KING TRINKITAT
The space of an hour had barely elapsed since the sending of the
messenger to King Trinkitat of Sumatra, announcing my arrival in his
dominions, before an answer was brought me that his Majesty desired my
attendance at the palace forthwith, so I made ready to accompany those
he had sent for me, and who acted as my bodyguard.
The king's palace stands in the middle of the town, its grounds being
oval in shape, and about a half-mile in circumference, surrounded by a
moat twenty-five feet broad, and as many deep. All round the palace
there are cast up great heaps of earth instead of a wall, planted with
reeds and canes that grow to a prodigious height and thickness. These
reeds are continually green, so that there is no danger of fire. There
is no ditch or drawbridge before the gates leading to the palace, but,
on each side, a wall of stone, about ten feet high, that supports a
terrace on which some guns are planted. A small stream runs through the
middle of the palace, which is lined with stone, and has steps down to
the bottom of it for the convenience of bathers. There were four gates
and as many courts to be passed before we came to the royal apartments,
and in some of these outer courts are kept the king's magazines of
rifles and cannon. Here also are stalls for the king's elephants. In
the king's magazines are to be found numerous cannon, and a quantity of
small arms, while his guards consist of a thousand men. But his
greatest strength is in his elephants, which are trained to trample
upon fire, and to stand unmoved at the report of artillery.
When we came to the inner courts, beyond which were the apartments of
the king, our bodyguard halted, and Mahomet Achmet and I entered the
king's presence unattended.
We found his Majesty seated on a divan surrounded by his numerous wives
and slaves, to the number of several hundred, for the apartment in
which the king received us was a very large one, more resembling a
courtyard than a room, since the roof was open to the sky. The king
seemed to be a man of middle age, whom I judged to be about forty years
old, but his attendants were all young, some of them scarcely more than
children.
All were attired in the same manner, so that it was difficult to tell
their sex, with short white breeches to above the knee, silken scarves
of various colours wrapped round their waists, the end being thrown
over the left shoulder, and white turbans upon their heads, into which
their long hair was gathered. Some were yellow-skinned, others brown,
others again jet-black. All had been rubbed with oil so that their
skins glistened like polished marble, and they stood about the
courtyard or around the king in silent groups, like so many statues.
Mahomet Achmet prostrated himself when he came into the king's
presence, as is the manner of the East; but I contented myself with
bowing low as I approached the divan upon which his Majesty sat, very
gorgeously dressed in red and blue silk robes embroidered with golden
dragons, which I concluded he had obtained from China. Upon his head he
wore a white turban with a jewelled aigrette of great value. His
countenance was intellectual, and his expression shrewd.
King Trinkitat received me graciously, and ordered a stool to be placed
near to the divan so that I might sit and converse with him upon the
matter in hand. When I showed him some of my rubies he at once said,
"These come from the South Land," and upon my asking him how he had
arrived at this conclusion, he answered that some of his people visited
annually the South Land to trade with the natives, and had reported a
white ruler there among a tribe of savages who had in his possession a
great quantity of valuable jewels, which he would not part with for
money, but only in exchange for certain commodities, by the aid of
which he was making the tribe he governed the most powerful upon the
Southern Continent.
"What is the name of this white chief, your Majesty?" I asked, deeply
interested.
"King Luck," answered Trinkitat; "but I thought you came from him."
"That is not so, O king," I replied. "These rubies are magic rubies
that are found only in a valley guarded by serpents. If they are
honestly acquired they bring great happiness to those who possess them,
but if they are stolen, or dishonestly come by, they bring a curse upon
the robbers, and upon the land in which they dwell and all the people
who inhabit it."
At this I thought the king appeared disappointed. I had reckoned on his
being superstitious, and indeed it is well known that certain jewels do
possess mysterious qualities that influence the lives of those who own
them, although I had no authority, beyond my own perspicacity, for
endowing my rubies with supernatural charm.
"How many of these jewels have you?" asked the king, holding one of the
rubies up to the light.
I mentioned the number as being thirty, that being half of all I
possessed.
"There is not enough money upon the island to pay a fair price for
these stones," declared Trinkitat, "and how should it benefit me if I
acquire them for less than their fair value if, in that case, they are
to bring upon me and my people a curse rather than a blessing?"
"Nay, O king," I answered, "I ask no money for these gems, but rather
your good offices in helping us repair our vessel, which, after much
storm and stress, has found in your harbour a haven of rest."
"That you shall have, and welcome," replied the king, and after some
further explanation as to what was required, and more bargaining, it
was finally agreed that I would allow the king to retain the six rubies
I had brought with me, and that the balance of the thirty, which I
offered, was to be paid over when our vessel had been new masted and
fresh rigged at the king's expense. Mahomet Achmet was given directions
to see that this work was promptly carried out, after which we bowed
ourselves from the king's presence, I being well satisfied with the
bargain I had made.
Next day the work of repairing the ship began. She was careened in the
shallows of a safe and convenient harbour, and such an army of workers
set to work upon her that in the course of a week the "Golden Seahorse"
was once more ready for sea.
While the repairs to our vessel were in progress we received welcome
assistance from the crews of the English and Dutch ships in the
harbour, with whom we soon became acquainted. The Dutch vessel
"Speedwell" belonged to the Dutch East India Company, a company which,
at this time, was growing in wealth and importance. She was bound on a
voyage to the North for a cargo of furs, and Captain Smuts, in command
of her, was anxious that we should join him in this expedition, for,
said he, two ships will more readily succeed than one, since each may
help the other. But we not being equipped for northern travel decided
to continue our voyage south, though we arranged with Captain Smuts to
meet him later at the Molucca Islands, where we had resolved to call
King Thedori to account for his treacherous conduct toward us on our
former visit.
Before leaving the island of Sumatra I paid a second visit to Achin,
where I was given a final audience with King Trinkitat, when I paid him
over the balance of the rubies. I found the king well disposed toward
me, and apparently satisfied with the payment made him in return for
the refitting of our vessel, which indeed was at a princely rate, when
the value of the rubies was considered. He did not attempt to extort
more than was justly due to him according to promise, as is the habit
with these half-savage potentates, when dealing with foreigners, but
this I attributed to the superstition I had so happily aroused in him
that the rubies would bring misfortune if not honestly come by. I
questioned his Majesty more closely with regard to King Luck, and, from
what he told me, I felt convinced that this man, now a chief among the
savages of New Holland, was none other than my old antagonist Van Luck,
though how he came to be rescued from the sea I had no means, at that
time, of knowing. King Trinkitat possessed no chart of the place to
which his ships traded, as the captains of his vessels mostly steered
by the stars. But he promised me that, if ever I should again visit his
island, he would send a pilot with me to conduct me to King Luck.
Mahomet Achmet, with whom I parted the best of friends, expressed the
hope that we would one day meet again.
"I will not sell this jewel, Signor Peter," he said to me when I paid
him for his work with some money we had aboard the ship, and presented
him with a fine ruby, according to promise. "I will keep it in memory
of a shrewd man whose wit did more to save him than his money, for I
may tell you that neither you nor your ship's company would have been
allowed to leave this place had you not spoken to the king of the
ill-luck which these rubies bring to those who come not honestly by
them."
I thanked Mahomet for his frankness, which I promised to remember
should I ever have occasion to revisit Sumatra.
And now, all being ready, we put to sea, and by evening the island of
Sumatra had disappeared beyond the horizon.