," he said.  "I know: it isn't where I thought.  There's
+a creek runs right up ever so far among the rice-fields.  I never went
+there, but that's where he is going."
+
+"Hist!" whispered Hamet.
+
+"Oh bother!  You need not be so particular now.  We're right away from
+all the houses.  Nobody would be down here.--I say, Ned, how do you like
+your walk?"
+
+"It's very dark and awkward," said Ned; "but I don't mind.  I should
+like to be able to tell uncle where the boat is."
+
+They had now reached a part where trees were growing pretty thickly, and
+it was only by keeping close to their guide that they were able to make
+their way onward; but this confusing part of their journey was soon
+over, for Hamet suddenly stood fast as if puzzled, and uttered a word or
+two in a tone full of vexation.
+
+"He can't find it after all," cried Frank.  "Oh, what a bother, to drag
+us all this way for nothing."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated the Malay, and catching Ned's hand, he drew him
+through the trees at right angles to their former course, and again
+suddenly stopped.
+
+"Well, which way now?" asked Ned.  "Can't you find it?"
+
+"The boat--the boat!" whispered Hamet, and drawing Ned's arm out to full
+length, he made him stoop a little in the black darkness, with the
+result that the boy's hand rustled among the leaves of the attap
+covering.
+
+"It's here, Frank," he said excitedly, and pressing down now with both
+hands, he felt the boat yield and then stop.
+
+"Yes, that's a boat, sure enough," said Frank, who now felt about the
+top of the awning.  "Yes, and I can feel the poles and oars.  Why, this
+is quite a narrow ditch, only just wide enough to hold it.  I've got
+hold of a rope, too.  It's tied up to a cocoa-nut palm; I know the thing
+by the feel."
+
+"Yes; the boat," whispered Hamet.
+
+"All right.  Then now you know where your own boat is, Ned, and when you
+are tired of us all, you can jump in and say `Good-bye.'"
+
+"Or take you with us," said Ned.  "I don't want to go away from you.
+Not so ungrateful as you think.  Oh, don't!  You needn't hug me like
+that.  I say: don't act like a great girl.  Ah, Ham--"
+
+Then silence.  For Ned felt, as he believed, his companion fling his
+arms affectionately about him, and so roughly that he bore him back.  He
+felt the silken baju and sarong and the hilt of the kris against him,
+and then he went down heavily.  Frank was evidently playing him some
+foolish trick, and he had clapped a hand now over his mouth to keep him
+from making a noise, and betraying their whereabouts.
+
+Then a horrible pang of fear ran through him, for there were smothered
+sounds and scuffling going on close by, leaves cracked and stalks and
+twigs snapped, and directly after the hand was removed, and he opened
+his mouth to cry out, but something soft was thrust in, then a cloth was
+dragged over his head, his arms were bound to his body, and he felt
+himself lifted up, and carried by a couple of men.
+
+"A piece of treachery," he thought.  "And we trusted Hamet so.  Poor
+Frank!  Is he being served the same?"
+
+He got as far as that point, and then the heat and the oppression caused
+by the gag so nearly stifled him that his brain grew confused; there was
+a sensation of giddiness and a singing in his ears.
+
+"They are choking me," he thought; and he made a desperate struggle to
+get his hands to his lips, and then he remembered no more till he felt a
+sensation of something cool being trickled between his lips.  It tasted
+bitter but pleasant, and in his half-insensible state he swallowed the
+grateful beverage, and swallowed again and again.
+
+Then forgetfulness stole over him once, and he knew no more, till he
+opened his eyes and saw the level rays of the sun shining through the
+open doorway on to the mats that formed the side of the room.
+
+"Going to get up, uncle?" he said, and then he stared, for a couple of
+dark faces were thrust in to stare at him, and as he looked quickly
+round, he could not see the guns on the walls, nor his uncle's specimens
+hanging out of reach of the ants, nor yet his uncle; but close beside
+him, lying on a mat, the figure of Frank, evidently fast asleep.
+
+The two swarthy-looking faces were withdrawn slowly, and Ned turned,
+seized Frank by the shoulder, and shook him violently.
+
+"Don't, father!" was the result, as Frank spoke, without unclosing his
+eyes.  "Let me lie a bit longer.  My head is so bad."
+
+"Frank, old chap, wake up.  Where are we?  What does it all mean?"
+
+The boy opened his eyes and sat up, stared round, rubbed himself, and
+then gazed at his companion.
+
+"I--what does it mean?  I--what--I remember now.  Some one jumped on me
+and stuffed something into my mouth.  I thought it was you then.  It was
+that Hamet.  What does he mean?  Here, we're not tied now; let's get out
+of this.  I say, where's my kris?"
+
+He sprang up, and Ned followed his example, both making for the doorway,
+but only to be confronted directly by four spearmen, who effectually
+barred the way.
+
+"Eh," said Frank, thoughtfully, "that's it, is it?  'Tisn't one of
+Hamet's games.  Here you," he continued, speaking now in Malay; "what
+does all this mean?  Why are we brought here?"
+
+One of the men answered respectfully enough, and Frank turned from the
+door to face his companion.
+
+"Those are the rajah's chaps, and that fellow says we are to stay here.
+I know: they thought we were going to cut off in that boat.  Here you,
+where's Hamet?"
+
+The man addressed looked at him half smilingly, but made no reply.
+
+"He won't speak," said Frank, impatiently.  "It's no good to try.  You
+might as well ask questions of a cocoa-nut.  I hope they haven't given
+him the kris.  Here, you: tell me this--Hamet--has he had the kris?"
+
+This too in Malay, and the man addressed smiled now, but he would not
+answer, and Frank gave it up.
+
+"I don't think they've killed him, or they wouldn't look so civil.
+Perhaps they've only shut him up like us.  Well, I'm glad we went to see
+where the boat was."
+
+"Oh, I say, don't reproach me!" cried Ned.  "I did all for the best.
+Then we've been sleeping here all night.  I never knew."
+
+"Not you.  They gave us some stuff, I know."
+
+"But my uncle!  He'll think I'm lost, or gone into the river, or
+something.  What will he say?"
+
+"Oh, bother your uncle!" cried Frank, petulantly.  "I'm thinking about
+my poor old dad."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+A FRIENDLY HAND.
+
+The two boys stood staring thoughtfully at each other that bright, sunny
+morning, for some minutes before Ned spoke again.
+
+"They will not kill us, will they?" he said.
+
+"Kill us?  No.  I should just like to catch them at it.  The brutes!  To
+take away my kris too.  There's going to be a row about this as soon as
+my father knows."
+
+"Then you think it's all a mistake?"
+
+"Of course it is.  I shouldn't have wondered if they'd shut you up like
+this, but you see they've shut up me."
+
+"Well, you're of no more consequence than I am," said Ned, laughing in
+spite of his trouble and a throbbing head.
+
+"No more consequence than you?  Why, I've done as much as I liked about
+here for ever so long, and the people have treated me just as if I were
+the rajah's son.  It's all your fault."
+
+"I suppose so," said Ned, dismally.
+
+"But if they think they're going to do just as they like, they're
+mistaken.  Here!" he cried in Malay, "water."
+
+There was a bit of a bustle out on the veranda, and two men came in with
+brass basins and cotton cloths, which they held while, without
+hesitation, Frank began to bathe his face.
+
+It was a good example, and Ned followed suit, the cool, fresh water
+feeling delightful to his heated brow.
+
+"Done?" said Frank, as he wiped his hands.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Take away, and bring breakfast," cried Frank, haughtily, to the men,
+who bowed and went off with the water and towels.
+
+"I'll let them see whether they're going to treat me like a prisoner,"
+cried Frank.
+
+"I wish I could be as bumptious as you are with them," said Ned, with a
+faint smile.
+
+"You don't try."
+
+"I'm so anxious."
+
+"Oh, it's of no use to be anxious," said Frank, gazing out of the door,
+and then through the window with its bamboo lattice-work.
+
+"Which house are we in?"
+
+"I don't know.  I was trying to make out, but you can only see trees.  I
+do believe they've taken us up the river somewhere.  I don't know,
+though.  These houses are all alike.  It isn't the Tumongong's, nor the
+Muntrie's, nor the Maharajah Lela's.  Yes, I believe they've taken us up
+the river.  The old chap has houses in all sorts of places out in the
+jungle, where he likes to go and hide himself sometimes, but I don't see
+any fun in his hiding us."
+
+"Then they brought us up here.  But how?"
+
+"In a naga, of course."
+
+"But in our sleep, or while we were insensible?"
+
+"Insensible, if you like to call it so.  They must have given us some
+stuff.  They've all kinds of dodges of that sort, bless 'em!  You should
+hear Doctor Barnes talk about the poisons they use."
+
+"I should like to--now," said Ned, drily.
+
+"And so you shall--before long.  I'll soon get you out of this.  Yes,"
+he continued, "this is one of the old boy's places.  See how fine the
+mats are, and how the walls are covered.  But never mind now, my head's
+better, and here's our breakfast."
+
+For the two men entered as the boys came back into the main room opening
+on to the veranda from an inspection of two side-places beautifully hung
+and covered with mats.  Then a third man entered, and as Frank
+nonchalantly seated himself on the matting floor, Ned followed his
+example, and an excellent breakfast was placed before them.
+
+"Not bad for being prisoners," said Frank, as he ate away; while, after
+the first few mouthfuls, Ned's appetite increased, and he began to enjoy
+the meal.
+
+"That's right.  Ruminate away, old chap.  There's nothing to pay.  It's
+the rajah's orders, sure enough, or we shouldn't be fed like this.  He
+isn't going to kill us."
+
+"Think not?"
+
+"Sure of it, unless he's going to fatten us up, and then try whether
+we're good to eat."
+
+"I wish I had such good spirits as you have."
+
+"Oh, I'm getting better now.  Here you, send in the head-man," cried
+Frank to one of their attendants.
+
+The man bowed respectfully, and withdrew to the veranda, where they
+heard him speak, and directly after one of the party, evidently a man of
+some consequence from his silken sarong, came in.
+
+"I want my kris," said Frank.
+
+The man smiled, and shook his head.
+
+"You give it me directly.  It was the rajah's present."
+
+"You will run amok," said the man.
+
+"No.  I promise.  An English gentleman's promise," said Frank.
+
+The man thrust his hand under his silken robe, and produced the handsome
+weapon.
+
+"An English gentleman does not break his word," he said, giving the kris
+to the boy.
+
+"Of course he doesn't.  Thank you," said Frank, replacing the dagger at
+his waist, and covering up the hilt with a significant look at the man,
+who smiled and withdrew, while the boy interpreted the words which his
+companion had failed to grasp.
+
+The meal being ended, they rose; the men came and cleared away, and as
+soon as they were alone again, Ned looked at Frank.
+
+"What next!" he said.
+
+"Ah, that's the puzzle!  Here we are, like two dicky-birds in a cage,
+and they won't let us go out.  If they keep us shut up long like this,
+it will be horrid.  I wish I could send father word."
+
+"Could we escape?"
+
+"I don't know.  We might try.  What a muddle, to be sure.  They think we
+were going to run away with Hamet, and we may talk for ever and they
+wouldn't believe us."
+
+"But we can't sit here and do nothing."
+
+"No; it will be horribly dull.  Those Malay fellows like it.  They can
+sit in the sun all day and chew betel.  We can't.  All we can do is to
+sit and eat fruit, and you can't keep up doing that always."
+
+Sure enough the party of Malays, ten strong, who acted as their guard in
+the palm-thatched house, and attended to every want instantly, did sit
+in and below the veranda in the sun chewing betel, with their eyes
+half-closed, till, to use Ned's words, it nearly drove him mad.
+
+Frank tried persuasion, bribery, threats, and then force, to get out if
+only for a walk; but in a patient good-humoured way the chief and his
+followers refused to let them pass even out on to the veranda; and all
+the boys knew at last of their position, as the sun went down, was that
+which they had learned at sunrise: they were in a house somewhere deep
+in the jungle, shut in by trees.
+
+"Can't we get away when it's dark?" said Ned.
+
+"Get away where?" cried Frank, ill-humouredly.  "You ought to know by
+this time that you can't get through the jungle without men to chop for
+you."
+
+"But there must be a path by which they brought us."
+
+"Yes; one leading down to the river, where you could get no farther for
+want of a boat, and trust 'em, they'll watch that night and day.
+Fellows who know they'll have a kris stuck into them, and be pitched
+into the river if they let a prisoner escape, look out pretty sharp."
+
+It was rapidly growing dark when Frank, who had tried lying down,
+sitting cross-legged, standing up, walking about, and lying on his
+chest, with his elbows on the bamboo flooring and his chin in his hands,
+suddenly exclaimed: "Have some more durian?"
+
+"No, thank you."
+
+"Some mangosteens?"
+
+"No, I've had enough."
+
+"Try some of those little bananas."
+
+"No--no--no, I couldn't eat any more fruit."
+
+"No more can I.  Shall we tell them to bring us some curry to finish off
+with?"
+
+"Oh, I say, don't talk any more about eating," cried Ned; "we seem to
+have done nothing else all day."
+
+"Well, there wasn't anything else to do.--I know."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Let's catch the jungle fever.  Then they'll be obliged to take us back
+to the doctor."
+
+"Nonsense!  But I say, Frank, if it's so miserable and wearisome to be
+shut up like this for a day, what will it be by-and-by?"
+
+"I don't know.  Never mind by-and-by," said Frank.  "'Nough to do to
+think of just now.  What shall we do?"
+
+"Go to sleep and forget it till to-morrow morning," said Ned
+philosophically.
+
+"Come," cried Frank; "that's the best thing you've said to-day.  All
+right."
+
+It was now so dark that they had to feel their way into the inner room,
+where they lay down on the mats with their heads close to the side, and
+they had hardly settled themselves comfortably when the chief entered
+the main room followed by two men, one of whom bore a lamp.
+
+The principal Malay looked sharply round, and then said to Frank, who
+lay on his back with his hands under his head:
+
+"Does my lord want anything else?"
+
+"Yes.  You to go and not bother," replied the boy ungraciously.
+
+"Can we bring him anything?"
+
+"Yes; a boat to take us home."
+
+"Shall I leave the light?"
+
+"No; take it away.  I'm sleepy."
