LIBRARY 
 
 ANNEX 
 
 2 
 
 
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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 6005.L72S6 
 
 "Since the beginning" :a tale of an East 
 
 3 1924 023 396 199 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023396199 
 
SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
RECENT FICTION 
 
 By Grant Allen. 
 
 Linnet. 63. 
 
 An African Millionaire. 6s. 
 By Frederic Briton. 
 
 True Heart. 6b. 
 By M. P. Shiel. 
 
 Tlie Yellow Danger. 6s. 
 By G. B. BuRGiN. 
 
 The Cattle-Man. 63. 
 
 " Old Man's " Marriage. 6s. 
 By Hugh Clifford. 
 
 ' Since the Beginning.' 63. 
 
 Studies in Brown Humanity. 6s. 
 
 In Court and Kampong. 78. 6d. 
 By George Egerton. 
 
 The Wheel of God. 6s. 
 By George Fleming. 
 
 Little Stories about Women. 33. 6d. 
 By R. Murray Gilchrist. 
 
 The Rue Bargain. 2s. 6d. 
 
 A Peakland Faggot. 2s. 6d, 
 By Marie Connor Leighton and 
 Robert Leighton. 
 
 Convict 99. 3s. 6d. 
 By Haldane Macfall. 
 
 The Wooings of Jezebel Pettyfer. 6s. 
 By Leonard Merrick. 
 
 The Actor-Manager. 6s. 
 
 One Man's View. 3s. 6d. 
 By R. S. Warren Bell. 
 
 The Papa Papers, is. 6d. 
 
 The Cub in Love. is. 6d. 
 By W. C. Morrow. 
 
 The Ape, the Idiot, and Other People. 6s. 
 By Lady Troubridge. 
 
 Paul's Stepmother. 38. 6d. 
 
 London : Grant Richards, 1898. 
 
'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 A TALE OF AN 
 EASTERN LAND 
 
 BY 
 
 HUGH CLIFFORD 
 
 Author of ' In Court and Kampong,' 
 'Studies in Brown Humanity,' etc. 
 
 LONDON : GRANT RICHARDS 
 1898 
 
Ko tfjc ©tfiex Six 
 
 A schoolroom bright with warmth and light 
 
 And ringing with our clamour ; 
 A garden fair, all scented air 
 
 And summer evening glamour j 
 A stately pile, with nave and aisle. 
 
 Where all our squadron prays ; 
 Such are the things our memory brings 
 
 Of golden bygone days. 
 
 The much-loved boat, that lolls afloat 
 
 Upon the sunny Ranee ; 
 The tennis-bats 'neath Avranche hats j 
 
 The sounds and scents of France ; 
 The days too short, when we were caught 
 
 By bed-time ere we knew ; 
 They bring a smile, but all the while 
 
 The tears are near us too. 
 
 Now far and wide upon life's tide 
 
 We've drifted on our ways, 
 But near or far no change can mar 
 
 The thought of other days ; 
 And far or near, what room for fear. 
 
 Since we can never lose 
 That simple love, all things above. 
 
 That little children use. 
 
 H. C. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 PACE 
 
 'By the Old, Old Trysting Tree' ... 65 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Girl in the Green SJ'noifG . . -85 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 The O'erbrimming of the Cup of Bitterness . 102 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 By Night . . . . . . . . izo 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 On the Evening of the Sembor Ayer . .137 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 PART II 
 
 'THE SUNSHINE OF ONE SOLITARY DAY' 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 At the Bungalow on the Beach . . -157 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Cecily i8i 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 A Phantom of the Past ..... 203 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Dimming of the Sunshine .... 227 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Waters of Mara ...... 250 
 
since the Beginning such has heen the Fate 
 Of Man, whose very Clay was soaked in Tears, 
 For when at first of common Earth they took 
 And moulded to the stature of the Soul, 
 For Forty Days, full Forty Days, the Cloud 
 Of Heaven wept over Him from head to foot. 
 And when the Forty Days had passed to Night, 
 The Sunshine of one Solitary Day 
 Looked out from Heaven to dry the weeping Clay. 
 And though the Sunshine through the long arrear 
 Of Darkness on the Breathless Image rose. 
 Yet for the Living, well the Wise Man knows, 
 Such Consummation scarcely shall be here. 
 
 Salaman and Absal. 
 
PART I 
 
 'THE FATE OF MAN' 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN 
 
 This choice was never offered me before ; 
 
 For me the infinite Past is blank and dumb : 
 This chance recurreth never, never more j 
 
 Blank, blank to me the infinite To-Come, 
 
 And this sole chance was frustrate from my birth, 
 
 A mockery, a delusion j and my breath 
 Of noble, human life upon this Earth 
 
 So racks me that I sigh for senseless death. 
 
 The City of Dreadful Night. 
 
 The night had fallen, — the soft, fragrant, enervating, 
 voluptuous night of the Malay Peninsula, — and the 
 floods of vivid moonlight were pouring dow^n upon 
 the squalid native town. All along the river bank, 
 a belt of hot air, risen from the surface of the water, 
 hung motionless to a depth of sixty feet, so rigidly 
 defined that a man might stand on its edge with one 
 cheek fanned by the cool night air, and the other 
 exposed to a breath as from some unseen furnace. 
 Overhead little feathery flakes of snow-white cloud 
 were drifting lazily across broad fields of sky, of a 
 
 B 
 
2 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 blueness so dark, and deep, and intense, that its real 
 colour seemed only half revealed. The stars, killed 
 by the moonlight, flickered pale and uncertain in spite 
 of their dark background, and a long silent line of 
 flying foxes trailed across the heavens in single file, 
 their black wings flapping slowly and methodically. 
 The night was full of noises : the croaking of a 
 million frogs, all talking at once, came from the 
 swamp-land behind the town ; a night-jar sounded its 
 monotonous note, like the ring of a stone sent skimming 
 over the surface of thin ice ; a dog bayed at the moon 
 with the dismal howl of the outcast pariah, and every 
 cur within hearing joined in the song, till the town 
 became a very Babel of ugly sound. In his boat on 
 the river a solitary Malay lay rocking on the tide, 
 bellowing a love-song for all the world to hear, but 
 secure in the knowledge that it would reach the ears 
 of her at whom it was aimed, without any one being 
 made aware of her identity. From one of the huts in 
 the town came the faint tingle tangle and twang of 
 a Chinese lute, the melody recalling to some senti- 
 mental yellow exile the land of his birth, and the mud 
 homesteads of Southern China. 
 
 The crazy palm-leaf sheds, of which the town 
 mainly consisted ; the black nibong piles driven into 
 the river bed, on which many of the houses were 
 supported ; the litter of trash, inseparable from human 
 dwellings where men live as they please, in defiance of 
 all sanitary principles ; the confusion caused by the 
 presence of impossible objects in all manner of im- 
 probable places J the lean yellow curs hunting and 
 nosing in the garbage ; — all these things could be 
 
SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN 3 
 
 seen with marvellous distinctness of detail. Yet the 
 tender softness of the moonlight hallowed everything 
 upon which it fell, hiding an unsightly corner here 
 with a broad black belt of shadow, mitigating the 
 harsh ugliness of a line there, turning an open drain to 
 the likeness of a slender stream of quicksilver, and 
 almost succeeding in beautifying hideousness itself. 
 This moonlight of Asia is typical of the glamour 
 which will always hang about the rags of the East 
 while our World lasts. Viewed at the right time, and 
 seen in this deceptive light, all manner of things in 
 themselves hopelessly evil and unlovely have power to 
 fascinate as far more attractive objects too often fail 
 to do. This is the reason that may be seen to lie at 
 the back of half the misfortunes, and ninety per cent 
 of the tragedies, in which Europeans in Asia become 
 involved. The atmosphere is apt to destroy a man's 
 ability to scale things accurately ; it deprives him of 
 his sense of proportion, and considerable confusion in 
 the meaning of such words as ' good ' and ' bad ' not 
 infrequently results. If this be borne steadily in 
 mind, an explanation may be discovered for many 
 things, which otherwise cannot be easily understood 
 or forgiven by the stay-at-home White Man ; and 
 where there is an explanation, some measure of ex- 
 tenuation may also, perhaps, be found. 
 
