As has been said, Ali suffered quite a shock from the jerk he received
in escaping from his prison, and had his captors rushed down directly,
his attempt would have resulted in failure; but the effort made by the
Malay to follow him afforded the prisoner time to recover a little, to
struggle up from where he had fallen, and to stagger off in a strange
confused state, feeling all the while as if his head had been wrenched
off.
Each moment, however, gave him force; he heard the shouts of the men as
they leaped down from the platform; and as the light of the torch
flashed upon his path, he seemed to regain his strength, and ran on with
his guards in full pursuit.
The young man set his teeth hard, and grasped the weapon supplied to him
by his father's hand. He was far from being bloodthirsty; contact with
the English had softened and changed his nature, but in those fierce
moments the feeling was upon him strong that he could slay or be slain
sooner than give up his liberty once more.
He recalled his dream of the early morning as he dashed on, and wondered
whether the leader was the first man in the pursuit, and whether they
two would engage in deadly strife.
He glanced back, but he could not tell; and hurrying on, he kept
recalling the difficulties he had encountered in his dream--
elephant-holes--woven undergrowth--trailing canes--the hundred obstacles
of a jungle, and wondered that he kept so well in the darkness to the
path, and was able to progress at so swift a pace.
Not that it was swift, for he had to proceed very cautiously, but it was
fast enough to enable him to keep well ahead of his pursuers, who had to
make sure that they did not pass him on the way.
But this easy going was not to last, for he found the jungle track grew
worse, and to his horror he found that his pursuers were gaining upon
him rapidly. The light the first man carried enabled them to see a few
yards in advance and make sure their steps, while he had what seemed
like a black wall rising in front of him, into which he had to plunge as
it were, and often and often found that he was straying from the track.
At last he strayed so far from it that his pursuers came up rapidly,
their light showing him the path he had lost. He was about to make a
rush for it, when the thought struck him that they might pass him
unseen, and, crouching down, to his great delight he found that they did
pass on--the whole party--leaving him to deliberate on what course he
should pursue.
The simplest plan seemed to be to turn back, but that would be taking
him away from the river, which he felt would be his saving to reach, and
to gain that he must pursue the track his guards were upon.
After all, if he kept at a distance this was the safest plan. His
enemies carried a light, and he would therefore be able to see them when
they returned, if return they did; and to his great delight he
remembered now that some distance ahead there was a track which led
right away from the present one towards the river, making a shorter cut.
He did not stop to think, but at once followed the course taken by his
guards, hastening his steps till he was pretty close behind--so close
that he could hear their voices, and see the flaring of the torch
through the undergrowth.
This went on for nearly an hour, when the Malays awakened fully to the
fact that their prisoner had not gone in that direction, and they
returned upon their track so suddenly that Ali had barely time to force
his way in amongst the canes and crouch down, silent and breathless,
before they were back, and were passing the place where the young man
was hidden, when the bearer of the torch saw the broken canes and
leaves, and drew attention thereto.
"Tiger!" said the man nearest to him, and he pointed to some footprints
which were sufficiently recent to satisfy the other, and to Ali's great
relief they passed on.
For a few moments he had felt that he was once more a prisoner, and now
he breathed freely again, and waiting till the last rustle of the canes
and undergrowth had died away with the faint gleam of the torch, he
crept painfully out from amidst the thorny undergrowth, and continued
his retreat.
He paused from time to time to listen, but all was silent now, and
almost feeling his way through the dark forest, he pressed on, gladdened
now and then by a glimpse of the starry sky, he continued his course,
till he reached the edge of the river, rolling swift and dark through
the midst of the dense forest.
All had heard the strange sounds on either side of the dark track he had
come along, more than once shuddering slightly as he heard the cry of a
tiger or the curious _coo-ai_ of the argus pheasant, but nothing sounded
so pleasant to him during his exciting retreat as the strange, low,
untiring rush of the great river.
There was no noisy babbling, but a soft, low, hissing rush, as the swift
stream hurried amidst the stones and water-washed roots of the trees
upon the banks.
He had hoped to find a boat somewhere about the end of the track, where
there was a wretched campong; but there did not seem to be a single
sampan, and he tramped wearily down the bank, till he came near the
houses opposite the island.
He dared go no further along the bank, lest he should be seized; and he
stood in the shade of a tree at last, thinking of what he should do.
But one course was open to him, and that was to swim out into the swift
stream, and make for the head of the island, where, to his great
delight, all seemed perfectly still, and free from alarm. How long it
would keep so, he could not say.
There was no other way for him, and being a swift swimmer he hesitated
no longer, but throwing off his baju and sarong, he walked out as far as
he could and swam boldly towards the head of the island, where he meant
to land.
To his horror he found a couple of boats in the way, both of them well
filled with men, and it was only by letting himself float down with the
stream that he was able to pass them unnoticed. This, however,
completely carried him out of his reckoning, for on striving once more
to reach the head of the island, he was too low down, and was swept
right away. He tried for the landing-place, but he could not near it,
and in spite of his desperate efforts he was drawn on lower and lower by
the heavy stream, so that he could not even grasp at the drooping trees
at the lower end of the island, but found himself carried right away
towards the lights of the corvette, where she lay a quarter of a mile
lower down.
Knowing that he could not catch at anything on the smooth sides of the
steamer, he made another frantic effort to reach the side of the island,
but it was labour in vain, and at last, weak, exhausted, and with the
water rising higher and higher about his lips, he felt that he was being
carried right away, and that, unless help came, he would be drowned.
He grew excited and struggled harder, but only to weaken himself. He
was confused by the darkness, and found that he had miscalculated his
powers. The strain upon him during the past two days, and the efforts
he had made that night, had been greater than he was aware of; and now,
in spite of the sterling stuff of which he was made, the chill, dread
thought came upon him that he was about to die.
The lights of the steamer seemed very near, and yet far-distant, for a
blinding mist was before his eyes; and though he swam bravely, over and
over again the swift current seemed to suck him down. He essayed to cry
for help, but the water choked him; and at last he felt that all was
over, that he should in another minute be swept past the steamer, when,
trying to turn over and float, he went under, rose to the surface once
more, struck against something and clutched at it, to find it slimy and
hard to hold; but it enabled him to hold his head above water a few
moments, while he cried for help--lost his hold, and was swept away once
more, when all seemed dreamy and strange. The water thundered in his
ears, his limbs were helpless, and it was as if he were being wafted
into a strange and troublous sleep, when he knew no more, for all seemed
blank.