"OUR POSITION IS ABSURD."
As the door flew open, Hilton found himself confronted by a dozen
spearmen; and he would have still advanced had not Chumbley held him
back.
"You forgot that you were a prisoner," said the Princess, quietly, but
with a triumphant look in her eyes. "There are fifty more brave men
beyond those, and they would kill you at a word from me."
"And that word you would not speak," said Hilton, smiling in her face.
"Why not?" she cried defiantly.
"For several reasons," he said, quietly. "First, because I am an
officer of the Queen of England, madam."
"I am queen here," she retorted. "What is your queen to me?"
"Another reason is--that you would not have me killed," he said,
lightly; and he evaded Chumbley's touch and stepped through the door;
but six razor-keen spear-points were presented so suddenly at his
breast, that, brave as he was, Hilton involuntarily started back, and to
his great annoyance the Princess smiled mockingly in turn.
Captain Hilton was a soldier, and ready to risk his life when need
should be; but he felt that there were limits even to the valour a man
should show, and this was evidently a time to make a movement towards
the rear.
He turned to Chumbley, to find that he had not moved, but was leaning,
with his arms folded across his broad chest, against the wooden
framework of the cane-woven wall, and he looked his companion steadily
in the face.
"Well!" exclaimed Hilton, angrily, as he sought some object upon which
to vent the spleen rising within his breast; and his friend being the
nearest object, he received the verbal blows. "Why don't you come and
face these scoundrels with me? Are you afraid?"
"Eh? Afraid?" said Chumbley, rousing himself from his dreamy state.
"No, I don't think I was, old fellow. I was wondering whether we were
British officers in a Malay jungle facing realities, or the same two
fellows fresh from dining at the club, turned into a couple of stalls at
a theatre and watching the progress of some drama of a certain type."
"Then wake up to the fact that it is reality!" cried Hilton, sharply,
"and help me to act, unless you want to stay here for life."
"All right, dear boy," said Chumbley, resuming his drawling style.
"Only, what are we to do? I'm ready for anything almost, but I'm not
going to run my noble chest against those fellows' spears. Where's the
good?"
"Good?" cried Hilton, angrily; "are we to stop here and be a pair of
slaves?"
"No; only it's as well to wait. There are times to fight, and there are
times when it's as well to draw off your forces, even if the London
papers do revile and talk of want of pluck. You see a fellow can't
fight in a case of this sort. It's ridiculous."
"Ridiculous indeed!" cried Hilton; as, with the petulance of a boy, he
seized the door, and slammed it in the face of the Malays.
"Exactly," drawled Chumbley, glancing at the Princess, who was watching
them from the other end of the room. "You see, Warner or Terriss on the
Adelphi stage would have knocked all those fellows over like skittles,
or skewered them all upon one spear like a row of larks; but that's only
done upon the boards; a fellow can't play like that in common life."
"Is there much more of this, Chumbley?" said Hilton, with mock
deference.
"Not a great deal, old man," said the big fellow, coolly ignoring his
friend's sarcastic manner. "I was only going to say--and I hope her
majesty Queen Cleopatra can't hear me--that the only course open to us
seems to be to wait our chance and bolt; and I'll be blest if I run, or
try to run, through this sweltering jungle to save myself or anybody
else. If you'll have me carried down to the river and pitched in, I
don't mind trying to swim."
"Ha--ha--ha--ha--ha! Ha--ha--ha--ha--ha--ha--ha!"
A merry, almost girlish laugh rang out; and as the two officers turned
sharply, it was to see that the Inche Maida's countenance had lost its
look of annoyance, and was full of mirth, for she had heard every word
that Chumbley had spoken.
"Tchah!" ejaculated Hilton; "our position is growing more and more
absurd?"
"You are a very droll man," said the Princess, turning to Chumbley.
"You make me laugh by your way of speaking; but you are very wise and
clever all the same. You know that you could not get away; so you are
ready to wait patiently to see what comes. You are quite right, Mr
Chumbley, and I like you more and more, and will treat you well."