 The compound of the King of Pelesu occupied a 
 couple of acres of ground on the river bank near the 
 straggling native town. It was surrounded by a high 
 stone wall, which, with the Malay's characteristic dis- 
 regard for sightliness and symmetry, was patched in 
 
4 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 places with bamboo fencing, Thewholewas overgrown 
 with tattered masses of creepers, which showed a faint 
 grayish-green in the tender moonlight. The principal 
 building in the enclosure was of stone, ornamented 
 with fantastic designs in blue plaster, showing that 
 its architect had been a Chinaman. Half a dozen 
 Malay houses built upon supporting piles, and covered 
 with mpah-pzlm thatch, occupied spaces within the 
 compound. Each building had apparently been con- 
 structed with a total disregard for the position occupied 
 by its fellows, so that they presented the appearance 
 of having been tipped out of a bag, and suffered to 
 remain where they chanced to fall. The earth within 
 the enclosure was covered with rank grass, and littered 
 with reddening cocoanut husks, broken crockery, and 
 a profusion of miscellaneous trash. Near the wide 
 gate of the compound, facing the river, a dozen gaily 
 clad youngsters, armed with iris and spear, squatted 
 on their hams smoking, chewing betel -nut, and 
 gossiping listlessly. 
 
 In a small room opening from the main apartment 
 of the largest of the Malay houses, two native women 
 were sitting huddled together, in the dim light cast by 
 a damar torch stuck crazily in a clumsy wopden 
 stand. Both women were clad in sarongs of many 
 colours, fastened securely about their waists, and in 
 long cotton blouses buttoned at the neck, the sleeves 
 clinging tightly to their arms. The elder was nearly 
 forty years of age — the late Autumn of life for a native, 
 who begins her experiences as a marriageable girl in 
 the early teens. She was pale and thin of face, with 
 large, sad, dog-like eyes, and a mouth stained scarlet 
 
SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN 5 
 
 with the betel quids, which were almost the only 
 pleasure that the thieving years had left to her. The 
 dominant expression of her face, — the mirror, so to 
 speak, in which all other emotions showed in passing 
 reflections, faint and transient, and powerless to alter 
 that on which they stood revealed, — was one of 
 profound, enduring, patience. That her life had held 
 many dreary days ; that she had suffered long and very 
 bitterly j that her eyes had often been dimmed with 
 weeping, and her hands wrung in grief j all this her sad 
 and tender face, with those large, restful, melancholy 
 eyes, told plainly when one gazed upon it. But all this 
 suffering had been borne with true Oriental fatalism, 
 until the endurance of the ills of life had become a 
 second nature, mechanical, calling for no effort. 
 
 The younger woman at her side was of a very 
 different type. She was a girl of seventeen or 
 eighteen, strangely long of limb and lithe of figure 
 for a Malay, with a wealth of coarse, black, glistening 
 hair, twisted gracefully into a knot at the back of her 
 slender neck. Her tiny delicately formed ears showed 
 above the hands in which her face was buried. She 
 sat huddled up against the wall, her shoulders working 
 convulsively, and the hard, fierce sobs showed that she 
 was "Weeping with a passion, and a violence of grief, 
 and yet with a strong repression and an absence of 
 noisy lamentation, very curious to witness in a native 
 woman. Her older companion, whose face was 
 instinct with sympathy, sat beside her stroking her 
 shoulder gently and soothingly, with soft and tender 
 hands, whispering words of comfort and condolence 
 in the liquid Malayan tongue. 
 
6 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' Have patience, Little One ! Have patience 
 Child of mine ! ' she repeated over and over again. 
 'The pain will endure not for ever. What can one 
 do ? One may not poke dow^n the sky w^ith a jab 
 of one's forefinger, and the rajas, like the sky, are both 
 over and above us for ever. Therefore have patience, 
 Little One, and w^eep not, but endure.' 
 
 'I cannot bear it,' sobbed the girl, in a whispering 
 voice that shook and vibrated with anger. 
 
 ' Patience, Maimunah ! Patience, Little One ! ' 
 reiterated the woman at her side. 
 
 Maimunah wriggled her shoulder from under the 
 caressing hand of her friend, and dropping her fingers 
 from before her face, pressed them convulsively against 
 her breast. She threw her head back, casting her 
 eyes upwards despairingly, and the flicker of greasy 
 light from the torch, showed the passion that worked 
 in the fierce, hardset mouth, and in the rebellious, 
 resentful, beautiful face. 
 
 She was a curious anomaly, this angry weeping 
 girl, utterly out of keeping with her surroundings, 
 and strangely at variance with the people to whom she 
 believed herself to belong. Her parents, both of whom 
 were long dead, had been very ordinary Malays, poor 
 villagers of the pddi fields, toiling, and enduring, in 
 good seasons and in bad, with the unquestioning 
 acquiescence in things as they are, which is so typical 
 of the driven peasant. But this child of their union 
 had but little trace, either in body or in mind, of the 
 bovine characteristics of the Malay villager. Her 
 olive-tinted, oval face, her high, clean-cut features, her 
 almost aquiline nose, and her strongly marked arching 
 
SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN 7 
 
 eyebrows, all belonged to the pure Arab type. And 
 her mind and character likewise were heirlooms from 
 the race that invented Algebra, and later swept away 
 so many ancient creeds in the furious tide of its 
 restless, aggressive enthusiasm and fanaticism. To the 
 Malays about her Maimunah was strange and unlike 
 other maidens, but they were not sufficiently versed in 
 ethnology to recognise in her a throw-back to some 
 Arabic ancestor, the very tradition of whose existence 
 had long ago faded away into the dimness of an 
 unwritten past. 
 
 Such types as these are rare, yet faces of a pure 
 Arabic caste are to be found scattered up and down 
 the Malay Peninsula, and when the character is in 
 keeping with the physical peculiarities, their possessor 
 is apt to find life harder and more bitter than it is fair 
 to suppose that Nature intended. It is always bad 
 to be different from your fellows, — inconvenient and 
 offensive to them, and exceedingly unpleasant for you, 
 if they can help to make it so, — and when the differ- 
 ence is that between an active, restless, original mind, 
 and the patient placidity of a sluggish-natured people ; 
 between passionate rebellion against wrong, and a 
 stoical, unresisting endurance of the obviously un- 
 bearable, — the contrast is terribly violent, and the 
 result is wont to be very pitiful. The Malay can be 
 worked up into a state of frenzy, and occasionally an 
 apparently insignificant trifle may be all that is needed 
 to prick him into rage ; but his fury is always the 
 unreasoning, blind, spasmodic emotion of a child that 
 strikes madly at some inanimate object. Moreover 
 until the point is reached at which he effervesces, the 
 
8 ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 Malay will endure the most cruel wrongs with 
 almost incredible equanimity. It is the violent, 
 passionate, long-restrained, but ever-present resentment 
 against fate and things as they are, which may be 
 experienced only by the higher and more intellectual 
 races. They alone are capable of sustained emotion, 
 such as throbs through every hour of life, imparting 
 bitterness to all things, and colouring the world to a 
 jaundiced hue, an emotion very widely different from 
 the violent but fleeting sensation of anger to which 
 the hearts of primitive men fall a prey. The latter 
 are short-lived both in mind and memory ; the former 
 grinds the soul slowly, but it grinds exceeding small. 
 
 Maimunah buried her face once more in her hands. 
 
 ' I will not bear it,' she whispered fiercely. 
 
 ' Patience, Little One, have patience ! ' murmured 
 her companion, almost mechanically. She could think 
 of nothing else to say. Maimunah must be encouraged 
 to endure, for in that alone lay safety, and moreover it 
 was the fate to which she and such as she were born. 
 She put her soft, kind hand once more upon the girl's 
 shoulder, and began to pat it soothingly, but Maimunah 
 withdrew herself angrily from the gentle caress. 
 