+
+The man bowed, backed out with his followers, the matting was dropped
+between the two rooms and then over the doorway as they passed into the
+veranda.
+
+"That's the way to talk to them," said Frank, peevishly.
+
+"You weren't very civil."
+
+"Well, who's going to be to people who shut you up.  It's no use to be
+`my lord' without you behave like one.  Now let's go to sleep."
+
+Easier said than done.  First in the hot darkness came the _ping_-_wing_
+of a mosquito, then the restless sound made by the boys fidgeting about,
+and the low dull murmur of the men talking in the veranda.
+
+"What's that?" said Ned, suddenly.
+
+"Bother!  Go to sleep.  Only our chaps walking underneath to see if
+all's safe below.  I say," he added, after a pause, "I know what I shall
+do if they don't let us out soon."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Say I want to learn to smoke--late some evening."
+
+"And make yourself sick."
+
+"No; I'll make them sick.  They'll bring a pipe and some burning
+charcoal."
+
+"To light the pipe?"
+
+"No; it will be to light this jolly old bamboo house.  It will blaze up
+like fun."
+
+"And roast us to death!"
+
+"Not it.  We won't be inside.  Perhaps we can run away in the
+scrimmage."
+
+Silence again, and hot, weary, and miserable, the boys lay there in the
+darkness, till a peculiar sound struck Ned's ear.
+
+"Asleep?" he said.
+
+"No; who's going to sleep if you talk so.  Yes, there it is again.
+Hurrah!"
+
+"Then you did hear that sound?"
+
+"Hear it?  Yes.  Know what it is?"
+
+"I thought it was a crocodile in the river."
+
+"So it is, and it shows that the river isn't far off.  I wish there were
+none, and then we'd cut down some bamboos and float away to the village.
+But not to-night.  Let's go to sleep."
+
+There was again silence, with the hot air growing unbearable, and Ned
+had just made up his mind to undress, when from out of the jungle,
+plainly heard through the thin plaited bamboo and palm walls, came a
+peculiar cry--_Coo-ow_, _coo-ow_--to be answered from farther away.
+
+"What's that?" said Ned, half aloud, speaking to himself.
+
+"Argus pheasant," said Frank, drowsily.  "Oh, I do wish you wouldn't
+bother.  Wonder whether they've got any of that stuff."
+
+"What stuff?"
+
+"To send us to sleep again."
+
+"I wouldn't take a drop," thought Ned; and then in the hot silence he
+lay thinking about Frank's father, wondering what was going on at the
+rajah's village, and what his uncle thought of his absence, till weary
+nature closed his eyes, and even the loud cry of the argus pheasant and
+the melancholy howl of a tiger prowling about had no effect upon his
+slumbers.
+
+But a touch effected that which sound had not produced.
+
+For, mingled with his dreams, he had one of a great rat gnawing very
+softly somewhere by his head, and this kept on for what seemed in his
+dream like a tremendous length of time before it ceased, and the rat
+came in through the hole and began walking over his face and sat up on
+his lips.
+
+That woke him, and he felt the perspiration standing on his brow, for it
+was no dream: the rat was seated on his lips, and as he lay motionless
+like one in a nightmare, he felt the little animal glide from his lips
+to his shoulder, then down his arm to where his hand lay upon his chest,
+play with the fingers for a few moments, and then grasp them firmly.
+
+It was not a rat: it was a warm soft hand.
+
+A sob escaped from Ned's breast, and he was about to speak, but his hand
+was pressed firmly, and he returned the grasp, for it felt like the hand
+of a friend, and if it were, it meant help and perhaps escape.
+
+Turning quickly on his side, he leaned over and touched Frank, who
+started awake.
+
+"Yes," he said loudly.  "What is it?"
+
+The hand was snatched away.
+
+"I told you.  Argus pheas--fez--fuz--" snore.
+
+Ned shook him again sharply.
+
+"What's the matter?" he said, thoroughly waking up now.
+
+"Hush! pray.  Hist!" whispered Ned; and he pressed his companion's arm,
+for steps were heard on the creaking bamboo floor, a light shone through
+between the mat hangings, a dark face appeared and a lantern was held
+up, so that its dim light fell upon them.
+
+Just then a bright thought occurred to Ned.
+
+"Tell them to bring some water," he said, querulously; and Frank, who
+grasped the idea that there was something particular in the way, gave
+the order sharply to the man, who retired directly, and returned in a
+few minutes with another bearing a vessel of some pleasant, cool drink,
+of which Ned partook with avidity.
+
+"Leave a fellow a drop," said Frank; and the half-full vessel was handed
+to him.  "Ah, it ain't bad," he continued, as he too drank heartily.
+"There, be off.  Thank you," he added, in Malay; "the light hurts my
+eyes."
+
+The man smiled as he took the vessel, and as Ned watched through his
+half-closed eyes, he saw that there was the gleam of spears in the outer
+room.  Then the matting dropped behind their jailers, the bamboo floor
+creaked, the last rays of the light disappeared, and Frank rose softly,
+crept to the doorway, and peered under the matting.
+
+"They're all out on the veranda," he whispered, as he returned.  "What
+was the matter?"
+
+Ned told him, and Frank uttered an excited "Ah!"
+
+Then after a long silence:
+
+"It's help come.  P'r'aps it's old Hamet.  Bah! you were dreaming."
+
+"No; I am sure."
+
+"Then," said Frank, with his lips close to his companion's ear; "if you
+were awake, there must be a hole for the hand to come through."
+
+And as Ned listened, he heard the faint rustling of his companion's hand
+moving here and there, and then there was a heavy catching breath, and
+Frank's fingers were placed over his lips.
+
+"Big hole under the mat.  Behind your head.  Hist! some one coming."
+
+For there was a gleam of light, and then, hardly heard, save for a faint
+creak of the floor, some one approached, and Ned lay with his arm over
+his eyes, just making out that the lantern was thrust in, and that a
+head was visible between the mats and the door, while Frank lay as
+naturally as if in a heavy sleep, his head half off its resting-place.
+
+The mats fell within again.  There was another faint creak, the last
+gleam of light again disappeared, and the boys lay for a full half-hour
+without moving, while the silence was now broken by the heavy beating of
+their hearts.
+
+All at once, after an interval which seemed terrible, the cry of the
+argus pheasant was repeated, and it sounded terribly near, while at the
+same moment Ned was conscious of a faint rustling, and the steamy dank
+scent of the jungle came to his nostrils.
+
+The next moment fingers touched his cheek, were pressed upon his lips,
+touched his breast, and were gone directly; a slight start from Frank
+suggesting that he was now being touched.  Then followed a faint
+rustling, and Frank leaned over, put his lips to Ned's ear, and said:
+
+"The hand touched me, then went down to my waist, and it has taken my
+kris.  It's a thief.  Shall I call for help?"
+
+At that moment he felt his hand seized and tugged.  Then again, and it
+was drawn under the mat to the opening above their heads.
+
+"It's all right," whispered Frank.  "I'm to go first.  Snore."
+
+For a few moments the boy did not grasp his friend's meaning, but the
+idea came, and he commenced breathing hard, and uttered a faint sigh in
+his agony; for just in the midst of the rustling sound close by him,
+caused as he knew from a touch by Frank gliding slowly through the
+opening as if being drawn, he saw a gleam of light beneath the matting
+at the doorway, and felt that some one was coming again with the
+lantern.
+
+The difficulty now was to make a noise that should sound natural.  If he
+snored loudly it might seem forced, and if he did not, he felt sure that
+the rustling, scraping sound would be heard.  But fortune favoured him.
+
+Just as he was in despair, there was the sharp _ping_-_wing_ of a
+mosquito, and he babbled out something incoherently, made a restless
+movement, and slapped his face quickly twice, as he had often done
+before in an attempt to slay one of the noxious little insects.
+
+The light disappeared directly, for the listening Malay was satisfied;
+and as Ned stretched out his hand again, he found that he was alone.
+
+There was a terrible pause now, and in these brief moments the boy began
+to think that he had been forsaken, when all at once the hand touched
+him, glided down to his waist, and drew at it firmly.
+
+He yielded and tried to force himself along, but did little, and that
+little seemed unnecessary, for strong muscles were at work, and he was
+almost entirely drawn through the opening till he was quite out; his
+legs sank down gently, and he was lowered till he felt his feet touch
+the ground, and a hand which he knew directly for Frank's, lay on his
+lips.
+
+As he was puzzling himself as to how it had been managed, he grasped the
+fact that some one was gliding down the smooth trunk of a palm-tree
+which grew close to the house, and to which one of the bamboo rafters
+had been secured, but whether it was Hamet or some other friend he could
+not tell.
+
+He had no more time for thinking, for two hands were placed on his
+shoulders, and a voice he now recognised whispered: "Down--creep--
+follow."
+
+He grasped the idea at once, and went down on hands and knees, to begin
+crawling slowly and softly after two bare feet, which he had to touch
+from time to time to make sure that he was right, while he felt that
+Frank was behind him, and that he too was touching his boots in the same
+way.
+
+They were evidently crawling through a tunnel-like track below the
+undergrowth, a path probably made by a wild beast--unless it was a
+contrivance to escape from the back of the house in case of emergency--
+and along this they crawled painfully, with the bushes on either side
+and overhead.  Now a thorn entered hand or knee, now some kind of
+vegetable hook caught in their clothes, and then they had to creep round
+some rugged stump of a tree stem to get forward.
+
+The distance was really not great, but it seemed painfully long, and
+every moment the fugitives were in expectation of having an alarm
+raised, and seeing the lights of the men in pursuit.  But at last, just
+as Ned had crawled under a bush which scraped and pricked severely, he
+heard a rustling noise and a peculiar rippling, and was aware of the
+fact that their guide had risen upright, and that he too could stand.
+
+"Ah," sighed Frank, directly after, "what a--"
+
+"Hist!" came in a low whisper.  "Stop here--don't move.  Quiet;" and it
+seemed to Ned that the man lowered himself down till his head was on a
+level with his companion's knees, and a faint splashing told him where.
+
+They were at the edge of the river, and their rescuer was slowly wading
+against the stream, holding on by the overhanging boughs.
+
+Then the faint splashing ceased, and the boys joined hands, to stand
+awe-struck and listening in the thick darkness, and with the knowledge
+that the water, gliding swiftly by their feet, swarmed with monstrous
+reptiles, which for aught they knew might seize their guide, or be
+marking them down for their prey.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+DOWN THE STREAM AGAIN.
+
+Five minutes, ten minutes, a quarter of an hour passed, and neither of
+the boys spoke.  No sound came from the house, no splashing of the water
+told that their guide was on his way back.
+
+All at once a shout reached them, followed by another cry, the noise of
+a struggle succeeded by a splash.  Then another splash, and while, with
+their nerves all on the strain, they listened trembling with excitement,
+there was another faint gurgling cry; but, instead of being from the
+direction in which their rescuer had gone, it was close to them in the
+river, and ceased at once, to be heard again more faintly lower down.
+
+"Oh, Ned," whispered Frank, passionately, "that was poor old Hamet.
+They've krissed him, and thrown him in the river."
+
+"Can't we help him?" panted Ned, knowing as he spoke that they were only
+vain words.
+
+"No--no--no," groaned Frank.  "And hark!  They're coming after us."
+
+For there were shouts, and quite close at hand the glow of torches
+dimly-seen above the trees, while as the boys strained their eyes in the
+direction, Ned jerked Frank's arm.
+
+"Hark!" he whispered; "some one's crawling along the path.  Can't we
+run?"
+
+"Can't we fly?" said Frank, bitterly.  "It's all over."
+
+"Hist! quick!" came from the water; "get in."
+
+There was the sound of wood brushing against the bushes, and a dark
+object rose in front of them.
+
+"The boat!" said Frank, excitedly.  "Hurrah!  In with you, Ned."
+
+The latter needed no second admonition, but sprang in against the man
+who was holding on by the boughs, and as the boy stumbled and fell,
+Frank followed.
+
+It was none too soon, for there was a sharp rustling behind them,
+something dark sprang right after them, and another black figure, which
+had struggled through the tunnel-like passage, rose up; but the boat was
+loosened, their rescuer struck out fiercely, and the man who had tried
+to leap on board fell back into the water with a splash, and they heard
+him dragging himself out just as there was a peculiar thud close to
+where Ned stood.
+
+"What was that?" he whispered.
+
+"Spear," said the man, laconically; and they heard him drag the weapon
+out of the thwart into which it had stuck.
+
+The shouting continued, and it was as if two parties were answering one
+another; but the sounds grew more distant, and Ned realised that they
+were gliding down the stream.
+
+"They'll come after us in another boat," panted Ned.
+
+"No.  No boat," said the man.
+
+"Oh, Hamet, old chap," whispered Frank, "we thought they had krissed
+you, and that we heard you go down the river."
+
+"No," said the man, quietly.  "Two men keeping boat.  Not hurt."
+
+Ned felt a strange shrinking sensation, and his imagination supplied the
+facts of the case, as he mentally saw their friend wade in the darkness
+up to where this boat had been moored, and attack its guardians.  He
+shuddered, and dared think no more, but, happily, Frank began whispering
+to him just then.
+
+"This is one of the little nagas," he said.  "I know it.  The men used
+it to take us up the river.  They did not know it would be all right for
+us to escape.  I say, Hamet, how far is it down to the rajah's campong?"
+
+"Don't know," said the man quietly, using an oar so as to get the boat's
+head down stream, and farther from the bank, where the fireflies were
+still flitting at intervals.
+
+"Well, we shall float down to it.  We needn't speak low now?"
+
+"No; only a little," replied the man.
+
+"I say, you were a good one to come and help us.  But, I say, you did
+not kill any one, did you?"
+
+"They tried to kill Hamet," he replied, quietly.
+
+"Oh, Ned!" whispered Frank, with a shudder, "I shall never wear that
+kris again."
+
+They glided on down in silence for some time before either of the boys
+spoke again, and then Ned said in a low voice:
+
+"They seized you too, Hamet?"
+
+"Yes, master, and brought us up the river here.  I said to myself, `I
+will save the young masters,' and they are here."
+
+"But what is to be done now?"
+
+"Go down in the dark to my lord, and say here is a boat waiting.  Shall
+we go back to Dindong?"