"That's very kind of you, Princess," said Chumbley, slowly; "and I must
say that I heard what you said before about me; but speaking like a
persecuted maiden in the ancient castle of some baron bold, will you
excuse me if I say your previous remarks are insufficient, and I should
be glad to know why the dickens you brought me here when you wanted
him?"
"You make such long speeches," cried the Inche Maida, "and you speak so
slowly, that you puzzle me. I never know whether you are serious or
laughing at me."
"Oh, I am not laughing," said Chumbley, slowly.
"Then do not ask," said the Princess, shortly. "You are my prisoners,
and must submit."
"For the present, madam," said Hilton, with a return of his anger; "but
if you will take my advice, you will end this sorry farce at once. You
will regret it if you stop too long, and find your palm-tree palace--"
"It is no palace," said the Princess, quietly, "only a simple house."
"Surrounded by a company of our troops, and burned to the ground."
The Princess laughed.
"I understand you," she said, nodding her head; "but that will not be.
You English are strong and have great weapons that would destroy us at a
touch. We have but our spears and krisses, so we trust to our wisdom to
help us out, do you see."
"I think I know what you mean," said Chumbley, quietly.
"Yes," continued the Princess, "you are right; your soldiers would soon
burn down my place and kill my people to get you back; but they would
have first to find us out. Do you know where you are?"
Hilton glanced at the open window, to see through the lattice-work of
bamboo the deep green of the impenetrable jungle.
"Yes," she continued, smiling at the look which came upon the young
officer's face, "we bring cunning to fight upon our side. You see that
you are in the jungle; and I tell you there is but one narrow path to
this place, and my people guard it night and day."
"When they are not asleep," muttered Chumbley.
"I made this place," she said, "to flee to when my enemies should come.
Here I am safe, and here, too, you are safe, for none but my most
trusted people know the way."
"Pleasant news this, old fellow," said Chumbley.
"Pleasant!" cried Hilton; "but she shall smart for it. She does not
think of what will be the result."
The Inche Maida frowned as she saw his angry looks and heard his words.
"Well, old fellow," said Chumbley; "it seems to me that we are wasting
time."
"What! are you prepared to make a dash for it?" cried Hilton.
"Not I. I mean wasting time in talking like this. I'm sorry for you,
old fellow--very sorry for you; but it's very hot and tiring this
standing about. Hadn't we better make the best of it?"
"Best of it!" cried Hilton, who now obstinately refused to glance at the
author of their trouble, and kept pacing up and down like a caged beast.
"Are you mad?"
"Very," whispered Chumbley; "but one can't pitch into a woman. She
fights with cunning, so must we, and wait for our chance to escape.
There, it is of no use to chafe. Let's be thankful that matters are no
worse."
"Worse!" cried Hilton, passionately, "they could not be worse;" and he
spoke loudly enough for the Princess to hear his words.
"There--there, old fellow, calm down," drawled Chumbley. "Make the best
of it till her ladyship here has grown tired of her two caged birds, and
has let us out. We are prisoners, I suppose, Princess?" he said, aloud.
"Prisoners or visitors, which you please, Mr Chumbley," she said,
smiling. "Let it be visitors, for though Captain Hilton has said such
cruel things--see, I am not angered, but quite calm. You are my
visitors, then; but you cannot get away until I give the word."
"Or our people fetch us," said Chumbley, throwing himself upon one of
the divans with a sigh of relief, for the Inche Maida had pointed to the
seat.
"They will not come to fetch you," said the Princess, smiling.
"Why not?" said Hilton, sharply. "I tell you they will search till we
are found, and then you destroy yourself by having us here."
"Yes," said the Princess, with her eyes half-closed; "they will search.
They have searched, and have given it up. They found a small boat
overset upon a bank of sand; part of your clothes were in it, and they
think you were both drowned."
"Confusion!" cried Hilton, fiercely.
"You have a woman to fight with," said the Princess, smiling, "and I
have taken my steps so well that no one will seek you here. I told my
people to bring you both, and they obeyed. They would have sooner died
than failed."
"Tell me more," said Chumbley, quickly. "Have you seen Mr Harley?"