 ' It is easy for thee, Ma' Pah,' she said under her 
 breath, the angry words bursting fiercely from her, 
 in spite of her efforts to avoid speaking loudly. ' It is 
 easy for thee to bid me have patience, seeing that thou 
 art old, that for thee the damp earth of the graveyard 
 already shouts lustily to the coffin-planks. It is not 
 difficult for thee to speak wise words, for thy heart is 
 not sick with cruel treatment, and thy body aches not, 
 as does mine, with blows and worse than blows. Thou 
 
SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN 9 
 
 art old while I am young, thy blood is cold while mine 
 is burning, thy body is at ease while mine is racked 
 with pain. It is easy for thee to cry ' Have patience,' 
 but I tell thee I will not endure these things, — May 
 Allah the Most High Wight her utterly ! ' 
 
 ' Be still, Maimunah ! ' whispered Ma' Pah appre- 
 hensively ; ' Amhui ! my Little One,' she went on, in a 
 soft, sad voice, ' It is true, as thou sayest, that I am 
 old, but once, long ago, I too was young. In those 
 days, the King sent orders to our District, bidding the 
 Chiefs collect fifty maidens for his harem, and all our 
 folk made shift to wed their daughters hastily, for- 
 giving, if need were, even the marriage portion to the 
 bridegroom, so that no maidens might be left to seize, 
 when the King's Youths should come amongst us. In 
 that day, men wedded children, — little girls, whose 
 new-found shame had but then driven them to wear 
 garments, babes who could scarce #alk upon their feet 
 with the aid of the supporting handrail, — for our elders 
 thought that the King would fear the sin of dividing 
 those whom Allah had joined in wedlock. But 
 though many were married hastily, and before their 
 time, I was beautiful, and had long been betrothed to 
 my cousin Buang, and the dowry had been paid by 
 him. At my wedding three buffaloes were slain, and 
 all was ordered according to ancient custom. My 
 Mother's heart was uplifted on that day, because of 
 the glory of the Feast, and my heart too was glad, for 
 Buang and I had often met by stealth, among the 
 standing crops, unknown to our people, and I went to 
 him willingly, as the waters of the river seek the 
 embraces of the great, strong sea. Then came the 
 
10 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 King's Youths, — very arrogant and fierce, — and they 
 were angry with our folk, because no maiden was left 
 unwedded, and they feared the wrath of the King. 
 They ate our substance, and they harried us, as the 
 kite treats little chickens. They gave injurious words 
 to the elders of our village, and did great dishonour to 
 all our folk. Then some of their number returned to 
 this same town of Karu, and told the King all that 
 had befallen, while their fellows abode with us, and 
 oppressed us bitterly. Then the King, being very 
 wrath, laid a heavy fine upon our villages, and, since 
 the fame of my beauty had been borne to his ears, he 
 bade his Youths seize me, and bring me to him. But 
 Buang, my husband, strove mightily with those who 
 came to drag me from him, killing two of the King's 
 Youths before he was himself slain. Then they bore 
 me weeping to Karu, nor would they suffer me to 
 tarry till my man was laid in the grave. Little One, 
 in that hour my heart was dead in my breast, and for 
 many days I ceased not from weeping. But what 
 could be done ? The King loved not heavy eyes, and 
 tears that fell ; and since the memory of my man 
 caused me to weep, I strove to think no more of him. 
 For a space the King abode with me, and I was dear 
 to him, though in truth I loved him not, and there- 
 after he wearied of me ; so now for many years have I 
 dwelt within the palace, slighted by his wives, while 
 the King's heart is set on other and younger maidens. 
 Little One, what sayest thou ? Has my heart known 
 no grief ? I who bid thee endure, have I not endured ? 
 I who bid thee suffer patiently, have I not suffered, 
 and with patience ? And my pain was ever heavier 
 
SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN ii 
 
 than thine, for thou dost not know how bitter is the 
 agony that love addeth to other sorrows.' 
 
 Maimunah had suffered her hands to fall from her 
 face, while she listened eagerly to the passionless 
 sentences, in which Ma' Pah told simply the story of 
 her life's tragedy. 
 
 ' Had I lain in thy place, when thou wast dragged 
 to the side of the King,' she whispered fiercely, ' I had 
 hidden a sharp, keen knife within my sarong folds, and 
 the King had rushed shrieking to Jehanam, where my 
 murdered husband should have had his will of him. 
 How can thy heart endure to see the King living at 
 ease, while thy man's death is unavenged ; to see him 
 lapped in comfort, while thy man's body rots in a 
 blood-stained grave ? Ya Allah ! Thy heart is 
 verily cold, and set evenly in thy body ! For me it is 
 useless to cry ' Patience ! Patience ! ' I detest the 
 King, and all his kith and kin, but most of all I hate 
 the woman, his daughter, who hath done me wrong ! 
 May she die by a spear that is cast ! May she die a 
 violent death, bow-strung, stabbed, and impaled cross- 
 wise ! Behold her handiwork ! ' 
 
 As she spoke, she held her hands out towards Ma' 
 Pah, in such wise that the light of the torch fell full 
 upon them. They were strained and wrenched in 
 every muscle, and each thumb was exactly like that of 
 a large boxing-glove, — huge, and formless, and hideously 
 swollen. The nails were loosened and blackened, 
 standing up stiffly, half detached from the discoloured 
 purple flesh. Below each knuckle the thumbs were 
 cut and scarred to the bone, and crusted about with 
 dark clots and gouts of congealed blood. Her very 
 
12 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 arms were swollen and shapeless, from wrist to 
 shoulder. 
 
 ' She made me to tread live embers ! ' said Mai- 
 munah in a hard, tense whisper. Now that her 
 attention was once more concentrated upon her hands 
 and upon the physical pain she was enduring her agony 
 seemed to be redoubled, and her face twitched and 
 contracted convulsively, while a low moan escaped her. 
 
 These maimed hands told their own tale eloquently. 
 The torture which the Malays name the ' treading of 
 the live embers,' is no whit the less effective because it 
 is simplicity itself, and can be inflicted with the aid of 
 very little machinery. A fine cord of hemp, or a 
 piece of tough rattan — the latter is preferable as being 
 more painful — is passed in a noose about either thumb, 
 a little below the knuckles, and the victim is then 
 suspended from a beam, in such a manner that the 
 toes just fail to touch the ground. Most patients 
 attest their agony in long-drawn, rending shrieks, 
 until such time as the tortured frame becomes numbed 
 into unconsciousness ; but Maimunah had differed in 
 this, as in all things, from her fellows. From the 
 moment when her thumbs took the strain, until the 
 intense pain deprived her of the power to feel, she had 
 cursed the Princess, to whose kind oiKces she owed 
 her suffering, with a boldness that made her torturers 
 turn pale. Then she had fainted, and two hours later 
 she had been cut down, and left lying an inert bundle 
 of jangled nerves, and wrenched muscles, in the place 
 where she had fallen. Then Ma' Pah — the only 
 woman in the palace who had at once the tenderness 
 and the courage to show sympathy to one whom the 
 
SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN 13 
 
 Princess delighted to torture, — had dragged her into 
 the room in which they now sat, and had there nursed 
 her through the worst of the agony which accompanied 
 the return to consciousness. 
 
 The incident was by no means an uncommon one 
 in that rabbit-warren of a royal enclosure at Karu, in 
 the State of Pelesu, and many of her companions in 
 captivity had suffered as Maimunah was now doing, 
 while she watched their pain with a growing feeling 
 of resentfulness and rebellion. But, as it chanced, 
 this was Maimunah's first personal experience of the 
 kind, and the torture, which had reduced the other 
 girls instantly to abject obedience, only served to 
 make her passionately eager for vengeance, and failing 
 that for escape from the bondage she loathed. 
 
 Her parents, long ago, had borrowed a few dollars 
 from the King, and when they died, the shock-headed, 
 angry-eyed little girl had been brought from the shady 
 village, where she had hitherto lived the free, wild life 
 of a Malay child, to the palace, the inhabitants of which 
 were all slaves or slave-drivers. She had begun her new 
 career by nearly biting the throat out of a girl of twice 
 her years, who had attempted to force the little spit- 
 fire to do more than her fair share of the tasks they 
 divided between them ; and after that, her companions 
 had realised that she was not a safe person to oppress. 
 As a result, she had become, in a sense, one of the 
 task-masters, making those about her, who had not the 
 strength of mind necessary to resist her, do as much of 
 her. work as she pleased, exemplifying, though she 
 knew it not, the power of a superior race. But none 
 the less, though her days were less dreary than those 
 
14 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 of most of her fellows, she had hated the life more and 
 more as each moon waxed and waned. She had planned 
 escapes without number, but her keen brain saw clearly 
 where the chances of success were altogether dispropor- 
 tionate to the almost certain probabilities of failure. 
 To attempt an escape, only to be brought back to a 
 worse slavery than that which she now endured, had 
 seemed to her to be abject foolishness, and she had no 
 sympathy with girls whose stupidity had betrayed them 
 into such futile ventures. Even in her maddest moments 
 she never contemplated doing anything rash, which 
 might add to the misery of her lot, unless she could feel 
 quite certain that she would thereby win the liberty for 
 which her whole soul craved so hungrily. 
 