+
+"But we could not, Hamet," said Frank.  "The rajah's people would hear
+us, and stop us."
+
+"Perhaps," said the man, quietly.  "Heaven knows: but we will try."
+
+"Yes," said Frank, "we will try, unless my father thinks we ought all to
+stop, and he could bully the rajah.  But we will see."
+
+"Yes, we will see," replied Hamet; and there was silence once more for a
+time, but Ned was too much excited to remain quiet long.
+
+"Are you sure," he said, "that they cannot follow us on shore though
+they have no boat?"
+
+"Quite sure," said Frank.  "They are on the wrong side of the river, and
+they could not cut a way through the jungle for days and days.  I don't
+know how far we are up either.  Perhaps miles and miles, and they were
+rowing and poling up all night."
+
+Silence once more fell upon the party, and the boys sat watching the
+dark wall of trees on either side and listening to the forest sounds,
+all of which seemed strange and impressive at such a time.  Now and then
+the oar creaked with which Hamet kept the boat's head right, and several
+times now the boys shrank from the side as there was a sudden swirl and
+rush through the water, evidently caused by a crocodile disturbed by the
+passing boat.  Then, too, came the cry of a tiger, distant or near, and
+other peculiar calls from deep in the jungle, sounds that they would
+hardly have noticed by day, but which were peculiarly impressive now.
+
+And so the time wore on, till, just as Ned was asking if his companion
+did not think they must be near the campong now, Hamet said in a low
+voice:
+
+"Don't talk.  Words fly along the water.  Be heard."
+
+"Then we must be near now?" whispered Ned.
+
+"Yes," replied Frank.  "I say, Hamet, keep a good look-out for the
+prahus, and run her in by the tree where the crocodile was caught.  It
+will be quite black under those boughs."
+
+"Pst!" whispered Hamet, and he ceased dipping his oar in the water, for
+suddenly a faint light appeared ahead of them not larger than that
+emitted by a firefly, but the regular beat of oars told that it was in
+some boat, and unless prompt measures were taken, it was evident that
+they would be seen, and the efforts of the night thrown away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+THE RAJAH'S MESSAGES.
+
+Murray woke with a start to find that the sun was well above the trees,
+and a curious sensation of shame troubled him as he recalled the events
+of the previous night.
+
+As he started up, he saw that Mr Braine was seated at his little table
+writing, and as the latter noticed his fellow-prisoner's awaking, he
+laid down his pen, and held out his hand.
+
+"I was writing a few lines to the doctor," he said.  "I daresay they
+will take a note for me.  I have told him that we are prisoners, to
+account to my wife for our absence."
+
+"Tell him--tell them," said Murray, flushing a little, "to be of good
+cheer, for we are behaving like prisoners, and watching some means by
+which we may all escape from this wretched place."
+
+"And if my letter goes to the rajah first, he may get it interpreted for
+him, and know what we intend to do."  Murray made an impatient gesture.
+
+"You are right," he said.  "My brain is all confused.  We cannot escape
+without those boys."
+
+"I am as confused as you are," replied Mr Braine.  "The rajah has had
+those two taken to hold as hostages.  I am sorry to give you pain, but
+the truth must be told."
+
+"But why--why?"
+
+"Do you need to ask?"
+
+"No," said Murray, despairingly.  "I know well enough, and in my selfish
+love for her, I am ready to say she must be saved from such a fate."
+
+"And my son condemned to death in company with your brother's child."
+
+Murray sprang up, and began to pace the room, making the floor wave and
+the walls quiver with his impetuous tread.
+
+"Tell me what to do," he said at last.  "I feel helpless.  I will follow
+your instructions, and look to you for what is right."
+
+Mr Braine shook his head sorrowfully, finished his letter, and handed
+it to Murray to read.
+
+"Yes," he said; "you cannot say more."
+
+The letter was sealed, and the chief of their guards summoned.
+
+"I want this letter taken to the doctor," said Mr Braine.
+
+The man bowed, took the letter, and gave it to one of his men, who went
+off directly, while Mr Braine stood back against the wall of the room.
+
+"I thought so," he said.  "I am fallen from my high position now."
+
+"What do you mean?" said Murray, eagerly.
+
+"The messenger has gone toward the rajah's place, and not to the
+doctor's house."
+
+Breakfast was brought in to them soon afterwards, but Murray turned from
+it in disgust.
+
+"Eat, man," said Mr Braine, quietly.  "It is a necessity.  You may want
+all your wits and strength before long."
+
+"I said I would look to you for advice," Murray exclaimed; and he sat
+down and ate mechanically, while Mr Braine went on talking.
+
+"If those boys were here," he said; "matters have now arrived at such a
+pitch, that I should try and scheme in some way to procure a boat, get
+all on board, and make an attempt to start away in the darkness."
+
+"Of course!" cried Murray.  "They might not see us, but if they did, we
+are skilled in the use of our weapons, and I swear I could bring down
+every man at whom I shot."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Braine, thoughtfully; "if driven, we should have to
+fight.  I might win over three or four or half a dozen of the men to
+whom I have been friendly.  I think I could.  But no.  The rajah has
+been too cunning for us.  He sees that we are likely to try to escape,
+and he has us on the hip.  Murray, I cannot go and leave my boy to the
+mercy of this demon.  Mercy?  He does not know the word.  I should
+horrify you, if I told you of all I have been compelled to witness
+here."
+
+Murray gazed at him with his brow puckered, and then he suddenly
+started.
+
+"I was to go on another expedition to-day; and, good heavens! here comes
+the rajah's messenger to say that the elephants are ready.  He shall
+kill me before I'll stir a step.  Stop," he cried excitedly--"the
+elephants.  I shall be able to take gun, rifle, and revolver.  What if I
+make the men stop a mile or two away in the jungle path.  Could you
+contrive to join me with the ladies after dark?"
+
+"And if you could alone over-ride your guard, and I could contrive to
+join you with the ladies after dark, where should we go?  My dear
+fellow, it is madness.  Only out into the mountains to starve.  We could
+not take the ladies, even if we could forsake the boys.  Hush! here he
+is."
+
+The Tumongong, who had been in close conference with the chief of the
+guard below in the garden, now ascended the steps, and saluted the two
+prisoners.
+
+"I bring you a message," he said, gravely.  "The rajah wishes him to
+wait for a few days before going upon his expedition, and he is to
+return to his own house.  Tell him."
+
+"The rajah sends word that we are to be separated, Murray," said Mr
+Braine.  "You are to go."
+
+"And if I refuse?"
+
+"There is no appeal, man; force would be used.  Go patiently, and
+console yourself with the thought that I am working and planning for
+you.  You must go."
+
+Murray rose and held out his hand.
+
+"Look here," he said; "if they have not taken them, I have plenty of
+arms and ammunition there, and I am ready to stand by you to the
+death.--Hah!" he ejaculated angrily, as he turned fiercely on the
+Tumongong, "you know what I said?"
+
+The Malay looked at him fixedly, but said nothing, and Murray shook
+hands with Mr Braine.
+
+"Is this a ruse!" he said, bitterly.  "Is it good-bye for ever?  Are
+they going to make an end of me?"
+
+The Tumongong looked admiringly at the firm manly fellow about to be led
+off, for aught he knew, to execution, and he spoke quickly to Mr
+Braine.
+
+"The Tumongong bids me tell you that your life is quite safe."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Murray; and he gave the Malay a grateful look, and
+went down to where his escort was waiting, the chief and half the guard
+marching him off back to his house, where at the first glance he saw
+that his weapons were still in their places; and here he threw himself
+down, to try to hit out some plan, while the Malays stationed themselves
+about the place, and he saw that he was to be strictly watched.
+
+Meanwhile the Tumongong and Mr Braine stood gazing hard into each
+other's faces.
+
+"Well, what next?" said Mr Braine at last, gazing searchingly into the
+Malay's eyes.
+
+"You are to join the doctor and his family, and if you value your life,
+help his highness by reasoning with them, so that his wishes may be
+obeyed at once."
+
+"He is still set upon this atrocity?"
+
+"Yes; he is determined that the poor lady shall be his wife."
+
+"And if we all refuse and set him at defiance?"
+
+"What good?" said the Tumongong, bitterly.
+
+"I cannot do it, man," cried Mr Braine.  "Tell me where are those
+boys?"
+
+"I cannot--I do not know."
+
+"But--you have always been my friend--is there no way out of this
+difficulty?"
+
+The Tumongong was silent.
+
+"Yes," continued Mr Braine; "there is that way.  His death or
+imprisonment.  Is not the time ripe?"
+
+The Malay made no answer.
+
+"Murray is a strong man, brave as a lion; the doctor, Greig, and I are
+good shots.  We will fight for you to the death."
+
+"It is time to go," said the Tumongong, coldly; and he walked out into
+the veranda, and gave the guard below an order to be in readiness.
+
+"It would be to the death," he said, quietly, as he returned.  "No; we
+are not strong enough.  It is not for want of courage.  I could kris
+him, but it would be too cowardly.  If we fought, it would mean death to
+your friends and the boys--the ladies left alone to his mercy.  There: I
+am your friend.  I have trusted you: my life is in your hands."
+
+"It has been for months," said Mr Braine, quietly; "I have known your
+secret for long."
+
+"Are you ready?" said the Tumongong, loudly.  Then in a low tone--"Bring
+your weapons."
+
+Five minutes after, the Resident was being marched to the doctor's,
+where his coming was eagerly greeted; and the guard there being
+strengthened by the newcomers, the Tumongong looking grave, and then
+going slowly off, followed by his attendants.
+
+"Frank?  Tell me about Frank," cried Mrs Braine, clinging to her
+husband's hand.
+
+"Mr Murray--Ned?" cried Amy, seizing the other.
+
+"All well as yet," said the Resident, sadly.
+
+"This is true?" whispered Mrs Braine.  "You are not deceiving me?"
+
+"You know," he replied, gravely; and the ladies shrank away to weep
+together, while the doctor offered his old friend his hand.
+
+"Bad news?" whispered the doctor.
+
+"The worst.  He insists, and it is to be at once."
+
+"I would sooner kill her," said the doctor, passionately.
+
+"And I would sooner see her dead."
+
+They stood thoughtful and silent for a few minutes before the doctor
+spoke again.
+
+"I never felt our helplessness so much before.  Where is Murray?"
+
+Mr Braine told him.
+
+"A good man the less, but we might perhaps get a message to him to make
+a dash for us here.  Braine, will you fight?"
+
+"To the death."
+
+"We shall be four, with the women to load for us as we fire."
+
+"I am ready, man," said Mr Braine, sadly; "and we shall have the
+satisfaction of acting as Englishmen in a time of peril, but we can do
+no more than keep them at bay for a time.  Even if we did that, they
+could starve us out."
+
+The doctor let his hands drop helplessly to his side.
+
+"Yes; that's it," he said.  "It is madness.  It would only mean so much
+bloodshed and nothing done."
+
+"He would send every man he had to his death to gain his ends."
+
+"If I had only known--if I had only known!" groaned the doctor; "he
+would never have recovered from that last illness, I swear."
+
+"Then you swear falsely," said Mr Braine, holding out his hand.  "My
+old friend, John Barnes, never did a treacherous act, and never could."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated the doctor, wringing the Resident's hand.  "Now you
+disarm me: but a man would do desperate things to save his wife and
+child."
+
+"Even to giving his life, as I would mine."
+
+They stood by the door in silence, then gazing out into the garden,
+where a spearman stood at the gate, and the rest of the guard sat about
+mechanically chewing their betel-nut and sirih-leaf, apparently heedless
+of the prisoners' presence, but ready to start into action on the
+instant.
+
+Mr Greig joined them, and the day wore on in sorrow and despair, for
+their position seemed to be absolutely hopeless, and it was nothing to
+them that the sun shone down from the pure blue sky on the gorgeous
+vegetation, whose leaves seemed to shed silver beams of light down
+amongst the dark shade beneath.  Plan after plan was suggested and
+referred to the ladies, who also made proposals.  But the result was
+always the same.  They acknowledged that the rajah, with his Eastern
+cunning, had checkmated them, and that nothing could be done but wait.
+
+As the day wore on, the doctor's servants went about their work as
+usual, and Tim Driscol brought in the mid-day meal, and stood looking on
+in despair to find it untouched.
+
+"Oh, Miss Amy, dear," he whispered, "my heart's bruk intirely to see
+your pretty eyes all swelled up and red like that.  What'll I do,
+darlin'?  Say the word, and if it's to slay and kill him, I'll go."
+
+"Don't--don't talk to me, Tim," she whispered, with the tears flowing
+fast.
+
+"Not talk to ye--me who carried ye when ye were only half the size ye
+are!  I'll go to the masther, thin."
+
+With the freedom of an old servant, he went out to where the doctor was
+seated in the veranda, so as to avoid seeing the sad faces within.
+
+"Oh, masther, dear," he said, "what's to be done?"
+
+"I wish I could tell you, Tim."
+
+"It makes a man's heart sore, sir, to see the misthress and her frinds
+looking like that.--Mr Braine, sir, begging your pardon for intrudin',
+it's only bekase I want to help.  Wouldn't a good fight set it straight,
+bekase if so, I'm your man."
+
+"Waste of blood, waste of life, and no good done, Tim," said the
+Resident, sadly.  "We are in God's hands.  I cannot see that we can
+stir."
+
+"Four of us and Mister Murray, if we could get at him," mused Tim; "that
+makes foive, and they're as many hundreds, and got their prahus and
+boats beside; but I don't know.  The old counthry looks a very shmall
+place on the map, but she could beat the world.  Well, the masther has
+only got to spake, and I'll foight for me misthress and my young lady as
+long as I can lift a fist."
+
+As the evening drew near, Tim comforted himself by examining and loading
+the guns and pistols that were in the house, and then replaced them,
+ready for use at a moment's notice.
+
+But when he had done, he shook his head sadly.
+
+"It's such a whishp of a place to fight in," he said to himself.  "Anny
+one could knock it all over wid a scaffold pole.  Why, if it kim to a
+foight, the bastes could run underneath, and shtick their spears through
+the flure.  An' I'd like to get one crack at the head of the man I
+caught doing it."
+
+The dinner-time came, and Tim made another attempt to get the unhappy
+party to eat.
