Tom Long rather overslept himself, but it was pretty early when he
started from his quarters, to encounter Captain Smithers soon after,
looking anxious and annoyed. He nodded shortly, and the young ensign
went on through what was quite a wilderness of beauty, to meet, next,
Rachel Linton and Mary Sinclair, who had been flower-gathering, and who
stopped for a few minutes' conversation with him, the former nearly
spoiling the expedition, by turning the foolish youth's thoughts in
quite a contrary direction from collecting or shooting.
But Rachel Linton quietly wished him success, and Tom went off telling
himself that it would look foolish if he did not go.
He had not far to go to the landing-place now; but in the little space
close by the resident's garden he encountered Private Gray, who saluted
him, and sent Tom on thinking that he wished he was as old, and
good-looking, and as manly, as the young soldier he had just passed.
And then he felt very miserable and dejected, and wished he was anything
but what he was, until he saw Bob Roberts, sitting in the "Startler's"
dinghy by the landing-place, and forgot all about everything but the
shooting excursion.
"Come along! You are a chap," shouted Bob. "I've been waiting over
half an hour."
"Met the ladies," said Tom, "and was obliged to speak."
"Oh, you met the ladies, did you?" said Bob, looking at him
suspiciously. "Well, never mind; jump aboard. Got plenty of
cartridges?"
"Yes, heaps; and some food too."
"So have I," cried Bob. "Now, then, pull away, Dick. Set us ashore
under those trees. Hooray, Tom; look! There's young Bang-gong there,
waiting with a couple of niggers."
Dick pulled steadily at the sculls, and the little dinghy breasted the
water like a duck, soon crossing the intervening space, when the two
lads landed with their ammunition and stores, shook hands with the
handsome dark young chief who confronted them, and at once started off
for the jungle, while Dick stood refilling his right cheek with tobacco,
before rowing the dinghy back to the steamer.
"Ah!" he said, as he once more took the sculls, "they never asked me to
go, too. Now you see if by the time they get back to-night they hain't
been in about as pretty a bit o' mischief, as was ever hatched."
Old Dick had no intention of setting himself up as a prophet of evil,
for his remark was made more out of spite than anything else, it having
struck the old fellow that a good idle ashore would be very pleasant,
especially with plenty to eat and drink, and a fair supply of tobacco.
"It wouldn't be very hard work to carry all the game they shoot," he
said, chuckling; "and one might get a good nap under a shady tree."
But Dick's hopes were blighted, and instead of shade under trees, he had
to row back to where the "Startler" was blistering in the hot sunshine,
and take his part in the regular duties of the day.
Meanwhile the two lads with their companion were striding along beneath
the shade of the trees, with the naval and military services of her most
gracious Majesty completely forgotten, and their elastic young minds
bent entirely upon the expedition. They looked flushed and eager, and
the Tumongong's son, Ali, was just as full of excitement.
The latter was about the age of the young English officers, and their
coming was to him delightful. For his father was wise enough to foresee
the course of events--how the old barbarism of the Malay was dying out,
to give place to the busy civilisation taught by the white men from the
west; and he felt sure that the most civilised and advanced of the young
chieftains would occupy the best positions in the future. Hence then he
had sent his son for long spells at a time to Singapore and Penang, to
mingle with the English, and pick up such education as he could obtain.
Ali, being a clever boy, had exceeded his father's expectations, having
arrived at the age of eighteen, with a good knowledge of English, in
which tongue he could write and converse; and in addition he had imbibed
a sufficiency of our manners and customs to make him pass muster very
well amongst a party of gentlemen.
Bob Roberts and he were sworn friends directly, for there was something
in their dispositions which made them assimilate, Ali being full of life
and fun, which, since his return to Parang, he had been obliged to
suppress, and take up the stiff stately formality of the Malays about
him, of whom many of the chiefs looked unfavourably at the youth who had
so quickly taken up and made friends with the people they looked upon as
so many usurpers.
No sooner were the three lads out of sight of the attap-thatched roofs
and the island, the fort and steamer, than all formality was thrown to
the winds, and they tramped on chattering away like children. Tom,
however, walked on rather stiffly for a few minutes, but the sight of a
good broad rivulet was too much for him; drill, discipline, the strict
deportment of an officer and a gentleman, whose scarlet and undress
uniforms had cost a great deal of money, and in which, to tell the
truth, he had been very fond of attiring himself when alone with his
looking-glass, all were forgotten, and the bottled-up schoolboy vitality
that was in his breast, seethed up like so much old-fashioned ginger
beer.