 She had hitherto had comparatively few admirers, 
 since the round-faced, insipid maidens of the palace 
 found more favour in the eyes of the Malay youths of 
 the Capital than did her fierce, bold, clean-cut beauty. 
 Still her record was only less unclean than that of her 
 fellows, and this — strange as it may seem — was a 
 subject of shame to her, and a matter concerning 
 which she was often taunted by those of her com- 
 panions who dared to flout her. 
 
 It was on account of an intrigue, in which she had 
 become engaged,— more for the purpose of showing 
 the other palace women that she also could bring a 
 lover to her feet if she so willed, than to satisfy any 
 inclination of her own, — that she had recently been 
 subjected to the torture of the ' burning embers ' ; 
 for whenever it became known that a girl of the royal 
 household had a lover, swift punishment was meted 
 out to her and to the man also, if his name were given 
 
SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN 15 
 
 up. This was done, not with a view to the preserva- 
 tion of Morality, but because the King — the number 
 of whose lady loves could only be represented by a 
 figure which required four cyphers to express it — was 
 of so jealous a disposition that he could by no means 
 bear the thought of any other man having a love aiFair 
 of his own. 
 
 Maimunah, as in duty bound by the traditions of the 
 palace, had not given up the name of her lover. Some 
 maidens did so under the torture, but these were 
 despised for their weakness, and Maimunah felt bound 
 to show that she at any rate was stronger than they. 
 But none the less, her heart was overflowing with 
 anger against the man in whose cause she had suffered, 
 and as she instinctively despised him, she had not 
 even had the satisfaction of feeling that, in enduring 
 the torture, she was suffering for the sake of a lover 
 who was dear to her. 
 
 Ma' Pah tenderly bandaged the girl's marred hands, 
 and Maimunah, completely exhausted, threw herself 
 down upon the mats, which covered the floor, while 
 the elder woman sat soothing her gently, using kindly, 
 baby words of love and comfort, such as Malay women 
 whisper in the ears of little children. Presently sleep 
 fell upon Maimunah, stilling for a space the angry 
 passion which filled her heart to overflowing, and though, 
 now and again, her face contracted, and her wrenched 
 limbs twitched, her soul, for a time, was at peace. 
 
 ' Ah Little One,' murmured Ma' Pah, ' Thy heart 
 is bitter this night, but in a little space thou wilt for- 
 get, as we also have forgotten. The pain is an angry 
 wind. It sweeps over thee, and for a time it bows 
 
i6 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 thee to the earth ; but when it has passed no trace of 
 its passage remains. Thou hast not suffered the many 
 grievous things that I have borne. Yet I, even I, 
 have forgotten, as thou also wilt forget ! ' 
 
 But Ma' Pah spoke for herself, and for her fellows, — 
 a race to which Maimunah belonged only nominally, 
 and, as it were, by accident. Could she have seen 
 more clearly, and seeing have understood, that sleeping 
 girl would have been to Ma' Pah not only a 
 suffering fellow -creature, but a pitiful illustration of 
 all that is most cruel in the irony of Fate. Here was 
 a strong, passionate nature which, if moulded from 
 infancy, might have resulted in a character instinct 
 with nobility, and all the higher attributes of woman- 
 hood. Her strength of will, her steadfastness of 
 purpose, her hatred of wrong and of oppression, were 
 qualities such as go to the forming of this World's 
 heroines. But Maimunah had been born a member 
 of a society in which the^children grow up as they like, 
 with no controlling hand to mould them ; in which 
 the bloom and innocence of the child passes almost 
 before the little ears have learned to recognise the 
 coarse rude words which rob sacred infancy of its 
 happy ignorance of the ugly facts of life ; in which, 
 by word and deed, men and women alike teach the 
 creed that the passions and desires are placed in the 
 human breast that they may be gratified, not controlled. 
 Thus at eighteen Maimunah's character was fierce and 
 untamed ; her passions undenied ; her ideas of right 
 and wrong practically non-existent ; and for her, purity 
 and innocence were qualities that hardly even held a 
 place in her memory as things which had once been hers. 
 
SITTERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN 17 
 
 If it be pitiful to see the body cramped and de- 
 formed by early ill-usage, how far more sad it is when 
 the mind and character, naturally formed for virtue 
 and for greatness, are the helpless victims of their 
 unavoidable surroundings. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 FRANK AUSTIN— CIVILIAN AND ENTHUSIAST 
 
 Every hour is saved 
 From that eternal silence, something more, 
 A bringer of new things ; and vile it were 
 For some three suns to store and hoard myself, 
 And this grey spirit yearning in desire 
 To follow knowledge like a sinking star. 
 Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. 
 
 Ulysses. 
 
 The quiet, sad-eyed moon, which looked down upon 
 the palace where Maimunah lay sleeping the sleep of 
 exhaustion, while Ma' Pah watched beside her with 
 pitying eyes, that comprehended but a fraction of her 
 trouble, saw a large boat approaching Karu. Down 
 the last long reach of river she came, rolling and 
 lurching onward, threading her way amid the thickly 
 wooded islands, from which the palm-trees rose erect, 
 their quivering fronds silhouetted sharply against the 
 moon-lit sky. The dozen Malays, bending and 
 stretching to their paddles, knew that the end of their 
 journey was nearly reached, and ever and anon, one 
 or another of them would manifest his satisfaction by 
 sending a jubilant howl ringing out over the surface 
 of the water. 
 
FRANK AUSTIN 19 
 
 Stretched at ease upon a mat, beneath the palm- 
 leaf roofing of the boat, a solitary Englishman lay- 
 watching the moonlight as it silvered the churning 
 eddies of displaced water, and danced and flickered 
 upon the wooden fecets of the dripping paddle-blades. 
 The even, regular concussion of the handles against 
 the boat's side, the cool rush of the blades through the 
 water, and the swaying rhythmic motion conspired to 
 lull him gently, and the softness of the night air blew 
 gratefully about his face. He loved to yield himself 
 unresistingly to the influence of his surroundings, and 
 travelling on a moon-lit river, alone with Nature, and 
 with primitive man, had for him a peculiar fascination. 
 The familiar strangeness of the situation, the noises, 
 the scents, the sights, all occasioned in him a lazy 
 delight, which was keen physical pleasure softened, 
 and etherealised. So, as the boat shot forward, he lay 
 motionless, now and again suiFering his eyelids to 
 droop drowsily, in an ecstacy of dreamy calm. 
 
 He had been journeying now for many days, with 
 a little band of Malay friends, — men who were them- 
 selves strangers in this land of Pelesu — roaming through 
 the Undiscovered, heading casually for the Utterly 
 Unknown. It was a sohtary expedition, such as his 
 soul loved. White Men, and White Men's gear, had 
 been left far behind ; the hide-bound formalities and 
 moralities of his race-mates had been exchanged for the 
 laxer ethics, and for the less conventional civilisation 
 of an Oriental people. It is difficult to draw the line 
 at which savagery and barbarism may be said to begin, 
 and civilisation to end. The fact is that the twain 
 blend curiously, and even the lowest of our human 
 
20 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 stock are, to some extent, civilised, if you can only 
 master the difficult art of seeing life as they see it. 
 The only difference between the highest and the low- 
 est is one of degree. The savagery is there, if you 
 scratch deep enough ; but in the case of the one it is 
 overlaid by custom, while in the other it lies a little 
 nearer to the surface. None the less, it is among the 
 so-called barbarians alone that good manners and the 
 bearing of a gentleman appear to be instinctive qualities, 
 coming naturally to a man without training or edu- 
 cation of any kind ; whereas, among civilised peoples, 
 these things have to be drilled into any one who is ever 
 to learn them, if his parents would save him from de- 
 veloping into the outrageous person, which it is seem- 
 ingly his nature to become. 
 