+
+"And not a bit of fruit," he muttered.  "Wonder whether they'd let us
+get some."
+
+He went and spoke to one of the women who acted as servant, and she
+readily agreed to go and fetch what was necessary, catching up the
+second sarong worn by the Malay women as a veil, and used with the two
+ends of the long scarf-like article of attire sewn together.
+
+With this over her head, she started off, and the guard now looked up
+sharply, but they had no orders to interfere and prevent one of the
+women from going out, and in less than a quarter of an hour she returned
+bearing a basket of mangosteens and bananas.
+
+But it was all labour in vain; the dinner and dessert, so thoughtfully
+prepared, remained untouched, and the wine, cool and fresh from the
+evaporating it had received, remained on the table.
+
+It was a lovely starlit night, and after Mr Greig had gone, the doctor
+and Mr Braine rose from the table to go and walk up and down in the
+veranda, and wait for the coming of the next messengers from the rajah,
+for that there would soon be another both felt perfectly convinced.
+
+They had not long to wait before the Tumongong appeared with a small
+retinue of men, spear-armed as usual, who were halted by their officer
+at the foot of the steps, while the Malay chief ascended to the veranda
+to announce briefly that the rajah would honour the ladies with a visit
+that evening; after which he turned and left the place as he came, the
+dark figures of his escort filing out through the bamboo gate, looking
+like shadows in the starlight.
+
+"There is only one thing left," said Mr Braine, as the doctor sat too
+much stunned by the intelligence, now it had come, to be able to go in
+and communicate it to his wife and child.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+FRANK'S ERRAND.
+
+"What'll I do?  What'll I do?" muttered Tim Driscol to himself as he
+walked up and down one of the garden paths hidden from his master and
+his friends, and unheeded by the Malay guard, who contented themselves
+with seeing that he did not pass out of the gate.
+
+"That pretty colleen!  Ow, the covetous owld rip, and him wid a dozen
+wives at laste, to want our darlin'.  What'll I do?--what'll I do?
+Faix, I'll have me poipe."
+
+He filled the rough bamboo affair with the coarse native tobacco he
+used, and went on smoking, the bowl glowing as if a ruddy firefly were
+gliding up and down the garden walk.  "Ow, sorrow to uz all!" he
+muttered.  "An' what are all his wives about?  Why, they can't have a
+taste o' sperrit in 'em, or they wouldn't shtand it.  Why, if they were
+ladies from the ould country, and he even thought of taking another,
+there wouldn't be a bit of hair left on his wicked head.  Oh dear!
+sorrow to me, what'll I do at all, at all?--Who's this.  To see wan of
+the women, I suppose."
+
+He was near the gate where two spearmen stood, and in the full starlight
+he saw a Malay woman coming up, and as she drew near, she raised her
+hands beneath the veil-like sarong she wore over her head to a level
+with her brows, spreading out the plaided silk after the custom of the
+women, so that the top and bottom hems were drawn parallel, covering her
+face and forming a narrow horizontal slit through which her eyes alone
+were seen.
+
+"Yah!  Get out.  How modest we are.  Sure, and ye're an ugly flat-nosed
+coffee-coloured one, or ye wouldn't be so moighty particular.  Want to
+see one of the women folk, do ye?  Well, the gyards'll shtop ye, and
+send ye about yer bishness, and good-luck to ye."
+
+But the guards did not stop her as she walked quietly up.  A woman
+coming to the doctor's house, that was all; and she passed between them
+with her face covered, and turned off into the narrow path among the
+trees leading to the servants' quarters, the men just glancing after
+her, and then chewing away at their betel.
+
+The consequence was that the next minute the woman was face to face with
+Tim, who blocked the way in a surly fashion; and as they stood there in
+the shadowy path, Tim's pipe bowl glowed, and the eyes seen through the
+narrow slit gleamed.
+
+"And what do you want?" said Tim, in the Malay tongue.
+
+"Muhdra," was the reply, in a faint voice.
+
+"She's yonder," said Tim.  "I daresay you know the way."
+
+"Show me," said the woman softly.
+
+"Oh, bad luck to ye to want to come chattering haythen nonsense to the
+cook, wid all this trouble on the way," he said angrily, in his own
+tongue.  Then more civilly in Malay, "Come along, then."
+
+He led the way, and the woman followed till they had passed another
+sentry, when he felt his arm gripped.
+
+"Don't flinch--don't speak.  Tim, don't you know me?"
+
+"Masther Frank!  Oh murther!"
+
+The man staggered in his surprise as he uttered these words, but the
+quick Irish wit grasped the situation directly, and he said aloud in the
+Malay tongue something about its being a fine warm night, and then led
+the way into the dark room he called his pantry, though it was little
+more than a bamboo shed, and excitedly clasped the boy to his breast.
+
+"Masther Frank, darlin'!  Oh, Heaven be thanked for this!--Ah, ye wicked
+young rip, to frighten us all as ye did."
+
+"Hush, man, silence!  Don't, Tim.  Why--my face is all wet."
+
+"Whisht! nonsense, boy.  That's nawthing.  Only a dhrop o' water.  It's
+so hot.  But quick!  An' good-luck to ye for a cliver one.  To desave us
+all like that!"
+
+"Where is my father?  He was not at home."
+
+"Faix no; he's up-stairs.  But where have ye been?"
+
+"Don't ask questions.  Are they all right?"
+
+"Oh yes, all right; and all wrong too.  There's me news, boy.  The
+rajah's going to marry Miss Amy, and we're all prishners."
+
+"I thought so," whispered Frank.  "But prisoners?"
+
+"Oh yes; ye saw the gyards."
+
+"Where is Mr Murray?"
+
+"Shut up at home wid sax or eight min to take care of him."
+
+"Go and tell my father I'm here.  No; take me up to them at once."
+
+"Oh, murther! no, Masther Frank!  Don't think of it, boy.  Iv ye go up,
+the ladies'll all shquale out, and yer mother go wild wid sterricks.
+Sure an' Masther Bang-gong's just been to say the owld chap's coming to
+see the ladies to-night."
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Frank.
+
+"But where have ye been, lad?"
+
+"Go quite quietly, and tell my father or the doctor I'm here."
+
+"Yis."
+
+"And Tim, have you got anything to eat?  I'm starving."
+
+"Lashins, me dare boy.  Help yerself, for the sorrow a taste would they
+take in the parlour."
+
+Tim hurried up, passed through the main room, listened for a moment or
+two to the murmur of the ladies' voices in one of the inner places, and
+then crept out into the veranda, carrying a tray with a metal bottle and
+two cups, which he made to jingle loudly for the guard to hear.
+
+"No, no, my man," said the doctor.  "It's very thoughtful of you, but
+no.--Braine, will you?"
+
+"No, no," said the Resident; and then he uttered a gasp, for Tim's lips
+were at his ear, as he stood behind his seat, and said softly:
+
+"Whisht, Mr Braine, darlin': don't make a hurroo.  Masther Frank's
+come, and he's below."
+
+There was a dead silence for a few moments, and then Mr Braine said in
+a forced voice:
+
+"No, no drink, Tim.--Doctor, come in and give me a cigar."
+
+He rose, and walked quietly in with the slow careful acting of one who
+knows that his every action is watched, and, wondering at his friend's
+change, the doctor rose and followed.
+
+"Get the cigars and matches," said Mr Braine, quietly; and then in a
+quick whisper: "Be firm, man, and act.  Light a cigar.  Frank has come
+back."
+
+"Thank God!" muttered the doctor, and he pressed his friend's hand
+before getting cigars and matches, and they stood where those in the
+garden could see, striking a match, and holding it between them as they
+lit their cigars--great coarsely-made ones of the native tobacco.
+
+"Now, Tim, where?" said Mr Braine.
+
+"In my room, shure, sor."
+
+"Sit down there and smoke," said Mr Braine, in a low tone.  "Take both
+cigars, man, and keep them alight, changing your position as you change
+the cigars."
+
+"And desave the haythens.  Yes, sor, I undherstand," said Tim, taking
+the cigars as the gentlemen prepared to descend, "and a moighty plisant
+way of desaving 'em," he muttered to himself, as he began smoking away;
+while the next minute Frank was in his father's arms, hurriedly telling
+him of his adventures.
+
+"And when we heard the naga coming up the river before daybreak, we
+pulled in under the trees and bushes, just below the stockade," he said
+in conclusion, "and there we've been all day, not daring to stir, and
+even when it was dark we were afraid to move, till I thought of putting
+a sarong over my head, and coming like this.  I passed lots, and no one
+spoke to me."
+
+"And the boat?"
+
+"Safe under the trees with Ned and Hamet."
+
+"Is it big enough to hold us all?" said Mr Braine.
+
+"Plenty."
+
+"Heaven has sent us help!" said Mr Braine fervently.  "Barnes, we must
+by some means get all on board to-night, and trust to the darkness to
+run down the river."
+
+"But the rajah's visit?" said the doctor.
+
+"Ah!  I had forgotten that," said Mr Braine, with a groan; "the rajah
+and our guards; but with help and ease of mind coming like this, we must
+not despair.  Now, doctor, go back up-stairs.  One moment--your
+women-servants?"
+
+"They are to be trusted."
+
+"Then go and set my wife's mind at rest.  Tell her our lives depend upon
+her being calm.  There must be no excitement, or we shall excite
+suspicion.  Implore your wife and child to be careful."
+
+"And Murray and Mr Greig's?"
+
+"Another obstacle?" exclaimed Mr Braine.  "Never mind; one thing at a
+time.  We may get the women to the boat, then we might drop down
+opposite to Murray's place and cut him out.  But we shall see.  Go on,
+and in a minute or two I'll bring up Frank."
+
+The doctor went up, passed Tim, who was carefully keeping his two points
+of light glowing at a distance from each other, and communicated his
+tidings to the ladies, with the effect that Mrs Braine fainted dead
+away, but to recover directly, and eagerly whisper that she would be
+firm and not make a sound.
+
+She kept her word, weeping silently over her son, while Mrs Barnes and
+Amy both clung to the lad's hands, in the faintly-lit room.
+
+"Quick!" said Mr Braine, whose ears were preternaturally sharp.
+"Frank, keep here in hiding.  You three come out when the doctor summons
+you.  Come, Barnes, back to our cigars.  The rajah."
+
+They glided back into the dark warm room, after adjuring those they left
+to be silent, and as they took their places they could see the gleam of
+lights through the trees, the sight of which had roused their guard into
+making the sound which had warned the Resident.
+
+"Light both the lamps, Tim," said Mr Braine; "and be guarded.  The
+rajah is coming."
+
+The man obeyed, and as the lights shed a softened glow through the
+place, the guards could see the doctor and Resident seated back smoking
+calmly.
+
+"What are we to say?" said the doctor, huskily.
+
+"Surprised at his treatment--ask for a little time--the lady startled by
+the unexpected demand--diplomacy--diplomacy.  Let him go back thinking
+that you will yield."
+
+And as these last words were uttered, the lights drew near and lit up
+the swarthy faces of the rajah's guards and sword-bearers filing into
+the grounds.
+
+"Whatever you do, be careful.  Don't seem to yield easily.  We are hurt
+by his treatment, mind."
+
+There was no time to say more, for the escort was already at the foot of
+the steps, on each side of which they formed up in a picturesque group,
+the lanterns they bore lighting up the showy costumes and displaying the
+rajah in his European uniform.
+
+The two Englishmen advanced into the veranda to receive him, and as he
+mounted alone, he smiled, and waited to be asked into the room,
+evidently quite confident of his safety with his guard so near.
+
+As soon as he was seated, he placed his glittering sword against his
+knee, and his plumed cap beside it, drawing himself up and glancing
+toward the doorway to make sure that he was in full sight of his guard.
+Then, turning to the doctor, he said in English: "Theeee--laidees."
+
+The doctor bowed, and crossed to the inner door, which he threw open,
+and the prisoners came out looking pale and calm, to be received with
+smiles and motioned to take their seats, while the gentlemen remained
+standing.
+
+"Tell them this is only a short visit," said the rajah.  "To-morrow
+shall come, not to return alone.  The lady will be with me, and we shall
+go to the mosque.  Then my English wife will return here no more."
+
+The Resident translated the rajah's words, though the task was needless,
+for all present followed him pretty well.
+
+Then the doctor spoke, as their visitor keenly watched the effect of his
+words and fixed his eyes upon the shrinking girl before him.  Her
+father's words were much as had been arranged, and the rajah listened to
+the interpretation patiently enough.
+
+"Yes, yes," he said; "you are her lather.  I understand.  But you will
+be rich, and like a prince here.  It is a great honour to your child.
+Tell him what I say."
+
+Mr Braine repeated the rajah's words formally, and then the visitor
+rose, bowed and smiled with good-humoured contempt, and ended by drawing
+a ring from one of his fingers as he rose, walked toward Amy, and placed
+it upon her hand, after which he made a profound obeisance and moved
+toward the door.
+
+"One moment, your highness," said the doctor.  "We are your old servants
+and friends.  You treat us as prisoners."
+
+"No, no," he said, on Mr Braine repeating the words.  "I honour you.
+It is a guard for my wife.  Not prisoners.  After to-morrow, no."
+
+"But our English friend, Murray.  Your highness will let him join us?"
+
+The rajah, caught the name Murray, and his face grew black as night, and
+without waiting for the interpretation, he made an angry gesture in the
+negative.
+
+"But my son and his young friend," said Mr Braine, watching him
+narrowly, to ascertain whether the flight was known.
+
+The rajah gave him a meaning look, and laughed.
+
+"After to-morrow," he said, "they will come back."
+
+His face was all smiles once again, and he bowed to Amy, passed into the
+veranda, descended, and the little cortege moved out of the shady
+grounds.  The lights slowly disappeared among the trees, while the
+doctor dropped the matting hangings over the door to hide the interior
+of the house from their guard, after which he turned to encounter the
+pleading face of his wife as Amy threw herself sobbing upon his breast.
+
+Mr Braine stood looking on for a few moments in silence.  Then, in a
+cold, stern voice, he said:
+
+"Go back to the inner room and pray for our success.  Then you have
+sarongs, make yourselves as much like the Malay women as you can."
+
+"Then we shall escape?" cried Amy, joyously.