"Follow my leader!" he cried, handing his gun to one of the Malays,
whose eyes rolled with pleasure as he saw sentimental Tom Long take a
sharp run, leap well from the near bank, and land on the other side of
the stream, but he had to catch at some bamboos to save himself from
falling back into the water.
"With a cheerly hi ho," shouted Bob Roberts, dropping his gun on a bush.
"Look out, soldier."
The words were on his lips as he ran, and in his leap alighted on the
other side, in so bad a place that he had to catch at Tom, to save
himself from falling, and for a few seconds there was a sharp scuffle
amongst the bamboos before they were safe.
"Look out, Ali," shouted Bob, on seeing their companion coming; "it's
bad landing."
But Ali was already in full career; as light and active of foot as a
deer, he made a quick rush and a leap, and landed in safety quite a yard
beyond the young officers.
"Well done! Hooray!" cried Bob, who had not the slightest objection to
seeing himself surpassed; while the two Malays in charge of the guns and
impediments on the other side stared at each other in astonishment, and
in a whisper asked if the young chief had gone out of his mind.
"Now then, Sambo-Jumbo," cried Bob, "over with those guns. Come along,
they are not loaded."
The two Malays stared, and Ali said a few words to them in their native
tongue, when they immediately gathered up the guns, and, being
bare-legged, waded across the stream, which was about four yards wide.
The last man came over with a rush as he neared the bank, for suddenly
from a reed-bed above them there was a wallow and a flounder, with a
tremendous disturbance in the water, as something shot down towards the
main stream.
"A crocodile," said Ali, as the young Englishmen directed at him a
wondering gaze.
"Crocodile!" cried Bob, snatching his gun from the attendant, and
hastily thrusting in cartridges, after which he ran along the stream
till checked by the tangled growth.
"No good," said Ali, laughing at his eagerness. "Gone."
The reptile was gone, sure enough, and it was doubtful which was the
more frightened, it or the Malays; so they went on along a narrow
jungle-path, that was walled up on either side by dense vegetation,
which seemed to have been kept hacked back by the heavy knives of the
working Malays. To have gone off to right or left would have been
impossible, so tangled and matted with canes and creepers was the
undergrowth, Bob waking up to the fact that here was the natural home of
the cane so familiar to schoolboys; the unfamiliar part being, that,
keeping to nearly the same diameter, these canes ran one, two, and even
three hundred feet in length, creeping, climbing, undulating, now
running up the side of some pillar-like tree to a convenient branch,
over which it passed to hang down again in a loop till it reached some
other tree, in and out of whose branches it would wind.
As they went on farther they were in a soft green twilight with at rare
intervals the sharp bright rays of the sun, like golden arrows, darting
through the dense shade, and a patch of luxuriantly growing
pitcher-plants or orchids, more beautiful than any that had previously
met their eyes.
"Mind the elephant-holes!" cried Ali, who was behind.
"All right," said Tom Long, who was leading the way. "Oh, my gracious!"
There was a loud _splash_ and a wallowing noise, followed by a loud suck
as of some one pulling a leg out of thick mud; and this proved to be the
case, for on Bob running forward, and turning a corner of the winding
path, there was Tom, just extricating himself from an elephant-hole.
For they were in a land where wheeled carriages were almost unknown, all
portage being done either by boats on the many streams, or on the backs
of elephants and buffaloes, by the former of whom the few jungle-paths
were terribly cut up, partly by the creatures' weight, but more
particularly from the fact that, no matter how many passed along a
track, or how wet and swampy it might be, the sagacious creatures
believed in the way being safe where any of their kind had been before,
and invariably placed their great round feet in the same holes; the
effect being that these elephant-holes were often three or four feet
deep, and half full of mud and water.
The two Malays were called into requisition, and by means of green
leaves removed a good deal of the mud, but the mishap did not add much
to the lad's comfort. However, he took it in very good part, and they
went on for some distance, to where a side track, that was apparently
but little used, turned off to the left, and the Malays, drawing their
heavy knives, went first to clear away some of the twining creepers that
hung from side to side.