 The independent Malay State of Pelesu, and Kara 
 its Capital, the lights of which were now winking at 
 the EngHshman across the broad expanse of running 
 water, had not been visited by a European for more 
 than fifty years. Long ago, in the days of ' Old John 
 Company,' tradition said that a White Trader had been 
 sent to barter humbly with Malay Chiefs in Pelesu, 
 where, being regarded as merely a new kind of money- 
 grubbing Chinaman, he had been most villainously 
 entreated. Pelesu had always borne an evil name 
 among the Malay States, and when the trader escaped 
 with his life he had known himself to be fortunate, 
 and the Governor of the East India Company's factories 
 in Malayan Waters had not thought it wise to allow 
 others to repeat his experiment. Since then, many 
 things had suffered change in the Peninsula, and though 
 Pelesu had escaped the clutching grasp of the White 
 
FRANK AUSTIN 21 
 
 Man, the reputation of the acquisitive English race 
 had spread throughout the land, and had penetrated even 
 to the inner apartments of the King's palace, wrhence 
 all unpleasant things wrere w^ont to be carefully excluded. 
 Therefore when Frank Austin's love of adventure, and 
 of the unconventional life of a primitive people, led him 
 to spend his days of idleness in roaming through Pelesu, 
 even the Rajas and Chiefs, who view^ed his coming w^ith 
 suspicion and disHke, treated him w^ith the most 
 elaborate courtesy. 
 
 He was a well made youngster of some five or six 
 and twenty years of age, rather short than tall, but of 
 an exceeding spareness, which gave a false air of height 
 to his erect, lithe figure. His hands and feet were small, 
 but his square shoulders, and straight, hard limbs seemed 
 to promise some unusual strength. The climate of the 
 Peninsula has generally one of two effects upon the 
 physique of Europeans. Some grow unhealthily 
 bloated, becoming flaccid, pale and puffy, while others 
 fine down, till they are as spare and hard as a race-horse. 
 Very few men maintain their European weight un- 
 changed after a few years spent in the South of Asia, 
 and, of course, it is the lean kine that last the longer. 
 The others, and they are very numerous, are used up 
 quickly by the wasteful East, as the white stones in our 
 grave-yards show plainly enough to any who have the 
 time to stay and count them. 
 
 Frank Austin's hair was very dark, and he wore it 
 cropped closely so that it stood erect upon his scalp. 
 His skin, from which the sun of the tropics had parched 
 the colouring matter, was of an even healthy brown. 
 His eyes, which were nearly black, wore that curious. 
 
22 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 half restless, half weary look, which comes from staring, 
 during long years at objects seen through the merciless 
 sun-glare of the Peninsula. Eyes, which though they 
 may be bright and young are set in faces that are 
 scarred and lined, are among the signs by means of 
 which we men from the East know and recognise one 
 another when we meet under leaden skies at Home. 
 It is not that the eyes themselves suffer change, but 
 the constant contraction of the face, which men find 
 necessary if they are to see clearly, forms little, hard 
 puckers and wrinkles upon cheek and eyelid. So uni- 
 versal is this among such of us as have led an out-of- 
 door life in the tropics, that, if we are to believe all 
 that Herr Wiesmann and his fellows tell us anent the 
 transmission of physical characteristics, a generation 
 may hereafter spring up in England whose members, 
 even as children, will bear upon their faces the false 
 marks of age which tell their tale of the cruel Eastern 
 sunlight. 
 
 Frank Austin was one of those White Men — a 
 slender band, sprinkled sparsely over the East, — for 
 whom things Oriental, and ' natives ' of all sorts and 
 conditions, possess an overpowering fascination. The 
 keen sympathy which he felt for the people of the land 
 had been, for him, simply a matter of instinct. He 
 could remember how, when he stood upon the deck of 
 the P. and O. steamer at Tilbury, his interest had been 
 centred, not in the vast ship, with its immense power 
 lying latent, to be called into action when needed ; not 
 in the voyage which he was about to take into what, 
 to him, was an unknown world ; but in the blue-clad, 
 brown-skinned Lascars, whose bare feet pattered over 
 
FRANK AUSTIN 23 
 
 the even planking of the deck. A lady, in the party 
 of friends which had come to see him start upon his 
 journey, had called his attention to one of these Indian 
 sailors, who stood near, bidding Frank ' Look at the 
 Blackie ! ' and he had hushed her sharply, so keen had 
 been his fear lest the man should understand and be 
 hurt by the thoughtless words. Later, as the great 
 ship lurched towards the sun-rise, at each port at which 
 she had touched, it had been the human element in the 
 unfamiliar scenes that had chiefly held his interest and 
 excited his imagination. He had fpund himself, almost 
 involuntarily, trying to form some idea of the lives 
 lived by these strange folk ; to picture the joys and 
 sorrows, the hopes and the despairs, the comedies and 
 the tragedies, of their obscure existence ; and he was 
 filled with a restless longing to study these things, to 
 study with the loving eye and the sympathetic heart 
 that alone can win to a complete understanding of the 
 secrets of an alien race. Then, later still, as the vessel 
 crept through the portals of red cliiF, crowned with a 
 wonder of vivid green, which mark the entrance to 
 Singapore harbour, Frank had stood leaning his arms 
 upon the bulwarks, and had let his eyes rest lovingly 
 upon a crowd of natives rowing a long, unsightly boat. 
 These, he had told himself, were the people among 
 whom his life's work was to be accomplished ; these, 
 at last, were the folk whom he would make it his 
 business to understand as few men understood them ; 
 and as their discordant boat-song was borne to him 
 across the water, his heart had overflowed with a ready 
 sympathy for the Malays, in fellowship with whom the 
 hest years of his life were to be passed. They were not 
 
2+ 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 Malays at all, could he but have known it, but an evii- 
 smelling gang of oil-smeared Tamils, the sweepings of 
 Southern India and the Malabar Coast ; but, since he 
 was ignorant of this at the time, they served as well as 
 any other natives to fire his enthusiasm, and, though 
 the incident made him smile in self-derision later when 
 he recalled it, it supplied the key-note of the mental 
 attitude that was his when his feet first trod the red 
 soil of the Peninsula. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival he had been drafted up 
 country to an out-station, where the district officer 
 was fat and somnolent, and took little interest in any- 
 thing save his meals and his prospective pension. 
 There were one or two other Europeans in the place, 
 but of them Frank saw little. His natural taste for 
 the study of natives, and of native customs and char- 
 acteristics, led him to spend nearly the whole of his 
 spare time among the Malays in the villages that lay 
 around the Station. He picked up the language with 
 quite extraordinary quickness, as though it were some- 
 thing that he had known in a former state of existence, 
 and had merely temporarily forgotten. Most White 
 Men are content to speak a mongrel jargon, which 
 differs as much from pure Malay as does the ' pijin ' 
 spoken in China from the English of Macaulay or 
 Thackeray. When they have mastered this debased 
 dialect, and can understand natives who use it for their 
 benefit, they conceive that they have accomplished all 
 that can reasonably be required of them. But Frank 
 Austin was not so easily satisfied. Not only did he teach 
 himself to speak Malay as it is spoken by the natives 
 themselves, but he never rested until he could under- 
 
FRANK JUSTIN 25 
 
 stand, without conscious effort, all that passed between 
 any Malays who chanced to be carrying on a clipped 
 and disjointed conversation anywhere within hearing. 
 
 He went fishing with the villagers upon the rivers, 
 and learned to throw a casting-net and set a fish-trap 
 with the best of them. He went into the jungles with 
 old men skilled in wood lore, and learned to rap the 
 hard earth with the palm of his hand till the Uttle 
 timid mouse -deer, no bigger than rabbits, ran up 
 through the underwood to answer his challenge. At 
 the end of a year or two he could decoy ground- 
 pigeons with a bamboo pipe, blown skilfully in imita- 
 tion of their note, until they came bowing and scraping 
 to his feet to be captured by means of a noose attached 
 to a long rod ; he could call half the birds of the jungle 
 about him by whistling to them ; he knew how to 
 work getahy where to seek rattans, how to plant rice 
 in half a dozen different ways ; he could repeat the 
 incantations, which it is wise to use under fifty differ- 
 ent circumstances ; he knew every proverb, every catch- 
 word, every superstition, every custom, every obscure 
 phrase or fact which enables a man to understand the 
 speech and the life of the Malay in the rice-field, in 
 the village, in the palace of the Raja^ on the river, or 
 in the jungle. His constant companionship with the 
 people tended to increase and strengthen his sympathy 
 with them, and gave him a ready insight into their 
 character and their hearts, which seemed Httle short of 
 miraculous to other men who had not watched his 
 methods, and only observed the results. The District 
 OiBcer congratulated himself upon the possession of a 
 junior, who not only was prepared to do all the roam- 
 
26 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ing up and down the District, which Government con- 
 siders necessary, but who was further able to give him 
 an absolutely reliable opinion upon any obscure matter 
 concerning the natives, upon which a report might be 
 called for. In these days the District Officer began to 
 win a considerable reputation for knowledge of his 
 District, and for his power of keeping in touch with 
 the people under his charge, and this he found ex- 
 tremely pleasant, while Frank was now bitten suffi- 
 ciently deeply with the love of his discoveries to find 
 in them the only reward he wished for. 
 