+
+"Heaven knows!" said the Resident.  "We shall try.  Ah, thank goodness,
+here are the Greigs;" and unchallenged by the guards, Mr Greig and his
+wife came up to the house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+TIM'S HAPPY IDEA.
+
+"Come up here, Driscol," said the doctor; and as Tim appeared Frank came
+to the inner doorway to creep into a corner, where he was in shadow, and
+could listen to what was said.
+
+"Now, Braine," said the doctor.  "We are all waiting, what do you
+propose?"
+
+"I have nothing to propose.  We have a guard of sixteen outside.  If we
+could get by them, we might reach the river in the darkness.  Can you
+tell me how to proceed?"  The doctor was silent.  "Frank, can you
+suggest anything?"
+
+"No, father; only to fight."
+
+"Madness, boy.  Help would come directly."
+
+"I have an idea," said the doctor, "if it would act.  I should do it
+unwillingly, but it is our only hope that I see.  Stop!--Driscol, can
+you help us?"
+
+"Sure, I've been thinking hard, sor, and all I can get hold of is one
+idaya, and that's as shlippery as an oysther out of its shell."
+
+"Speak, man, what is it?"
+
+"To wait a bit, and thin go round wid a thick shtick and bate all their
+heads."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" cried Mr Braine.
+
+"That's what I said to meself, sor, for I saw while I was quieting one,
+he would make a noise, and--ye see if I could hit all their heads at
+wance."
+
+"Hush! silence!" said the doctor.  "Braine, the only thing I can propose
+is to fill a vessel with wine and--drug it."
+
+"No," said Mr Braine, sternly.  "For one thing they are Mussulmans, and
+it is forbidden; some would not drink.  For another--"
+
+"They'd be suspicious, and would not touch it," said Frank, quickly.
+
+"Quite right, Frank," said his father.
+
+"Then if I medicated some cigars," whispered the doctor.
+
+"Oh, then," said Frank, "they'd roll them in the waists of their
+sarongs, and save them to cut up and smoke in their hubble-bubbles
+to-morrow."
+
+"Yes; it is hopeless," said the doctor, despondently; and there was a
+long silence broken by Tim.
+
+"Whisht! masther dear," he said, "would the rat poison taste much?"
+
+"Poison?  No.  Who said a word about poison?  I should only send them to
+sleep."
+
+"Oh!" said Tim, "a short slape; not the very long one.  Would it taste,
+sor?"
+
+"No, my man; why?"
+
+"Thin, bedad, I have it.  Ye nivver touched the shmall cakes for dinner:
+put some of the stuff into thim, and I'll shtale out with a whole
+trayful and a bottle of wine from down below, jist as if it's me being
+civil to the bastes, and I'll offer 'em the wine, and they won't touch
+it, but I will, and dhrink of it heartily.  They won't think there's
+anny desait in it then, and I'll offer 'em the cakes, and ate a shpare
+one or two that I'll kape on one side."
+
+"Tim, you're a scoundrel!" cried Mr Braine, excitedly.
+
+"Sure, that's what my mother always said, sor," replied Tim, modestly;
+"but, masther dear, ye wouldn't put any rat poi--shlaping stuff, I mane,
+into the wine."
+
+"And rob ourselves of our right hand?" said the doctor, warmly.  "No!"
+
+"Thank ye, sor," said Tim.  "I thought I'd say that, for ye may remimber
+once making a mistake, and nearly cut off your right hand--I mane
+meself."
+
+"It was not a mistake, Tim, but an experiment with one of the native
+medicines."
+
+"Faix, it just was, sor, and I'll niver forget it.  But ye'll look
+loively, sor.  There's plinty of the little cakes iv Masther Frank
+didn't ate thim all."
+
+"I did not touch them, Tim," said Frank, eagerly.
+
+"Then the day's our own, sor.  You come down and docthor 'em, and I'll
+go and prepare the syle for the sade."
+
+"What are you going to do?" said Mr Braine, quickly.
+
+"Only shmoke me poipe in the gyarden, sor, and soother and blarney them
+over a bit.  It'll kim aisier, thin, to go in and fetch a bit and sup
+from the panthry, and not be so suddint like.  They're such desayving
+thayves of the world, they suspect everybody."
+
+Tim went down, and the doctor busied himself at a medicine-chest for a
+few minutes before following him.
+
+"Now, Greig, help me," said the Resident, turning down the lamps a
+little.  "Frank, keep out of sight in case we are watched.  You know
+where the doctor keeps his ammunition."
+
+"Yes, father," was the reply, and the pair busied themselves in
+examining revolvers and guns, placing ammunition ready for flight, and
+finally arming the ladies, and thrusting an ornamental kris from the
+walls into their belts.
+
+Then weapons were placed ready for the doctor and his man, their
+arrangements being about complete as the former returned looking pale
+and anxious.
+
+"Ah," he said, on seeing the preparations, "that's right.  It's hard to
+leave all our treasures and collections."
+
+"Yes; but we must think only of ourselves."
+
+"Of our wives and children," said Greig, quietly.
+
+"Yes.  But, tell me, what have you done?"
+
+"Put a strong opiate in every cake."
+
+"But those who take it--does it mean risk to their lives?"
+
+"No.  The worst that can happen may be a day or two's illness after.
+That is not what I fear," said the doctor, significantly.
+
+"What then?"
+
+"The rajah's punishment of the poor wretches."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Mr Braine, "but we must be selfish here for others'
+sake."
+
+A few more preparations were made by Frank's suggestion, every scrap of
+food from below being placed in a couple of baskets; the two women who
+assisted Tim in the house having gone for the night some time before.
+
+"Now," said the doctor, "what next?  Matches and a lantern."
+
+These were placed ready; a few comforting words said to the ladies--who
+were now calm, firm, and helpful, looking strangely Malayan in their
+garb, for they had trenched upon a store which, they had saved up as
+mementoes of their sojourn in the jungle--and then all sat down to
+listen and wait, the strange forest sounds coming faintly to their ears,
+mingled with the occasional mutterings of their guard.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+NED IS OBSTINATE.
+
+Tim acted his part well.  He strolled out from his "panthry," and
+sauntered along to where the chief of the guard stood gazing at him
+sternly; and trusting to the pretty good smattering of Malay he had
+picked up, he said quietly: "Going to be on guard all night?"  The Malay
+nodded.
+
+"Sorry for you," said Tim, beginning to fill his pipe.  "I did six
+months' soldiering myself when I was a mere lad, and it was hard work
+keeping awake on sentry-go."
+
+He struck a match and lit his pipe, lighting up the scowling face of the
+guard and his own good-humoured phiz.
+
+"I say," he continued, "next boat you gentlemen overhaul, look sharp
+after the matches, if they've brought any up from Malacca, for we're
+getting short, and I don't care to take to the flint and steel."
+
+Tim nodded and went on, smoking, to make the round of the place,
+stopping to say a word or two to the other armed men in his easy
+good-tempered way, seasoning his remarks with a joke or two, while the
+lightning flickered in a bank of black clouds across the river.
+
+By degrees he made his way back to the head-man, and began to talk
+confidentially.
+
+"I say," he said, "I suppose we shall all be big people now, when the
+rajah has married me young lady."
+
+The Malay laughed softly, contemptuously.  "Oh yes," he said.  "Perhaps
+he'll make you Muntrie or Tumongong."
+
+"Get out, making fun of a boy," said Tim, good-humouredly.  "Well,
+good-luck to you, I've nearly finished my pipe.  I'm tired, and going in
+to sleep.  Take care of us.  Good-night."
+
+The Malay wished him good-night, and Tim turned to go, but stopped and
+pulled out his pouch.
+
+"Have a bit o' tibakky!" he said.  "It's the master's.  Some the rajah
+gave him."
+
+The Malay nodded eagerly, and Tim gave him two or three pipefuls.
+
+"Here," he said, "I've got a lot.  The master don't like it, and tells
+me to help myself.  I'll fetch a bit for the other boys."
+
+Tim lounged off, and at the end of a few minutes, with a small basket
+made of thin strips of bamboo, and still smoking, sauntered up to the
+head-man.
+
+"Call 'em up," he said, in a low voice.  "Don't talk loud; they've not
+gone to bed yet indoors."
+
+The Malay gave Tim a peculiar searching look, but the Irishman was
+tapping the ash out of his pipe and putting it in his pocket, after
+which he took a brass box from the basket just as the Malay uttered a
+low guttural sound, and his men stole up silently one by one.
+
+"Whisht!" said Tim.  "Tibakky;" and he divided about half the contents
+of the box, the leaf being eagerly received and deposited in a fold of
+the sarong.
+
+"Whisht!" said Tim again, after a stealthy glance back at the house, and
+putting the tobacco back, he drew out a bottle.  "Will you drink the new
+ranee's health?"
+
+His question was received in utter silence.
+
+"No!" said Tim.  "I thought you wouldn't, and I'm sorry for your
+religion.  Well, I will.  Long life to my darling young misthress!"
+
+He took out the cork, passed his hand over the top of the bottle, and
+then applying it to his lips, took a long gurgling draught, swallowing
+pretty well a pint before he lowered the flask, the Malays gazing
+longingly at him as he drank.
+
+"I'm sorry for you, boys," said Tim; "for that's a drop of good stuff,"
+and he replaced the bottle.  "But, look here," he said, with a laugh,
+"left from up-stairs;" and holding up the basket, he took out a cake or
+sweet of the kind cleverly concocted by the Malay women, and began to
+eat.  "Any one do a bit in this way!" he continued, with his mouth full.
+
+If he had offered the bottle now, they would have drunk from it to a
+man, and after a momentary pause the chief of the guard took a cake from
+the basket, broke off a scrap, removed his betel-nut, tasted the sweet,
+took a good bite, and uttered a low guttural order; which resulted in
+each man taking a cake, the last man growing excited from the belief
+that they would not go round; but there was just one each, and the
+head-man spoke again, with the result that his men went back to their
+posts eating greedily, while Tim stood in the darkness trembling with
+excitement.
+
+"Well," he said, fearing to betray himself; "now then for my snooze.
+Good-night!"
+
+The Malay laid his hand upon his shoulder.  "Stop!" he said, "let me
+taste from the bottle."
+
+"Don't apologise," said Tim, wilfully misunderstanding him.  "I was
+always the man to respect any one who stood by his religion, and so was
+my mother before me.  Good-night."
+
+Tim turned into the house.  "Oh, murther," he muttered, returning to his
+own tongue; "the wine might have shpoilt the docthor's rat poison.  What
+an eshcape!"
+
+"Well?" whispered Mr Braine and the doctor in a breath, as Tim appeared
+looking white and scared.
+
+"Oh, they've tuk it, ivery mother's son of thim, gintlemen; an' if they
+all die, docthor, don't go and say it was me doing when I'm not here."
+
+"Die?  Nonsense!"
+
+"Oh no, it isn't, sor, and I've made a dhreadful mistake."
+
+"Mistake?  Failed?" cried Mr Braine, horrified.
+
+"Sure no, sor, I haven't failed; I've succayded too much."
+
+"But you said you had made a mistake, man."
+
+"Yes, sor.  I tuk wan of the cakes meself."
+
+The announcement was received with a blank look of despair.
+
+"Sure sor, don't stand looking at me loike that, please.  Thin aren't ye
+going to give me an anecdote?"
+
+"No antidote would be available, my poor fellow.  But how could you make
+such a blunder?  I showed you so carefully."
+
+"Sure ye did, sor, but I was a bit flurried."
+
+"You ate a cake?"
+
+"Oh yes, sor," said Tim, dismally.  "I ate wan, and I didn't taste the
+shtuff till it was down."
+
+"But you couldn't taste it, man."
+
+"Sure, sor, but I did quite sthrong," groaned Tim, sinking on one of the
+divans.
+
+"But tell me, how do you feel?"
+
+"Horrid bad, sor; shlapy, and it's creeping up me legs.  Ye'll have to
+carry me or lave me behind."
+
+"Whatever can we do?" said Mr Braine.
+
+"Perhaps exertion and the night air will revive him," said the doctor.
+"I'll give him something too."
+
+He hastily mixed a draught, which Tim drank gratefully, and then lay
+back with Frank supporting his head.
+
+"How long will it be before the potion acts on the men?" said Mr
+Braine.
+
+"Very few minutes before it begins, but of course not on all alike.
+Some one must steal down and watch."
+
+"I'll go," said Frank, and creeping down to the lower rooms--the sheds
+used by the women and Tim--he stood close to the door, and then by
+degrees from bush to bush, on and on, till in less than half an hour he
+was back with the expectant group.
+
+"They are all sleeping heavily," he said.  "How is Tim?"
+
+His father pointed to the divan, where the man lay apparently
+insensible, with Mr Greig bathing his head.
+
+"It is all over," said Braine, sadly; "we cannot leave the poor fellow."
+
+"Oh!" cried Frank, dashing at the man and shaking him violently.
+
+"All right.  Moind me head, Masther Frank!  I'm ready, sor."
+
+"Can you walk?"
+
+"Can I walk?  Hark at him," said Tim, drowsily.  "I'll show ye all."
+
+"Here, we'll try," said Mr Braine.  "Take these.  Put the revolver in
+his breast.  Can you carry a gun, man?"
+
+"For sartain," said Tim, stupidly.
+
+"Then ready.  Not a moment is to be lost," whispered Mr Braine.  "Lead
+the way, Frank, and if we by chance are separated, every one is to make
+for the tall clump of trees this side of the stockade."
+
+"And chirp like this," said Frank, imitating a bird.  "That will bring
+the boat."
+
+"Then forward.  Not a word."
+
+They stepped out on to the veranda, and gazed down into the black
+darkness, with the lightning still quivering and flickering in the
+distance.
+
+All was perfectly still in the garden for a few moments, and then there
+was a heavy stertorous breathing, which sounded louder as they descended
+and passed quickly on down to the gate; Tim staggering a little, but
+keeping step for step with the doctor, who supported him by the arm.
+
+Frank led as he had been instructed, and heard the heavy breathing to
+right and left; but it was not until he reached the entrance that he
+really came in contact with the guards, for there lay one right across
+the path, and another had his arms folded on the bamboo top rail of the
+gate, and hindered further progress.