So beautiful was the jungle that for a time the two English lads forgot
all about their guns, as they stopped hard by some watercourse to admire
the graceful lace-fronded fern, or the wonderful displays of moss
hanging from the more ancient trees.
But at last the weight of their guns reminded them that they had come to
shoot, and they drew Ali's attention to the fact.
"Wait a little," he said, smiling. "We shall soon be in a clearer part.
You can't shoot here."
As he said--so it proved, for after another half-hour's walking, during
which they had become bathed in perspiration from the moist heat, there
was less tangled growth, and the magnificent trees grew more distant one
from the other. They were of kinds quite unknown to the little party,
who, though seeking birds, could not help admiring the vast monarchs of
the primeval forest.
"This looks more hopeful," cried Bob, who so far had only heard the
occasional note of a bird which was invisible. Now he saw one or two
flit across the sunny glade in advance.
"Yes, there are birds here; but take care, there are serpents too."
Tom Long winced a little at this last announcement, for he had a honour
of the twining creatures; and as his memory ran back to the narrow
escape of Adam Gray, from the sea snake, he asked with some little
trepidation,--
"Poisonous?"
"Oh, yes, some of them! But you need not be alarmed, they hurry off as
soon as they hear our steps."
"But," said Tom, to Bob's very great delight, for he could see his
companion's alarm, "how about the boa-constrictors?"
"Pythons, your people call them," said Ali. "Yes, there are plenty of
them in the wet places."
"Dangerous?"
"No," said Ali, "I never knew them to be--only to the little pigs."
"But ain't they very large?"
"Oh, yes," was the reply, "big as my leg, and so long."
He made a mark on the soft earth with one foot, and then took seven
paces, where he made a fresh mark, indicating a length of about eighteen
feet.
"But they attack men sometimes, don't they?" said Tom, importantly.
"No, I never knew of such a thing," said Ali. "They steal the chickens,
and swallow them whole."
Tom felt somewhat reassured, but all the same he walked delicately over
the thick herbage and amongst the scrub, not knowing but that he might
plant his foot at any time upon some writhing creature, whose venomous
fangs would be inserted in his leg before he could leap aside; but no
such accident befell him, neither had one of the party had a single
shot, when Bob declared that he was too hungry to go farther, and going
on alone to where a huge prostrate tree stretched its great trunk for
many yards, he was about to sit down, when he stopped short, held out
one hand to indicate silence, and beckoned with the other.
Ali ran softly up, and on seeing at what his friend pointed, he
signalled to one of the Malays to come.
The man came up without a sound, caught sight of Bob's discovery--a
black snake about five feet long, and going gently up, he, to the lad's
horror, suddenly seized it by the tail, and with a rapid snatch drew the
reptile through the left hand up to the neck, which the Malay grasped
tightly, while the reptile writhed, hissed, and angrily twined itself
round the man's bare brown arm.
"It isn't poisonous, then?" said Tom Long, coolly.
"Yes," replied Ali; "it is a cobra, one of our most dangerous snakes."
The Malay held it close for the lads to examine, which, after learning
its deadly character, they were not particularly eager to do; but the
native laughed, and seemed to think very little of the danger, ending by
placing the reptile's neck upon the fallen tree, and decapitating it
with one clean cut of the knife.
A halt was made here, and a hearty lunch was disposed of; after which,
feeling rested and comparatively cool, they started once more, and
before long the first shot was had at a blue-billed gaper, a lovely
bird, with azure and golden bill, and jetty-black, white, and crimson
plumage.
"One for the doctor!" exclaimed Tom Long; and the beautiful bird was
safely stowed away.
Ali next brought down a paroquet, with long delicate tail, and delicious
sunset hues blushing upon its plumage of pearly grey green.
Bob followed, with a shot at a green chatterer, a lovely little bird,
all rich green and black, with a handsome crest.
Next followed sundry misses, and then with varying fortune they secured
a dozen really beautifully-plumaged birds for the doctor.
"And now," exclaimed Bob, "I think we ought to get something for the
pot."
"For the pot?" said Ali, looking puzzled, for anything verging on
sporting slang was to him as so much Greek.