 Frank's rather ostentatious avoidance of such 
 European society as the little Station afforded tended 
 to make him the reverse of popular with his fellows ; 
 and Gregson, a far more senior man in the Service, 
 who liked the clever, enthusiastic boy, once took him 
 to task upon the subject. Gregson chanced to be pass- 
 ing through the Station, on his way to Head Quarters 
 from the distant, and semi-savage District which he was 
 said to rule with a fine blending of strength and tact. 
 He used, with characteristic frankness, to declare that 
 he 'could not thole the worthy Applebury' — Frank's 
 somnolent Chief — so he declined that gentleman's 
 proffered hospitality, and elected to put up in Austin's 
 tiny bungalow, and to share the meagre victuals of a 
 youth who was Hving as best he could upon his micro- 
 scopic salary. The frugal meal was over, and the two 
 men clad in cool native jackets and waist-cloths, were 
 lying in long-chairs on the verandah, scenting the 
 fragrance of the tropical night, and smoking the tobacco 
 of peace and good-fellowship. 
 
 'Look here, young 'un,' began Gregson, after a 
 
FRANK AUSTIN 27 
 
 pause of many minutes in the lazy, desultory conversa- 
 tion. ' I have a notion that you are making a mistake.' 
 
 ' I am awfully sorry,' replied Frank, who had a great 
 admiration for the senior man, and a corresponding 
 respect for his opinion. ' What church have I been 
 robbing now ? ' 
 
 'It has not come to stealing the pyx, yet,' said 
 Gregson, smiHng. 'But the boys here tell me that 
 you are for ever slumming about among the natives, 
 and that you never chum with any of them. I think 
 that is a pity.' 
 
 'I cannot help it,' returned Frank. 'There is a 
 great deal that I want to learn, and until I have 
 mastered it I cannot afford to waste my time, nor to 
 get my tongue out of gear by for ever talking English.' 
 
 ' Rubbish ! ' said Gregson, with his accustomed 
 bluntness. ' I know as much about the natives as is 
 good for any man ; why, when you were still too 
 small and tender even to be switched I was plodding 
 along in some God-forsaken part of the Peninsula'; and 
 I have seen enough to know that in studying native 
 life and native manners the best motto that a man can 
 have to guide himself by is " Strive to attain to a wise 
 moderation in all things." Unless I am very much 
 mistaken you are overdoing it — running the thing 
 into the ground.' 
 
 Frank sat pondering in silence for some time. 
 This plain speaking, coming, as it did, from a man 
 like Gregson, tended to knock the self-complacency 
 out of him. He had almost unconsciously been not 
 a little puffed up by a sense of the superior intelligence 
 which he was displaying in availing himself to the 
 
28 ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 full of the opportunities which his position in the heart 
 of a native district afforded for the study of native 
 life. It had never occurred to him in the light of a 
 possibility that a man like Gregson, who notoriously 
 understood natives and their management, should 
 consider that in so doing he was making a fool of 
 himself The breath of disapproval cooled, for a 
 moment, his youthful enthusiasm. 
 
 ' I am sorry that you should look at it in that light,' 
 he said at length. ' The fact of the case is that the 
 more I get to know about the Malays, the more I 
 want to know. They interest me far more than 
 tossing for drinks at that one-horse little club the 
 men here are so fond of, or knocking billiard balls 
 about a table that would not make a bad golf-course. 
 And besides, you must see it yourself, the more one 
 deals with Malays, the more one gets to see other 
 white men from their standpoint, and when they are 
 focussed that way their manners are not particularly 
 attractive.' 
 
 'The hen said, "Behold I have laid an egg! 
 'Tis the first since the beginning of things ! " ' quoted 
 Gregson in the vernacular. 'My dear boy, you are 
 quite refreshingly young. Do you think that I have 
 not been through it all myself? That is the only 
 thing that gives me any right to speak to you as I 
 am doing. I will tell you exactly how our delightful 
 fellow-countrymen appear to natives, and to the few 
 of us who can see as natives see.' 
 
 He took a long whifF of his pipe, and then resumed 
 his lecture through a misty cloud of smoke. 
 
 'The fault with them, one and all, is that they 
 
FRANK AUSTIN 29 
 
 won't be natural. They all seem to think it necessary 
 to assume a peculiar mannerism when they are dealing 
 with men whose skins aren't white. Some of them 
 treat natives with a cold reserve, which commands 
 respect, if you like, but it dries up the founts of 
 confidence at their source, and makes all compre- 
 hension of the other's character and feelings mutually 
 impossible. That is one bad manner with natives, 
 and it is bad enough, as we know, but it isn't anything 
 like as bad as many others ; though when a man puts 
 on frills like that, I always long to side with the 
 Malay, and to ask the beggar what he has ever done 
 to justify the assumption of such a lot of side. Then 
 there are the men who know nothing about natives at 
 all, and who don't want to. They behave with a 
 careless, light-hearted rudeness, that is pretty sickening 
 to see, but which only comes from the fact that they 
 regard the brown man as a very insignificant speck 
 on their own life's horizon. It isn't that their hearts 
 are bad j it's want of savvy ; but it is rather cheap 
 when you remember that this is the brown man's 
 country, and that we are only justified in being here 
 by the supposition that our presence makes the natives 
 better and-happier than they would be without us.' 
 
 ' And do you think that we succeed ? ' asked Austin 
 eagerly. 
 
 'That's another question,' said Gregson, rather 
 grimly. 'One thing at a time. I am prosecuting 
 an inquiry into the engaging ways of our interesting 
 countrymen. I have described two types, and you 
 will recognise them both. Then there are a lot of 
 others. For instance there is that excellent old 
 
30 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 dodderer Applebury. He is quiet enough with you 
 or me, but the moment he meets a native a sort of 
 besetment seems to seize him. Boisterous, coarse 
 familiarity is quite foreign to his nature, yet you can't 
 describe his behaviour to natives by any other terms. 
 I knowr that he wrants to seem friendly ; but he only 
 succeeds in being noisy, and of course he is indescrib- 
 ably repulsive to the calmly dignified Malays. Then 
 you have the chap w^ho doesn't know the language, 
 but is confident that the Malays will be able to under- 
 stand English if he only shouts loud enough.' 
 
 'I know,' chuckled Frank. 'I have had to in- 
 terpret for some of that sort, time and again. From 
 the way they bawl one would suppose that they 
 believed every one who is not English to be stone- 
 deaf.' 
 
 ' Yes, but they do just the same with all foreigners, 
 white or brown ; their pleasant methods of conversing 
 are not only exhibited for the benefit of the Native 
 Chief. And then you have the white men who are 
 simply brutal to every native they come across.' 
 
 ' They are growing rarer and rarer each year, thank 
 God ! ' said Frank. ' They represent the most dis- 
 gusting type of all, because, I do not care who denies 
 it, they only dare to knock natives about because 
 they are sure in their own minds that retaliation is 
 most improbable.' 
 
 ' That is it. I should like to see one of them try 
 to thrash an English footman for having forgot to 
 bring a tooth-brush ! Only they are funks to the 
 marrow, and would never dream of running the risk 
 of such an experiment.' 
 
FRJNK AUSTIN 31 
 
 'But you must own that, taking them by and 
 large, they are an unpleasant crowd, these countrymen 
 of ours, when one views them from the native stand- 
 point.' 
 