+
+To step over the prostrate man was easy, but this other completely
+barred the way.  Frank waited till his father came up, and he heard him
+draw his breath heavily, and stand thinking.
+
+"We cannot stand over trifles now," said Mr Braine.  "Desperate
+remedies are our only hope;" and, after hesitating a moment or two, he
+gently passed his arm round the soft lithe body of the Malay, lifted him
+from the gate, and let him sink to the ground beside his companion.
+
+Those were critical moments, and all looked on trembling; but the man
+only muttered a little, and, with a heavy sigh, went off into a deeper
+sleep.
+
+The party stood listening for a few moments, and then started for the
+stockade, in and out among houses and gardens, where all was silent save
+the occasional cackle and movement of the game-fowls many of the people
+kept.  Twice they heard voices, but the place seemed to be pretty well
+plunged in slumber, and, with his spirits rising moment by moment, Frank
+hurried on, with Amy close behind him, till the houses were left behind
+without a soul being encountered; but now, as they neared the river,
+there were other dangers to fear.
+
+Of the reptiles Frank thought little.  The danger was from the naga that
+was always patrolling the stream night and day, especially the former,
+on the look-out for trading vessels trying to slip by in the darkness
+and in the silence of the night.  Knowing how sound travelled, he was in
+agony lest there should be word or whisper to excite the Malays'
+suspicion.
+
+But fortune favoured them.  He caught sight of the dark hulls of the
+prahus, but the boat was invisible, and as Frank crept on along the
+river-bank listening to the strange sighings and splashings of the
+river, he at last made out the great tree beneath which he had rescued
+Ned from a horrible death, and a quarter of a mile farther on, through
+the wet untrampled shore-growth, where twice over he heard the rushing
+and splash of some reptile, he paused by a thick bed of reeds and grass,
+with bushes overhanging the river's edge.
+
+Here he stopped till the others joined him--Tim still staggering on with
+the doctor's help--and then moved forward again by a tall palm.
+
+He listened, and everything but the splashing of fish and reptiles was
+still.  There was no dipping of oar or creak of bamboo against wood.
+
+Suddenly a low chirping sound rose from the midst of the party, and was
+answered from a dozen yards distant.  Then came the rustling of some one
+forcing his way through the bushes, and Ned stood among them, silently
+grasping hand after hand.
+
+"I was afraid they'd got you, Frank," he said.
+
+"No; it's all right."
+
+"But where's my uncle?"
+
+There was silence, and then Mr Braine explained their position.
+
+"I see," said Ned, firmly; "but we cannot stir from here without him."
+
+"No; we are going to get him out at any cost."
+
+"How?" said Ned.
+
+"Hist! speak lower," whispered Mr Braine.  "Drop down in the boat to
+the point nearest his house, and there part of us land."
+
+"But you say he is guarded."
+
+"Yes.  The case is desperate.  But, first of all, let's get on board."
+
+"No," said Ned; "you are going to forsake him.  I will not go."
+
+"I give you my word as a gentleman, sir," said Mr Braine, coldly.
+
+Ned said no more, but acting as guide, led the way down to the boat,
+where, with Hamet's help, the ladies, arms, and ammunition were placed
+on board, and they all followed after, literally rolling Tim in over the
+side, to lie perfectly helpless at the bottom.
+
+"Safe so far," said Mr Braine, as they crouched together in the
+fore-part, while the ladies were under the thatch awning shivering with
+dread.
+
+"Catch hold, Ned.  You too, Hamet," whispered Frank, who, remembering
+his own sufferings, thrust some food into the fasting pair's hands.
+
+"Now," said Mr Braine, "there is no better plan.  About three hundred
+yards below the big tree, by that cluster of palms."
+
+"The prahus are near there," said Frank.
+
+"A full hundred yards lower, boy," said his father.  "You lads will keep
+the boat while we land."
+
+"I am coming too," said Ned.
+
+"No," whispered Mr Braine, angrily.  "Take my orders, and keep the way
+of retreat open for us."
+
+"I am not going to leave my uncle in that danger without coming to
+help," said Ned, stubbornly.
+
+"Then come," said Mr Braine, angrily, but admiring the boy's
+determination all the same.  "Now then, revolvers only, and they are
+only to be used if cunning fails.  How many do we muster if it comes to
+a fight?"
+
+"Hamet will come, father," said Frank.
+
+"To save master?  Yes," said the Malay, quietly.
+
+"Four, Ned five," said Mr Braine.  "Oh, if that poor fellow had not
+made the mistake.  He is brave as--as--"
+
+"An Irishman," said the doctor.
+
+"Yes, as an Irishman or a Scot."
+
+"But I don't think he's so very bad, father," whispered Frank.--"Here, I
+say, Tim.  There's a fight."
+
+"Foight?  Eh!" said Tim, struggling up, and rubbing his eyes.
+
+"Hush! whisper."
+
+"But who said there was going to be a foight?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Where?  Come on!"
+
+"Hush!  Don't speak so loud.  He's right enough, father."
+
+"Then push the boat carefully out of this wilderness, and in Heaven's
+name let's go."
+
+Hamet unfastened a rattan line, and the boat began to glide downward at
+once, with bush and leaf scratching and rustling against side and
+thatch, till they were clear of the dark vegetable tunnel into which it
+had been thrust the previous morning.  Then taking a pole, the Malay
+punted it along close in-shore, thrusting the metal-shod staff quietly
+down till, when they had gone about a hundred yards in the profound
+darkness beneath the trees, the point struck on something hard, when
+instantly there was a tremendous eddying swirl, the boat rocked, and
+Hamet said quietly, "Crocodile."
+
+A couple of minutes later Mr Braine pointed to the spot where he wished
+to land, and the boat was cleverly brought in close to the bank, here so
+steep that it lay invisible from the shore, the overhanging boughs
+hiding it from any one upon the river.
+
+"Now, Frank," whispered his father, "there must be absolute silence.
+Not a word must be spoken.  You and Mr Greig must keep the boat.  You
+will be sure to hear us coming, so stand ready to cast off."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Right," said Greig.
+
+"And if matters come to the worst, let the boat drop down the river.
+Save the ladies, and try to get help."
+
+"Yes, father," said Frank huskily.  "Are you going to tell them what you
+are about to do?"
+
+"No.  Now then, ashore!  Quick!"
+
+One of the first to step quickly and silently out of the boat was Tim,
+and a minute later the boat-keepers saw the party disappear into the
+darkness; and then Frank sat there listening to a faint sigh or two, the
+rippling of the water beneath the boat, and trying to make out the shape
+of the nearest prahu.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+UP THE RIVER.
+
+A halt was made as soon as the little party were well away from the
+boat, for arms to be examined, and a plan of attack arranged.
+
+Hamet listened respectfully till it had been decided that the only way
+was for the party to creep up silently, seize and bind the guard, and
+then retreat at once--a rather reckless proceeding, but one that seemed
+to them the most likely to succeed--and then he whispered a few words to
+Ned.
+
+"Hamet proposes, sir, that we should try to communicate with my uncle
+from the back of the house or the roof.  He says he could climb the
+durian tree and break through quietly."
+
+"Then let him try," said Mr Braine, eagerly.  "We will be ready to
+support him and attack if it is necessary."
+
+Hamet drew in his breath at these words, and assuming the lead, took the
+party round through garden after garden, till they were only a few yards
+from the house, where they stood listening to a low, murmured
+conversation, which told where the guards had stationed themselves; and
+then going down on hands and knees, he crept away from them, leaving the
+others breathless with excitement, and listening for the alarm.
+
+In a couple of minutes the Malay was back to catch Ned's hand and draw
+him away, to put in force the tactics which had enabled him to rescue
+the two lads on the previous night.
+
+Ned followed him with beating heart, till they were beside one of the
+palm-tree posts which supported the house, and then submitting to the
+Malay's busy hands, he found himself placed with his arms grasping the
+post and his body curved a little, and comprehending the man's plans, he
+stood firm, while Hamet reached up as high as he could, planted one bare
+foot on the boy's back, the other on his shoulder, and then the bamboo
+supports of the matting walls creaked softly, as with the agility of a
+monkey he passed along to where the durian tree stretched a branch over
+the roof, upon which, by the help of the bough, he managed to swing
+himself, and then all was silent again.
+
+Thump--thump--thump--thump.  Ned felt his heart beat as he listened to
+the murmuring of the Malay guards' voices which came under the house,
+and as the boy stood there, his ears were strained for the next noise
+Hamet might make, wondering the while whether the guard would hear.
+
+He was so near the spot where Murray would be lying, that he felt he had
+only to raise his voice a little to announce their presence, but he
+dared not speak.  Then he started, for he knew that Hamet was at work,
+for there was a faint rustling, with an occasional crack, as of the
+breaking of a leaf; and as the boy stood there in the darkness, he knew
+that Hamet was cautiously cutting through the attap thatch, scrap by
+scrap, for now little pieces no bigger than elm-leaves began to fall
+about him.
+
+This went on for what seemed to be an interminable length of time, and
+he began wondering how a Malay who knew so well how his
+fellow-countrymen made a roof, could be so long in making a hole big
+enough for a human body to pass, when a familiar voice close to his ear,
+as it seemed to him, exclaimed:
+
+"Who's there?  Stop, or I fire."
+
+"Oh, uncle!" panted Ned to himself; "how could you be so stupid."
+
+Then he threw himself down, for there was the quick movement of feet,
+the familiar creaking of the bamboo steps in front, that he had so often
+ascended and descended, and then his uncle's voice said loudly:
+
+"Nothing wrong.  Water--water!"  And as if to himself--"I don't suppose
+they understand a word."
+
+But it was evident that they comprehended the last word, for the bamboo
+floor creaked, and Ned plainly heard the sound of some one drinking.
+Then came the words, "Thank you;" the floor and steps creaked again, and
+after all had been silent for what seemed to be half an hour, the boy
+rose to his feet again, conscious that Hamet was hard at work, for the
+scraps fell fast.
+
+Then came a pause, the faint creaking of the floor as if Murray had
+turned round, a dull expiration of the breath as of some one breathing
+very hard; and as Ned stood grasping the pillar, he felt that the slight
+house was quivering slightly.
+
+Ned's heart beat now fast, and in imagination he saw his uncle hanging
+from Hamet's hands and being drawn upward toward the sloping roof.
+
+Another creak, a loud rustle, and he knew that he had climbed--half
+drawn--through the palm thatch, and the pair were about to descend.
+
+"Quick, quick!" thought Ned, "before they hear you;" and longing to go
+to Murray's help, he strained his head back and tried to pierce the
+thick darkness.
+
+All at once there was an ominous crack, a violent rustling sound, and
+then a sharp jerk or check.
+
+Murray had slipped, and was coming down fast, but he had saved himself,
+and from overhead now came a sharp whisper, "Quick!"
+
+The command was needed, for the guard had taken the alarm.  There was
+the rush of feet, a louder scrambling from above, and Hamet and Murray
+dropped down into the arms of the guards who came running under and
+round the house.
+
+The struggle had commenced, and though Murray fought bravely, he had
+been taken at a disadvantage, and the help had come, apparently, in
+vain.
+
+For, realising that the attempt had failed, Mr Braine and the doctor
+rushed to the assistance of the others, and a fierce melee ensued in the
+darkness, wherein the fresh comers, who dared not use their revolvers
+for fear of injuring friends, devoted their principal efforts to keeping
+the enemy from using their krises, weapons admirably suited for a close
+encounter.
+
+It was only a matter of a minute or two.
+
+"Murray--is Murray there?" cried the doctor.
+
+"Yes," came from the ground.  "I'm held--two men.  Never mind me--save
+yourselves."
+
+The fierce struggle went on almost in silence, for the Malays as they
+wrestled with the Englishmen, sought more to take prisoners than to
+strike, and uttered a low growling noise, more like that of wild beasts
+than men.
+
+"It's of no use," whispered the doctor.  "Braine, Ned, Hamet, make for
+the boat."
+
+"Yes, quick! escape!" cried Murray, after a tremendous effort to get
+free.
+
+"No, no," cried Ned, hoarsely, wresting his arm from the doctor's
+clutch; and with a short run he sprang upon one of the men who were
+holding Murray down.
+
+The sudden action and the weight of his body in his leap drove the Malay
+from his hold, and, freed thus from one enemy, Murray made another
+desperate effort as Ned rolled over, got his right arm free, dashed his
+fist into his enemy's face, and sprang up.
+
+"Now!" he panted, "all together for the boat."
+
+He was striking out right and left now with nature's weapons, sending
+one man down, and keeping others at bay.
+
+"Where's Ned?" he panted.
+
+"Never mind me, uncle; run!" cried the boy.
+
+"By-and-by," muttered Murray, striking out again and repeating his
+nephew's manoeuvre, but with the addition of a blow on the ear which
+knocked over the man seated on Ned.
+
+"Now then, are you ready?" cried Murray, as Ned sprang up; and the
+Malays now gathered together, and after a few moments pause: "Look out!"
+cried Murray, "spears!" for the enemy were coming on again.  But at that
+moment the doctor and Mr Braine pressed to the front, and four flashes,
+followed by the sharp reports of their revolvers, checked the assailants
+for the moment, and the party began to retreat rapidly.
+
+But shouting excitedly now, the Malays pressed on, and two spears
+whistled by the ears of the retreating party.
+
+"Ah, ye cowards!" cried a familiar voice; "tak that then," and shot
+after shot was rapidly fired, one of which was followed by a hoarse cry,
+and a man went down.
+
+"Sure, I forgot all about it before," said Tim; "and I hadn't so much as
+a shtick."
+
+"Silence!" said Mr Braine, sternly.  "Don't fire again without orders.
+Forward, quick!"
+
+It was quite time, for there was a loud confused noise of voices from
+all sides now, and, greatest danger of all, from the river to which they
+were hastening fast.  Lights were gleaming amongst the trees, some of
+which Mr Braine saw were from the prahus, and it was evident that they
+would soon have an attack to repel from that side.
+
+"No, no," whispered Hamet, just then.  "This way."
+
+For in his excitement Mr Braine was leading the party wide of the boat,
+which was reached at last, just as lanterns were moving on the river,
+and voices were shouting from different directions.
+
+"Now for it!" whispered Mr Braine.  "Quick!  All in!  Every man take an
+oar.  We must make a dash for it.  The stream will help us.  Don't
+attempt to fire unless they board."