"I will tell you nothing," said the Princess, "till you are both my
friends. There, I must leave you now. Promise me you will be patient,
and not so foolish as to try to escape and fight. It would be horrible
to me if you or any of my people should be hurt in some mad attempt.
Promise me you will be patient and not try."
"Not I," said Chumbley, laughing. "I shall try to escape, and so will
he."
"Then you are wicked and foolish!" cried the Inche Maida, angrily.
"Both, I am afraid," said Chumbley. "I always was; but may I make a
request as a prisoner?"
"As a visitor, yes," said the Princess, smiling. "May I ask, then, if
you propose to gild the bars of our cage?"
"I do not understand," she replied, gazing at him earnestly.
"I mean that it is very hot. May I have a cold drink of some kind; and
do you allow smoking in the drawing-room?"
The Princess smiled, and in what Chumbley afterwards called the Arabian
Nights style, clapped her hands, when a couple of Malay slave-girls ran
in, received their orders, and hurried out again, while their mistress
walked to the window, as she had done more than once before, apparently
with the idea of giving her prisoners an opportunity to converse and
debate their position.
"Well, Hilton, old man, what do you think of this?" said Chumbley,
smiling. "We Europeans have gone ahead, and got steam and electricity,
and all the luxuries of civilisation, as the fine writers call it, while
the East has stopped just where it was, and we might be Ali Baba's
Brothers, or the One-eyed Calender, or some other of those Arabian Night
cock-o'-waxes here amongst all these slaves and spearmen. I say, I
think I shall write a book about it--`The adventures of two officers
taken prisoners by a wicked queen.'"
"Chumbley," retorted Hilton, "you used to have one good quality."
"Had I? What was that, old man?"
"You were a fellow who didn't talk much," said Hilton; "but now your
tongue goes like a woman's, and you are a positive nuisance."
"Thankye, old fellow. But you ought not to grumble, seeing how
impressionable you have of late proved to the prattling of a woman's
tongue."
"The Inche Maida's?" said Hilton, in a low voice. "Well no: not exactly
hers, dear boy. But I say, Hilton, she is a woman and a lady; don't say
hard things to her."
"Hard things?" cried Hilton, angrily. "Come, I like that! Hang it,
man, after this outrage she ought to be shut up in a lunatic asylum!"
"Humph!" said Chumbley, slowly. "I don't know. They say love is a sort
of lunacy, and people do strange things who get the disease badly.
You're been an awful idiot lately!"
"Chumbley, do you want me to strike you?" cried Hilton, fiercely.
"No, dear boy," drawled his friend; "but you can give me a punch if it
will do you good. I shan't hit you again."
"Bah;" ejaculated Hilton. "There's no quarrelling with you!"
"Not a bit of it dear boy; but as I was saying, seeing what stupid
things you did about--"
"Chumbley!"
"All right: I wasn't going to mention her name. I say, seeing what
stupid things you did, it was not surprising that a lady in love with
your noble features and Apollo-like form--"
"I declare I shall forget myself directly!" cried Hilton, between his
teeth.
"No: don't, old fellow; but you might let me finish my speech. It isn't
often I'm flush of words, and when I am you check me. I say once more
it was not so very surprising that her ladyship here should set a trap
for you, catch you, and want to persuade you to accept her very eligible
offers. There, sit down, man, and make the best of it! Stop that
irritating walk of yours! You are like a human pendulum!"
"Idiot!" muttered Hilton, between his teeth, glancing at the Princess's
back, though, as she leaned in a graceful attitude against the window,
with her arm through the bamboo bars.
"Calling names!" said Chumbley, coolly. "Imitation's the sincerest form
of flattery. Will you stop that wolf-in-a-cage walk?"
"No!"
"Then you're a Zoological Gardens beast! I say, why don't you utter a
short howl every time you turn?"
"If you cannot talk sensibly, Chumbley, pray be silent!" said Hilton, in
a low, angry whisper. "You are like a big boy more than a man!"
"Go on, old fellow!" said Chumbley, coolly. "If ever I marry, which
isn't likely, I daresay I shall have a woman with a tongue like an
arrow. What a chance she will have to shoot sharp words at my thick
hide!"