"I mean for cooking and eating."
Ali laughed, and said something to his followers, who led the way on to
a more densely wooded part nearer the river, whose proximity was
indicated by the change in the character of the vegetation.
"Stop a minute, though," exclaimed Tom Long. "I can't stand this any
more. Here's something been biting me ever so!"
He made a halt, and began to examine his ankles and legs.
"Why, look here?" he cried; "I'm bleeding like fun!"
Like fun or no, he was certainly bleeding freely, and the cause was not
far to seek. In fact, as he turned up the legs of his trousers four
bloated little leeches, satiated with their horrid repast, dropped off
his skin, and he caught a couple more feasting upon him right royally.
"You should have tied your trousers round your ankles, and put on your
boots outside them," said Ali; "but it won't hurt you."
"Won't hurt!" exclaimed Tom Long, indignantly; "but it does hurt. Why,
I'm bleeding horribly."
At a stream close by, however, his wounds were bathed, the bleeding
checked, and then a few shots were had at the jungle-fowl, two brace of
which, a little bigger than ordinary bantams, were secured before the
little party halted in a clearing, close to the river.
Here were half-a-dozen native houses, one and all built upon bamboo
piles, so as to raise the dwellers well above the damp ground, the
possibility of flood, and out of the reach of any wild creatures that
might be wandering by night.
There was something exceedingly homelike in the appearance of the
places, each with its scrap of garden and fruit-trees; while the
occupant of the principal hut insisted upon the whole party coming to
partake of rest and refreshment before continuing their way.
"Oh! we don't want to go in," said Tom Long, peevishly.
"Well, no, I don't want to go in," said Bob, "but the old fellow will be
offended if we do not; and we want to make friends, not enemies."
Ali nodded, and they sat down in the bamboo-floored hut, through whose
open door they saw their host busy sending a Malay boy up one of his
cocoa-nut trees, the boy rapidly ascending the lofty palm by means of
nicks already cut in the tree for the purpose.
Three great nuts, in their husk-like envelopes, fell directly with a
thud, and these the friendly Malay opened and placed before his
visitors.
"This is very different to the cocoa-nut we boys used to buy at school,"
said Bob, as he revelled in the delicious sub-acid cream of the nut, and
then partook of rice, with a kind of sugary confection which was very
popular amongst the people.
Homely as the outside of the huts had appeared, both the lads could not
help noticing how similar the habits of these simple Malays in this
out-of-the-way part of the world were to those of people at home.
For instance, beneath the eaves hung a couple of cages, neatly made of
bamboo, in one of which was a pair of the little lovebird paroquets side
by side upon a perch; and in the other a minah, a starling-like bird,
that kept leaping from perch to perch, and repeating with a very clear
enunciation several Malay words.
Thoroughly rested at last, the little party set off again--their host
refusing all compensation, and once more they plunged into the thickest
of the jungle, though very little success attended their guns.
This was hardly noticed, though, for there was always something fresh to
see--huge butterflies of wondrous colours flitting through the more open
glades, strange vegetable forms, beautifully graceful bamboos,
clustering in the moister parts, where some stream ran unseen amidst the
dense undergrowth, while at last they reached a river of such surpassing
beauty, with its overhanging ferns, in the deep ravine in which it ran,
that both the strangers paused to admire, while the Malays looked on
with good-humoured wonder at their enthusiasm.
But very little of the sluggish stream was seen for the dense emerald
growth, and the water itself was more like a chain of pools, which
seemed to be likely haunts of fish; and forgetting heat and weariness,
both the young Englishmen began to divide the reeds and long grass and
ferns with the barrels of their guns, so as to peer down into the water.
Ali, evidently to please them, displayed quite as much interest as they;
while the two Malays squatted down, and taking out sirih leaves, spread
upon them a little lime paste from a box, rolled in them a scrap of
betel-nut, and began to indulge in a quiet chew.
The lads were only a few yards apart, and Bob Roberts cautiously
approached a deep still pool, when he heard upon his right a splash and
a rush, accompanied by a wild cry for aid.
For the moment he was paralysed by the strange horror of the cry; but,
recovering himself, he rushed through the long reeds and ferns, to look
upon a sight which, for the time, almost robbed him of the power to act.