+
+"No, no," cried Hamet again, as they struggled into their places; and
+there was so much authority in his tones, that for a while all paused,
+and the Malay silently took one of the poles from the side, and keeping
+the boat well under the shelter of the bank, forced her up stream
+instead of down, always keeping close to the shore.
+
+Mr Braine saw the wisdom of the act directly, for the boat progressed
+slowly and without a splash, being a good thirty yards away as Murray's
+guards reached the bank just below where they had embarked.
+
+An eager shouting and interchange of questions followed; two lights were
+seen moving down stream in a zigzag way, and all at once a dazzling blue
+light began to burn a couple of hundred yards from them, lighting up one
+of the prahus moored in mid-stream; but though every figure on the large
+vessel, and the shape of another near, stood out plain, the fugitives
+were in darkness, and though they felt that they must be seen, Hamet
+worked calmly and steadily with his pole, sending the boat higher and
+higher, the force of the stream being only slight so close to the bank.
+
+Then, again, the wisdom of his plan became evident, for the bank was now
+dotted with dammar torches, and their swarthy bearers could be seen
+holding them over the water as they hurried down stream toward where the
+closing in of the jungle would soon preclude further progress on foot.
+
+The blue light burning in a vessel on the first prahu died out, but
+before it was extinct another flamed up from the second prahu, and the
+scene was wonderfully picturesque to the little party still moving up
+stream.  Both banks were lit up, with the shapes of the trees standing
+out distinct and clear, while the river seemed to flow on like
+glittering steel, on which, growing distinct now, three nagas were
+visible for a few moments and then disappeared.
+
+By this time Hamet's efforts had sent the boat four hundred yards above
+the last prahu, and as he grew more distant, his strokes grew quicker
+and less cautious, till it was wonderful what speed one pair of arms
+kept up.
+
+And now for the first time Mr Braine leant forward to the man and
+whispered: "Well done; but you are taking us farther from safety."
+
+"No," said Hamet, quietly.  "Up the river.  Hide.  Some night creep
+down.  Back to Dindong."
+
+"Yes.  I see," said Mr Braine.  "He is right."
+
+Silence was preserved once more, and Hamet kept on so close in-shore
+that the overhanging boughs swept the thatched roof of the boat.  Then
+all at once he thrust down his pole deep into the gravelly sand, and, as
+it were, anchored the boat.
+
+"Now," he said, panting with his exertions; "all take oars and row."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Braine, eagerly, and the oars were seized; but Hamet
+uttered a low "hist!" and all listened.
+
+For a few moments English ears failed to catch that which had struck
+upon the more keen sense of the Malay, but soon enough they could hear
+beat--beat--beat--beat--the sound of rapidly plied oars, and it was
+plain that a naga had now come up the river in pursuit.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+A DETERMINED PURSUIT.
+
+"Lost!" said Murray, bitterly.
+
+"No," replied Mr Braine, quietly; "they have to take us yet."
+
+"Hist!" whispered Hamet, and parting the overhanging boughs, he forced
+the boat in till, as far as they could tell, they were hidden--a branch
+acting as anchor--and they listened to the water rippling by them, and
+the beat, beat, of the oars.
+
+Sound travels so rapidly over smooth water, that it was long before the
+fugitives could feel that the boat was close at hand.  Then, on it sped
+nearer, and above the sound of the oars came that of voices in low,
+angry discussion.  Two of the leaders were evidently disputing, and
+their words were plain to three at least on board.
+
+Abreast now, and becoming then just visible through the drooping boughs,
+and as Ned and Frank sat together, hand clasped in hand, the unspoken
+question was: "Will any of the keen eyes on board see us."
+
+"Our escape cut off this way," thought Ned, the next moment; and then he
+placed his lips close to Frank's ear and whispered, for the boy had
+suddenly given his hand a quick pressure.
+
+"What did they say?"
+
+"It was the Muntrie," whispered Frank in the same way.  "Says there is
+no boat missing, and that we can't be on the river.  The only boat out
+is the one up by, where we are in prison."
+
+"Hist!" came from Hamet, and instead of the sound of oars growing
+fainter, they waxed loud.
+
+The boat had been turned, and swept by them again down stream, the
+search being deemed useless.
+
+Ten minutes after, when the beat of oars had died away, the boat was
+thrust out again, and all joined now in sending her up stream with a
+quiet steady stroke, which was kept to for a couple of hours; and then
+all at once the river mist began to be flushed with opal tints, the
+haggard faces of the occupants of the boat grew plain, and marks of
+blood were detected and rapidly washed away.
+
+The bright sunshine and some refreshment sent a gleam of hopefulness
+into every breast, and the men rowed on with renewed energy.  They were
+all together now, and if they could manage to sustain life for a few
+days, they would be able either to reach the campong of the neighbouring
+rajah, and throw themselves on his mercy, or, after hiding, drop down
+the river some dark night.
+
+As the sun rose higher, their exertions began to tell; the strokes given
+by Frank and Ned grew more feeble, and a suitable place being found, the
+boat was run in under shelter among the overhanging boughs, and an
+hour's rest taken.  Then once more forward, in spite of the heat, till
+well on in the afternoon, when, as Frank and Ned were again resting, and
+the boat was slowly making way against the stream, Ned spoke, for the
+first time for quite an hour.
+
+"I suppose we've passed the place where they took us."
+
+"Eh?" cried Frank, starting.  "I don't know.  I forgot that.  I say,
+Hamet, hadn't we better go on the other side of the river?"
+
+He had hardly uttered the words, when a spear flew from among the bushes
+not many yards away, and stuck in the bottom of the boat close to where
+Hamet was seated.
+
+Mr Braine snatched his revolver from his waist and fired in the
+direction of the enemy, who replied with a couple more spears, both of
+which fell short, dropping into the water with a light splash, for Hamet
+had made a tremendous sweep with his oar, and sent the boat's head round
+toward the farther shore, so that in a minute or two they were out of
+danger.
+
+"I will not fire again," Mr Braine said; "not that it much matters, for
+these men will warn any boat which follows that we have gone by."
+
+At last the heat began to be less oppressive, and better progress was
+made.  The party were divided into two crews, one of which rested while
+the other pulled, the four ladies insisting all through the night in
+taking an oar, so that as the sun rose next morning, they had reached
+the spot where the party had made their first exploring trip--the open
+park-like tract beyond the jungle, with a view of the hill-country in
+the distance.
+
+"Why not halt here for a few hours!" the doctor said.  "It is impossible
+for us to go on without getting food, and to stop at any village means
+danger."
+
+His propositions were acceded to, and the boat run into a nook, where it
+was hidden from any one passing along the river; and the possibility and
+risk of shooting something to supplement their supplies were being
+discussed, when once more Hamet raised his hand.
+
+There it was again, the faint beat of oars a long distance off, but
+plainly indicating pursuit; and with the knowledge that the enemy on the
+bank would tell of their passing, it was decided to land at once and
+strike for the hills.  The mist would hide them for the time, and if
+their boat was not discovered, it would still be available after the
+danger had passed.
+
+Very few minutes had elapsed before they were all ashore, and once more
+taking the way through the park-like country, Frank acting as guide, and
+taking care to keep his party well hidden from the river; an easy enough
+task, as the open glades were well furnished with clumps of trees, each
+of which acted as a screen from any one who might be in pursuit.
+
+Of this, however, as the hours passed, there seemed no sign, and place
+after place was recognised in passing.  The morning was glorious, and to
+the great satisfaction of all, game was seen to be sufficiently
+plentiful to set famine at defiance.  But, of course, no shot was fired,
+the efforts of all being devoted to reaching the hills, where the first
+halt would be made for rest and food.
+
+The comparative coolness of the air as they ascended, the lovely scenery
+of the higher ground, and the feeling of hopefulness that danger was
+escaped, at all events for the present, made the long tramp pleasant;
+and the ladies laughingly disclaimed all feelings of fatigue, when Mr
+Braine called a halt beneath a huge tree high up on the slope they had
+ascended, and from which they had their first glimpse of the river they
+had left.
+
+They had just seated themselves about the baskets, and were laughingly
+sharing out the shrunken remains of the provisions hastily gathered,
+when the doctor said, "How long do you think it will be before the Rajah
+gives up the pursuit?" when Tim, who had been getting his breakfast
+ready, as he merrily whispered to the boys, and withdrawn to take it in
+smoke some distance apart, suddenly jogged his master's elbow.
+
+"What is it, Tim?  Oh yes; you are not forgotten.  This is our--"
+
+"Sure, we're none of us forgotten," whispered Tim, pointing.
+
+And there, to the horror of the party, in a bend of the river, and
+apparently close to the spot where they had landed, lay two large prahus
+in the broad sunshine.
+
+Every eye was fixed upon them as they glided straight in their direction
+along one of the bends of the winding river.
+
+"Well, he means to capture us," said Mr Braine, quietly, as the prahus
+disappeared behind the trees; "but he will have to land his men, and
+even if they came on at once, it must be hours before they reached here.
+So breakfast, dinner, or whatever it is, and then another start."
+
+The sight of the prahus did not act as an appetiser, but the meal was
+eaten, great care being exercised that no traces of their stay were
+scattered about, and then once more the word was "Forward!" and the
+tramp for safety recommenced in silence.
+
+As they went on, Frank pointed to where Murray had shot his various
+specimens and found the pieces of tin ore; and they went on higher till
+a comparatively open spot was reached before crossing, where, as they
+were now so high, Frank stopped to reconnoitre, gazing down with shaded
+eyes into the plain and along the park-like slope they had ascended.
+
+"I can't see any sign of the prahus, Frank," said Ned.  "There's nothing
+on the river.  Oh!"
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Something flashed half a mile away there.  Look down to the left of
+that great tree.  That's the one where we stopped to eat."
+
+"Spears.  I see," whispered Frank.  "Here, Hamet."
+
+The man stepped to his side.
+
+"Look!"
+
+Hamet crept forward and peered between the leaves of a bush, and gazed
+down for some moments in silence.  Then turning, he said calmly:
+
+"Thirteen of the rajah's men.  They are tracking us by the marks we have
+left, and will overtake us in less than an hour."
+
+This was spoken in broken English, but no speech was ever more
+impressive to the hearers, and the gentlemen pressed together, while the
+ladies listened as if to their fate.
+
+"Well," said Mr Braine, hoarsely.  "You see.  What do you say?
+Surrender or fight?"
+
+"Fight," said Murray, after exchanging a glance with Amy; and the two
+boys uttered a faint "Hurrah!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+OVERCOME.
+
+"Now forward," said Mr Braine in a low earnest voice.  "The plan will
+be to keep on till we come upon a place that we can hold against attack.
+Frank, Ned, lead on with the ladies; we will come last.  Quick, and in
+silence.  Single file."
+
+Frank led on, but at the end of half an hour no likely spot had been
+found, and distant shouts told that their pursuers were closing in.
+
+Mr Braine came now to the front.
+
+"We must have some place found at once, boys," he whispered, avoiding
+the inquiring looks of the ladies.  "If it is only a patch of rocks or a
+dense clump of trees."
+
+But no such spot offered itself, and on all hands he could see how
+easily they would be surrounded and at the mercy of the enemy.
+
+At the end of another quarter of an hour they were approaching a steeper
+place than usual, but their pursuers were very near now, and the
+gentlemen owned to themselves that though they might shoot down a few of
+their enemies, the Malays would certainly conquer; when Ned, who had
+been staring about him wildly for some minutes, suddenly uttered a low
+cry.
+
+"Here, quick!" he cried.  "Follow me;" and turning at a sharp angle to
+the left, he seemed to be going almost back to the enemy.
+
+"Stop!  Are you mad?" whispered Murray, dashing after the boy and
+seizing his arm.
+
+"No.  I know the place: this way."
+
+"Yes, follow him," said Mr Braine.  "He may know;" and without
+hesitation he ran after Ned for a few hundred yards, till the boy
+stopped to gaze about him wildly, as the voices of their pursuers were
+now very plainly heard.
+
+"It was somewhere about here--somewhere about here," whispered Ned.
+"Yes, I know!  Here!"
+
+He pointed to a narrow rift just before him, and into this, as the
+ladies came up, he led them; the others followed, and they had hardly
+all passed from the heat and glow of the day into the cool darkness of
+the cavern into which Ned had slipped on his first expedition, when a
+big swarthy-looking Malay brushed by the bushes which masked the
+entrance, followed by two more, who paused and shouted.
+
+"The heathens!" muttered Tim, who was the last to enter; "they've found
+us, and I've lost me poipe."
+
+There was an answering shout, and the men went on, while those in the
+cave breathed more freely.  They were for the moment safe.
+
+There was shout after shout, now more distant, now close at hand, for,
+to the dismay of the fugitives, the Malays did not go far, but, as if
+scenting their prey, turned back, and came by the narrow crack again and
+again, and those within wondered that they passed it unseen, for the
+eager excited faces of the Malays were plain enough, and once they were
+not more than twenty yards away.
+
+"There is some reason for their hanging about," whispered Mr Braine, as
+he stood there pistol in hand.  "They must know of the place."
+
+As he spoke there was a fresh shout, and four spear-armed men came to
+where the big fellow the fugitives had before seen was standing, rolling
+his opal eyes in every direction.
+
+There was an answering shout from high up overhead, and as Ned stood
+gazing out past Mr Braine, he saw one of the men down the slope give a
+sudden leap, stoop down, and after securing something, hold up a
+bamboo-and-reed pipe.
+
+"Bedad, they've found it," murmured Tim.  "It fell out of me pocket."
+
+"You've lost us now, Tim," whispered Frank.
+
+"Whisht, sor.  I couldn't help it.  I haven't been meself since I took
+the masther's rat poison."
+
+"You didn't, Tim.  Father told me.  You drank too much wine."
+
+"Murther!  Masther Frank.  Why, so it was.  It did get right into me
+legs."
+
+"Silence!" whispered Mr Braine, sternly.  "Ready with your arms."
+
+He raised his revolver as he spoke, for the men who had disappeared had
+returned strengthened, and began to search eagerly about.  Then one of
+them uttered a cry, pointed, and, levelling their weapons, they came on.