"Will you talk sense for a few moments before this woman goes?"
"Lady."
"Well, lady, then! I want to try and devise some plan for getting
away."
"What's the hurry?" said Chumbley. "We're caught and caged, and I have
always noticed that the birds that are trapped and caged are of two
kinds."
"Is there much of this moral sermon to come?"
"No," said Chumbley, good-humouredly, "not much. It seems tiresome to
you because you are standing. Sit down, man, and listen. I feel quite
like an Eastern speaker of parables. It is the atmosphere, I suppose.
I was saying that the birds that are caught are of two kinds--those that
take it coolly and those that don't. Those that don't keep on beating
their breasts against the bars, and knocking their feathers off in the
most insane way, till they die, looking exceedingly bare and
uncomfortable; while those that take it coolly sit upon the perches, set
up their feathers till they look nice and plump, and keep on saying
`_chiswick_' except when they stop to eat their seed."
"And, most profound moralist, the restless, brave-hearted birds that
breast the bars are the truest," cried Hilton. "I would not be so
spiritless and craven for worlds."
"Stuff!" said Chumbley. "Nobody's going to wring your neck and put you
in a pie; then it would be uncomfortable. The Princess only wants you
to sing. I say, I think I shall ask her if she means to give us the
seed that is becoming necessary in the shape of dinner."
The Inche Maida turned round.
"I could not help being a listener, Mr Chumbley," she said, quietly;
"and surely you did not suppose that you could both talk like that
unheard. Now let me speak before I go."
Chumbley bowed, and Hilton folded his arms, leaning against the wall,
while his friend slowly rose, and once more offered the Princess a seat.
"No!" she cried, angrily. "I can only sit with my friends, and you
persist in treating me as an enemy. As Captain Hilton's friend, I ask
pardon for the roughness of my people. Can I do more?"
"Well, yes," said Chumbley; "after we have granted your pardon, you can
set us free!"
"That I shall not do!" she cried, with her eyes flashing.
"Not now, Princess," said Chumbley, speaking calmly, seriously and well;
"but after a little reflection. You do not realise the power of
England, madam. You do not know what our Government will always do to
maintain the honour and prestige of our nation."
"No," she said, scornfully, "I do not."
"Let me tell you then," said Chumbley, with a return of his dry,
sarcastic manner; "I am of no consequence whatever as compared to our
handsome young captain there."
"I think you a ten times better man, and one hundred times as much a
gentleman," cried the Princess, hotly; and her eyes flashed indignation
at them both.
"Oh, no," said Chumbley; "you are angry and indignant, and you forget
that we are, too. How can we be pleased that you have so roughly
brought us here?"
"But you ought to be, and very proud," she cried sharply.
"Well, we will not argue that," said Chumbley; "but I wish to tell you
that you must think this over carefully and well. Insignificant as we
two men may be, it touches England's honour that a Malay ruler should
seize us and make us prisoners."
"I care not," she retorted. "I have thought it over well."
"I suppose so, madam," said Chumbley; "but let me tell you that England
will not let us stay here your prisoners; sooner than let you triumph
she would send an army to search for and take us back."
"And I tell you," cried the Princess, fiercely, "that I have thought
well over all this, and have made such plans, that even if your people
did not think you dead, they would not find you. I am queen with my
people, and I will not be beaten when I undertake a task. If they
should learn that you were here, and come to shoot and burn, we would
flee into the jungle."
"Where they would hunt you out, Princess, cost what it might," said
Chumbley.
"Let them," said the Inche Maida, with her eyes flashing, and looking
very queenly as she spoke. "They are big and strong, and they have many
men. They would surround us then, and think to take us and drag you
away; but they do not know our people yet--they do not know what a Malay
Princess would do. Mr Chumbley," she said, speaking to him, but gazing
at Hilton as she spoke, "we Malays are gentle and calm, but we have
angry passions. If you rouse the hot blood within us, it becomes fierce
and hotter still. Don't think that I shall not have my way; for I tell
you that at the last, sooner than be conquered by those your people
sent, I would kill you both, and then--then," she cried excitedly, "I
should kill myself!"