+
+"Stand back!" roared Mr Braine, in their tongue; and he fired a shot
+over their heads.
+
+This checked them for a minute, and they drew back behind the bushes to
+begin throwing spears, but the missiles only struck against the rocks at
+the side of the rift, and finding their efforts vain, they paused for a
+few moments.  A few words ran from bush to bush, and Mr Braine
+whispered a warning, "Be ready;" and directly after, the more ominous
+word, "Fire!"
+
+It was time, for the Malays dashed forward, kris in hand, but from out
+of the cave a scattered volley of revolver shots greeted them so warmly
+that two dropped, and the others fell back, followed by their wounded
+companions.
+
+"A moment's respite," said Mr Braine.  "Reload.  We can beat them off."
+
+A moment's respite, but not a minute's, for there was a wild shriek from
+the interior of the cave, and a chill ran through Ned.  He had recalled
+the entrance to the place through which he had slipped, and he turned
+just as there was a rush, a burst of yells from within, answered by
+others from without, as the Malays again came on.
+
+Then there was a wild struggle, the pistols were useless, and now
+thoroughly mastered by their lithe antagonists, all the efforts of the
+last few hours proved to have been in vain, for Mr Braine, Murray, the
+doctor, Mr Greig, Tim, and the two boys lay bound where they had been
+dragged out among the bushes, with the ladies seated weeping by them,
+and only one of the unfortunate party spoke.
+
+It was Tim, who turned to the boys.
+
+"Look at that now," he said; "I niver had a chance, and I've murthered
+one hand hitting it against the wall."
+
+"Never mind," said Ned; "perhaps our time will come."
+
+"Faix thin, me lad, I'd like to hear it shtrike at wanst."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+A BAD RETURN.
+
+It was a dreary tramp down to the naga lying close beside their own,
+fastened to a tree on the river-bank; but though the two wounded men
+scowled at them, and even at the doctor who had offered to, and did
+dress their wounds, the rest of the Malays were respectful and friendly
+enough, for the Resident and doctor were favourites with them, and they
+could all recollect acts of kindness.  The ladies were helped over
+difficult parts, and refreshments and water were freely offered to those
+who had, as the Malays thought, naturally enough tried to escape, while
+they on their part had received orders to recapture them, and been
+successful.
+
+Then once more they were afloat, and for the first time Ned recognised
+their guardians of the jungle prison from which they had been rescued by
+Hamet, these men going back in their own boat, now reverted to its
+proper crew.
+
+So the two nagas floated gently down the stream in the afternoon,
+reaching the campong at last; but they went down so leisurely that it
+was dark when they reached the jetty, shouting and beating a gong to
+announce their return in triumph.
+
+Everything seemed very quiet at the village, and Ned tried to pierce the
+darkness and make out the place where they had lain in hiding, and that
+where they had landed to try to rescue Murray.
+
+"I say," whispered Frank, rousing up from the despondent state in which
+he had sunk, "try and count the prahus."
+
+Ned turned and looked in the other direction, but it was too dark, and
+he said he could not see.
+
+"I can't either, but it seemed as if there were four."
+
+The men sprang ashore, and secured the two boats before bidding their
+prisoners come out, and as one by one these landed, Mr Braine overheard
+a little of their conversation.
+
+"We are to be all taken straight up to the rajah's," he whispered.
+"Keep up your courage, and let's hope yet.  All may be well after all."
+
+"Very kind of you to say so, Mr Braine," replied the doctor, "but--"
+
+There was no time for further converse, the Malay head-man giving an
+order, and the whole party were marched off the jetty and up the broad
+path leading toward the rajah's; the crews of the two boats following
+with regular military step, till they reached a narrower part, where the
+way led between two houses, when suddenly, as if they had risen out of
+the earth, a body of men blocked the road, and guard and prisoners were
+halted.
+
+Then there were cries of excitement, and orders given to retreat, but
+another body of enemies blocked the road in their rear.
+
+For a few moments it seemed as if the prisoners were to be in the centre
+of a desperate encounter, but a few sharp commands sufficed to make the
+Malay guard sullenly give up their arms to a force ten times their
+number, and then the march toward the rajah's house was continued, but
+under a fresh guard now.
+
+"What is the matter?" whispered Ned.  "Is the rajah angry with them for
+taking us?"
+
+"I don't quite know," said Frank.  "It seems to me that--Wait a minute
+or two, it's so dark, and I can't make these men out."
+
+They were marched directly after into the enclosure, now a blaze of
+light from the number of lanterns and dammar torches stuck about.  The
+place, too, was filled with armed men, and as they were halted just at
+the foot of the steps, a Malay officer in scarlet and yellow came down,
+looked eagerly at the English party, and then signed to them to follow.
+
+Frank tried to get to his father, but he was not allowed to advance till
+the ladies had all ascended to the broad veranda; then both lads were
+ordered to go up, and they followed their seniors into the rajah's chief
+room, now brilliantly lit, and dotted with his chief men, while he sat
+on a bamboo stool at the far end in his gorgeous uniform as upon their
+first meeting, the Tumongong sitting upon a second stool upon his right.
+
+"Ugh! the old guy!" whispered Frank.  "I wish--I say, look--it isn't
+him.  Why, Ned, what's happened?"
+
+The reason for this exclamation was the rising of the Tumongong, to
+tower above the double rank of sword and regalia bearers on either side.
+And to the astonishment of all present, he stretched out his hands,
+and, in very fair English, as he took Amy's and kissed them, said:
+
+"My dear child, Allah be praised that you and yours are safe!  Mrs
+Braine, Mrs Barnes, welcome home."
+
+He kissed their hands in turn, and then greeted the gentlemen warmly
+before turning to the boys.  "Frank--Edward Murray," he said, "safe; no
+one hurt?  I am very, very glad."
+
+"But," cried Mr Braine, eagerly, "the rajah?"
+
+"I am the Rajah of Dah now," said the Malay chief with a touch of
+hauteur in his tones.  "Are you surprised?"
+
+"No," said Mr Braine, warmly.  "Thank God!  I knew that some day it
+must come."
+
+"When the fruit was dead ripe, it would fall," said the new rajah,
+solemnly.
+
+"And Sadi?"
+
+"The tyrant, the robber and oppressor of all who ascended and descended
+this river, is dead, sir, and with your help, I hope that a new period
+of peace will open on the land.  The time was ripe at last, and I sent
+to my ally here, Rajah Alleen."
+
+This chief rose and was presented to all in turn, bowing with Eastern
+dignity, and the scene would have been impressive but for the Malay's
+vanity.  The gorgeous military uniform of his enemy had excited his
+cupidity ever since reports had reached him of its splendour, and the
+minute he had made an almost bloodless seizure of the campong, he had
+claimed it as his spoil, received it readily from his friend the
+ex-Tumongong, and arrayed himself in it ready for the return of the
+English people, whom he wished to impress.
+
+He succeeded far above his expectations, for that night, when back at
+his old home, Frank said merrily:
+
+"Why, it don't fit him half so well as it did poor old Sadi."
+
+"No," assented Ned.  "But--dead! how horrible!"
+
+"Yes; one of his own men killed him, they say, for every one hated him
+except me."
+
+"And you liked him?"
+
+"No, I don't think I liked him," said Frank, taking up the kris Hamet
+had replaced in his hands; and then, with a shudder, hanging it upon the
+wall; "but he was always very kind to me."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+TIM PROVES HIMSELF A DRISCOL.
+
+But for the presence of two strange prahus and their enormous crews, who
+seemed more than could be packed in the long swift vessels, it seemed
+impossible to believe in the great change that had taken place.
+
+For the Resident, the doctor, the Greigs, and Murray were back in their
+houses, where the new rajah's people were constantly showing them tokens
+of their master's good-will.  The people of the campong were all _en
+fete_, and the place was given up to rejoicings as they began to realise
+that new days were in prospect, and a man might call his life his own.
+
+And not the least puzzled of the occupants of the place was Tim, who
+suddenly came confidentially to the boys as they sauntered back into the
+garden.
+
+"Masther Frank," he said, "will ye have the goodness to pinch me arm?"
+
+"Certainly, Tim," cried the boy.
+
+"Aisy lad, aisy.  Don't take the pace out.  Thank ye; it's all right.  I
+am wide awake."
+
+"Of course you are."
+
+"Oh, but I didn't know.  I thought perhaps the masther's rat poison was
+still on me strong."
+
+"Go along; it was the wine!"
+
+Tim's eyes twinkled, and just then he heard himself called, and hurried
+in.
+
+"It is a bit of a puzzle, Ned, isn't it?" said Frank.  "I could hardly
+believe it at first.  Hallo!  What now?"
+
+A party of the rajah's officers were at the gate to summon the doctor
+and Resident, with Murray and the boys, to an audience, both these
+gentlemen being at the doctor's house.
+
+His highness received them with a great display of genuine, manly
+dignity, and with a showy retinue about him.  He then spoke to his
+visitors in the Malay tongue, the Resident translating as of old, and
+bade them welcome to his court, assuring them of his friendship and of
+that of his people as long as they would stay.
+
+He was thanked, but there was considerable hesitation in the way in
+which his offers were received.  Then refreshments were handed round,
+and finally the court was dismissed, only the guards remaining outside,
+while the rajah led his visitors into an inner room, where coffee,
+sweets, and fruit stood on one mat, pipes on another.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," said the rajah, "pray seat yourselves, and we will
+smoke.  My dear boys, there are sweets and fruit for you till you wish
+to go."
+
+The boys did not wish to go, and as soon as they saw their elders
+settled down to their pipes, they began, as Frank expressed it, "just to
+try the fruit," and that fruit was tried, and obtained most favourable
+verdicts in every case.
+
+At the end of a short conversation, the Resident said respectfully:
+
+"May I ask your highness--?"
+
+"Stop," said the rajah, laying his hand upon the Resident's arm, while
+the boys looked on and listened, "we have known each other for some
+years now, and I hoped that I had merited your friendship."
+
+"Indeed, yes," said Mr Braine; "but you never trusted me even to
+speaking English, though I always felt that you could."
+
+"My dear Mr Braine," said the rajah, "if I had spoken English to you
+alone some day, I should have betrayed myself, and--believe me, I wished
+to live.  My predecessor was suspicious in the extreme, and you know how
+those fared whom he disliked."
+
+"Yes," said the Resident with a shudder.
+
+"I could speak English easily ten years ago.  And, now henceforth, when
+we are alone, let there be no formality.  You are an English gentleman.
+I have always tried to be a gentleman too."
+
+"You always have been one," said Mr Braine, warmly.
+
+"Thank you," said the rajah, holding out his hand.  "Then, now listen, I
+want the help of my friends.  By your guidance this land has grown
+powerful, but unfortunately it has been for evil.  I want it to be
+powerful now for good.  Stay with me as my friend and counsellor.--You,
+too, doctor, and Mr Greig; and as for you, Mr Murray, I am not quite
+the barbarian you think.  Let all those past troubles be as an ugly
+vision of the night.  Forget them and stay.  I can admire your pursuits,
+and it will give me great gratification if you will make this place your
+home.  My elephants and boats and men are at your service, and, of
+course, you are free to come and go as you please.  You hesitate!  Come,
+come; I implore you.  Doctor, you will not forsake me?"
+
+"Hang it, Tumongong--I beg pardon, I mean rajah, no."
+
+"There," said the rajah, laughing; "I have you too.  Murray, you will
+not go.  I am not blind."
+
+Murray held out his hand.
+
+"In the cause of science," he said, smiling, "I stay."
+
+"I ask for no more," said the rajah.  "Here boys," he cried, "you've had
+enough fruit; you are going to stop.  Frank, my lad, at any time you
+want anything, ask me for it as your old friend."
+
+"Thank you," cried Frank, eagerly; "then I want something now."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Give me a new kris."
+
+"Why?  A handsome one was given to you."
+
+"Yes," said Frank, with a slight twitching of the brows, "but I'm not
+going to wear that again."
+
+The rajah took one of two that he was wearing and gave it to the boy.
+
+"Keep it as my present," he said; "and I hope, boy, you will live to see
+the day when the kris has given place to good honest laws which protect
+people so that they can go unarmed."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+There needs no telling how, as soon as the rajah's ally had gone, the
+campong settled down to its everyday life, but that life grew more and
+more new.  The Resident and the doctor stayed; Mr Greig began to make
+trade flourish; and Murray went on with his collecting, working
+energetically for six months, when he was obliged to return to England
+with Ned.
+
+But they were both back again within six months more, and a friend of
+Murray's accompanied him.  He was a clergyman, but a great naturalist,
+and he joined his friend in collecting, till one day there was a great
+festival, for an English gentleman was married to an English lady, a
+certain Mr Wilson coming up from Dindong to be best-man.  Afterwards
+the happy pair went down the river and along the coast to Malacca to
+spend their honeymoon; while Ned Murray stayed at the campong to look
+after the specimens and enjoy himself to his heart's content.
+
+Then the happy pair came back, and there was constant talk of going back
+to England when the collecting was done; but the collecting never was
+done, and Murray set to work to write a book on the natural history of
+the place, that meant years of delightful work, so they stayed on to see
+the land improving month by month, and find the rajah their firmest
+friend.
+
+A couple of years had passed, when one day Frank, who had developed a
+great love for mineralogy, and Ned, who promised to be a great authority
+on botany, came upon Tim Driscol busily improving the Murrays' garden.
+
+"What are you doing, Tim?" said Ned.
+
+"Jist putting in a few of Miss Amy's--"
+
+"_Mrs_," said Frank, sharply, and Tim slapped his own mouth.
+
+"Av coorse," he said.  "A few crapers and a bit of chumpadah, and some
+scinted things she likes.  Oh, it's a baste of a place, but one must
+make the best of it."
+
+"Why don't you go back to the old country, then?" said Ned.
+
+Tim gave him a droll look.
+
+"Bekase I'm a Driscol, sor."
+
+"And what's that got to do with it?"
+
+"Sure, Masther Ned, there nivver was a Driscol yet who didn't know when
+he was well off."
+
+"Why, Ned," cried Frank, laughing, "he's a philosopher."
+
+"Yis, sor," said Tim, "and I get more so every day.  But, by your lave,
+when are you young gentlemen going back?"  They answered together: "I
+don't know."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
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