 ' You speak like a book ! They are all that, and 
 lots of other things besides. I am not denying the 
 self-evident. But you must take their view of the 
 situation into consideration also. You see, the whole 
 lot of the men, whom we have been discussing, have 
 deep rooted in their hearts an instinctive aversion to 
 skins which are not of the same colour as their own. 
 Narrow, I grant^ you ; but the feeling is there, and 
 you have to reckon with it as an unchangeable fact. 
 Then they have, not unnaturally, a suspicious dislike 
 of men whom they are unable to understand, and with 
 whom they have no desire to be in sympathy. You 
 see, it is always a trifle difficult for a white man in the 
 East to realise that he is what he is — a stranger in 
 the land.' 
 
 ' But dash it all,' Frank broke in impetuously. 
 ' Unless a man is a fool, he cannot regard the people and 
 the country as things specially created for his benefit.' 
 
 ' But then, you have to recognise, as Carlyle said, 
 that the vast majority of our race-mates are " mostly 
 fools."' 
 
 ' Then they ought to be made to cease from being 
 fools ! They must be made to recognise that, as you 
 said just now, the only possible justification for their 
 presence this side of Suez lies in the hope that each 
 one of them may contribute his mite towards the 
 splendid work which England is to-day doing through- 
 out Asia. Why, good God, the number of the empty 
 
32 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 seats by English firesides, whose occupants have gone 
 to swell the death-roll of those who have fallen in our 
 foremost skirmishing line, should be more than enough 
 to convince the dullest amongst us that we come here 
 to attain to something higher than a mere competence 
 upon which to maintain ourselves ! ' 
 
 Gregson smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. 'That 
 is very high-faluting,' he said. 'But it is no good 
 pretending that that is not one of the many illusions 
 that the fierce light of the tropics will help to dispel, 
 before you have put in very many years' service. Why, 
 dash it all, I felt just the same in my time. For the 
 first five years that I was out here, I felt exactly as 
 you do, and perhaps talked of it all much in the same 
 terms. I would not have changed places with a king ! 
 I was " making history," serving my fellow-creatures, 
 supporting the majesty of England's name in Asia, and 
 doing all manner of fine things. But I have got 
 through with all that long ago ; and, believe me, 
 you'll worry through with it too, in time. Ten years 
 of the East will knock more philosophy into you than 
 twenty years in the schools.' 
 
 ' But I don't want to grow philosophical. A man 
 must have ideals, or what in the world is there left to 
 work for ? ' 
 
 ' Cui bono ? Cut bono ? Every one has to come to 
 that unanswerable question sooner or later. Have 
 ideals by all manner of means, and keep them as long 
 as you can ; but, if you are wise, you will not live in 
 the expectation of seeing those about you acting up to 
 them. If you do, you will be doomed to most grievous 
 disappointment.' 
 
FRANK AUSTIN 33 
 
 ' But you began by abusing me for trying to live 
 up to my idealsj' said Frank rather peevishly. 
 
 ' Not I,' said Gregson. ' Live up to them by all 
 means. What I say is, go slow, exercise a little 
 moderation. You must remember that it takes a 
 pretty strong man to study native life thoroughly, as 
 you are bent upon doing, without getting his own 
 ethics and morality a trifle jumbled. You see, to learn 
 anything at all about natives you are obliged in the 
 beginning to cultivate a large-hearted tolerance, which 
 can regard, without any outward sign of disapproval or 
 disgust, many things at the sight of which all decent 
 souls must rise in revolt. Just as one who would 
 watch the ways of timid animals in the jungles must 
 remain very still, so must a white man, who takes up 
 the study of natives, repress his own feelings upon all 
 occasions. He must devote his energies to examining 
 the thoughts and motives of those around him, with- 
 out startling the natives by useless protests, and with- 
 out, for the time, attempting to demonstrate to them 
 the evil of their ways. Later on, when you have 
 painfully acquired a really deep knowledge of the 
 people, you may be able to influence them for good, 
 by means of the power which a complete understand- 
 ing of their point of view must always give you. But 
 any betrayal of disapprobation, while you are still a 
 beginner, will be construed by the Malay into want of 
 sympathy and comprehension. Well, all I can say is 
 that there are many other forms of study in which 
 your individual chances of salvation run far less risk. 
 That's all' 
 
 'Ah, well,' sighed Frank. 'I daresay that I 
 
 D 
 
3+ 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 shall give it up when I know enough. Perhaps I 
 shall grow tired of it before then. Anyhow, I am not 
 tired of it yet, and I cannot leave it off until I am. It 
 is like telling a man to leave ofF reading a book, just 
 as he gets to the most interesting part of it. I own 
 that such self-inflicted punishment is beyond me.' 
 
 ' All right, sonny,' said Gregson goodnaturedly, as 
 he rose and stretched himself. ' Go to the Devil in 
 your own way, but remember that I warned you that 
 His Satanic Majesty was probably lying in wait for 
 you at the end of that road. If he ever catches you, 
 as I own that I think he will, don't forget that you 
 were put upon your guard, and told to be careful lest 
 you should end by swapping a white man's birthright 
 for a brown man's mess of pottage.' 
 
 And Frank Austin 'Aa^ gone his own way, un- 
 influenced by anything that Gregson or others might 
 say to, or of him. When he could obtain leave he 
 spent it, as a rule, in making excursions into the un- 
 trodden places of the Malay Peninsula, there to further 
 prosecute his inquiries into native life. The inde- 
 pendent Native State of Pelesu, where White Men 
 were unknown, and the people of the land enjoyed a 
 villainous reputation for blood-thirstiness and a light- 
 hearted lawlessness, had always attracted him by reason 
 of its evil name ; and at the time when this story 
 opens, he was wasting three months' leave of absence 
 in paying a long meditated visit to Karu. 
 
 The boat lurched on, the lights of the Capital, 
 with the dancing reflections that set to them in the 
 running water, grew momentarily more distinct. 
 Then the boat rolled violently, as she swung round 
 
FRANK AUSTIN 35 
 
 with the current, her nose hard held by a punting- 
 pole driven firmly into the river-bed. The paddles 
 clattered, as the Malays threw them down upon the 
 bamboo decking ; the men stretched themselves stiffly ; 
 and then some of them fell to preparing quids of betel 
 nut, while others composed themselves to sleep, lying 
 about, a shapeless mass of sprawling legs and arms, 
 indiscriminately scattered up and down the flooring of 
 the boat. 
 
 Frank Austin, following their example, turned over 
 on his side, and slept his first sleep in the Capital of 
 Pelesu. 
 
 Could his heavy eyes have looked into the Future, 
 and have seen the things that were to befall him at 
 Karu, and the far-reaching consequences which would 
 spring from them, he would surely have been aroused 
 into miserable, wide-eyed wakefulness ; and the boat 
 would have been hurried down river to the sea, yea, 
 and out upon its troubled waters, anywhere, anywhere, 
 away from Pelesu and all that it held. But men's 
 eyes may not see that which, for good or evil, is 
 hidden in the womb of the infinite To-Come, so Frank 
 Austin, all unconscious of trouble yet to come, lay 
 sleeping placidly, his even breathing attesting the 
 soundness of his slumber. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 
 
 What joy can lurk in toilsome work 
 
 Such as the White Folk make ? 
 With restless hand they rule the land 
 
 For common people's sake ! 
 What need to care how peasants fare, 
 
 The chattels of our wills ? 
 What profit lies in prying eyes, 
 
 That peer at other's ills ? 
 There is one day, and while we may 
 
 We pleasure seek, and ease ; 
 'Tis better far than senseless war 
 
 'Gainst Fate and Fate's decrees.. 
 
 The Song of the Rulers, 
 
 In an independent Malay State, old Father Time finds 
 himself treated with very scant respect. In other 
 lands he engrosses the attention of most men, his step 
 sets the pace to all the world, his movements are 
 carefully chronicled, and he is probably not a little 
 impressed by the sense of his own importance. Here, 
 on the other hand, he is suffered to run or crawl along, 
 with his scythe and his hour-glass, without any man 
 being greatly concerned about his passage. By some 
 he is entirely disregarded ; no one thinks of regulating 
 their Hves by him ; and his vanity, if he have any. 
 
CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 37 
 
 must suffer many severe shocks. In the villages men 
 mark his foot-steps casually, and without approach to 
 accuracy, by a dozen loose-set phrases, such as ' Before 
 the flies are on the w^ing,' 'When the dew dries,' 
 'When the plough stands idle,' 'When the shadows 
 fall circularly,' ' When the kine go down to water,' 
 'When the cicada is heard,' 'When the fowls go 
 to roost,' 'When the little ones wax sleepy,' and 
 many others of a like purport. No two men, how- 
 ever, attach precisely the same value to any one of 
 these descriptions of the passing hours of the day. 
 Among the priests and holy men, the five periods of 
 Muhammadan prayer are the only divisions of time 
 which are deemed necessary ; but this is a loose and 
 slovenly system, leaving a wide margin for the un- 
 punctual. In the courts of Malay Rajas, — where 
 most of those who possess watches, only wear them for 
 what the Chinese call the 'look see,' the process of 
 winding, and the method of telling the time often pre- 
 senting insuperable difficulties to the Malay mind, — 
 no one takes any particular count of the fleeting hours. 
 The passage of the sun does not rule the Raja's life, 
 as it does that of the villager ; the hours of prayer 
 have an equal insignificance ; and so it comes about 
 that night and day run into one another, and become 
 mingled, like two fluids poured into the same vessel. 
 Rajas are, as often as not, to be found sleeping through 
 the daylight, and waking at strange hours of the 
 night ; going to their slumber at four in the afternoon, 
 and arising at midnight, or in the cool hours before 
 the dawn. 
 
 On the evening which saw Frank Austin's boat 
 
38 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 arrive at Karu, the King of Pelesu awoke at midnight. 
 The coming of the White Man was at once reported 
 to him, and he bade his Chiefs be summoned forthwith 
 for a Council. The visit of a European to Pelesu 
 had not occurred within the memory of any but the 
 oldest men, and Frank Austin, sleeping placidly in his 
 boat upon the river, would have smiled could he have 
 known the sensation which his presence was causing. 
 
 In addition to the palaces within the patched wall, 
 of which mention has already been made, the King 
 possessed a perfect warren of hutches, built upon piles 
 over the water, along the river front. These were 
 the abodes of certain concubines, whose lives would 
 have been worth but a few moments' purchase had the 
 fingers of the King's four lawful wives won a grip 
 upon their throats ; and the ruler of Pelesu, whose 
 manifold experiences had taught him much wisdom in 
 the management of his women-kind, took care to keep 
 his favourites out of their rivals' reach. It was in the 
 outer room of one of these huts that the sleepy Chiefs 
 were now assembling. 
 
 The room was oblong in shape, with a low roof, 
 hung with a dirty ceiling-cloth of glaring chintz. 
 The floor was covered with mats, woven from the 
 leaves of the mengkuang palm, and half a dozen brass 
 spittoons formed the only other furniture. There 
 were three windows at each side of the room, no one 
 of which was parallel to the others, or directly in front 
 of the one which it was designed to face. There was 
 a door-way at either end of the apartment, one leading 
 out upon the river-side street of Karu, the other, at the 
 top of a couple of steps, separating the outer room 
 
- CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 39 
 
 from the women's quarters, whither no man, save the 
 King alone, was suffered to penetrate. A soiled 
 curtain hung before the latter door-way, and ever and 
 anon the ghnt of a woman's eye, peeping at the 
 visitors, could be seen from within the shadow behind 
 the limp rag. Two badly trimmed kerosine oil lamps 
 smoked sullenly from the ceiling where they hung, 
 casting a greasy light upon the room, and all who sat 
 within it. 
 
 They were a curious group, this little cluster or 
 gaily dressed Malay Chiefs, Warriors, and Councillors. 
 Some were men of high rank, near relatives of the 
 King ; others were War Chiefs, whose records were red 
 with blood J while others again were upstarts, who 
 owed their presence in this assembly neither to birth 
 nor valour, but solely to the favour of the King. No 
 Malay Monarch loves those who are nearly related to 
 him, for in each one of them he sees a possible rival, 
 with whom, at any moment, he may find himself at 
 death grips, with the throne and the harem — which 
 goes with Kingship — as the prizes for him who proves 
 himself to be the better man. The King's kinsmen 
 know this full well, and since any action which brings 
 them into prominence is apt to endanger their lives, 
 they are usually almost mute when in the presence of 
 their sovereign. The War Chiefs, too, are reticent, for 
 they are men of action, with little skill in speech, and 
 their Hmited imaginations can see no way out of a 
 difficulty save such as may be indicated by the points 
 of their daggers, or hewn by the blades of their restless 
 swords. 
 
 But there are two classes of men who wax voluble 
 
40 'SINCE THE BEGINNING-' 
 
 when the King is at hand to listen. These are the 
 royal favourites, — whose existence at the Court is as 
 permanent a grievance to the Princes and Barons of a 
 Malay State as was that of their prototypes to the 
 nobles of Mediaeval Europe, — ^and the young, untried 
 warriors, who, never having experienced the terror 
 which the raw, far-reaching reek of much spilled blood 
 brings to the human heart, are anxious to display their 
 loud-mouthed courage, and their burning loyalty to the 
 King. 
 
 The favourites are usually among the shrewdest of 
 the King's subjects, glib-tongued individuals, with 
 pachydermatous consciences, and a ready cunning 
 rarely at fault. They have for the most part taught 
 themselves to suit their pliable souls to the King's 
 varying moods, to pander to his passions, to humour 
 his whims ; to tell him the thing he desires to hear, 
 rather than the thing that is ; to act the buffoon 
 without shame, when the King wishes to be amused ; 
 and by these means, they creep into their master's 
 fickle affections. 
 
 Haji Mat Kasim, and Che' Ngah Rahman were 
 the principal favourites of the King of Pelesu, at this 
 time, and though they differed in individual character, 
 each of them answered to the above description to 
 some extent. The former was a fat, coarse, vulgar 
 looking Malay, with broad flat, splay features, deeply 
 pitted with small-pox. A sparse beard of wiry hair 
 sprouted scantily and scrubbily from his neck, and from 
 the hollows behind his ears. He sat cross-legged upon 
 the matted floor, glancing truculently round him at 
 those who were present. A long sword lay sheathed 
 
CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 41 
 
 by his side, and a little knife peeped from his girdle. 
 A glaring yellow turban was wound about his head ; a 
 long white garment fell to his knees, and was fastened 
 by a broad sash at his waist ; trousers of Arabic cut, 
 tight and frilled at the ankles, ended in two huge 
 shapeless feet. On his back as a surtout he wore the 
 long silk gown, so much aiFected by Muhammadan 
 Pilgrims on their return from Mecca. This was of a 
 dazzHng green, in fine contrast to the flaming yellow 
 of his head-gear. From time to time, he inhaled a 
 long, deep breath, puffing himself out like the frog in 
 the fable, and seeming literally to swell with import- 
 ance ; and, indeed, his whole bearing was indicative ot 
 the frankest self-complacency, and satisfaction at the 
 man he knew himself to be. As all who were 
 acquainted with him were aware, Haji Mat Kasim 
 thought great things of his own wisdom, and this had 
 one really good effect, for though he was always at 
 great pains to please the King, he could, on occasion, 
 when danger seemed to threaten the welfare of the 
 State set his own will to guide that of his Master, and 
 he knew the latter's character thoroughly, and could 
 play upon it like a skilled musician upon his instru- 
 ment. 
 
 Che' Ngah Rahman was a smooth-faced, oily- 
 mannered, rather obsequious creature, with shifty rest- 
 less eyes, and an expression of extraordinary cunning. 
 He was dressed very quietly, in a mouse-coloured silk 
 coat, and wide loose trousers to match. His sarong 
 was of a dark blue, and his only weapon was a long 
 iris, cased in a handsome sheath of kemuning wood, 
 which now lay across his lap. He looked so modest 
 
42 ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 and so unassuming, sitting there among the other gaily- 
 clad Malays ; his voice was so soft, and his manners so 
 obsequious, that it was difficult to believe that he was, 
 in truth, the most cruel, and the most unscrupulous of 
 any of the King's advisers. Yet this man was the evil 
 genius of the Ruler of Pelesu. He was utterly without 
 self-respect, and would act the buffoon as readily as he 
 would play the tyrant, if thereby he might win a smile 
 from the King, to whose favour he owed his influence. 
 His whole manner was in violent contrast to the arro- 
 gant self-assertion of Haji Mat Kasim, but it needed 
 no very shrewd eye to perceive which of the twain was 
 the more dangerous. 
 
 Presently the curtain, which cloaked the door-way 
 leading to the inner apartments, was drawn back, and 
 the King stood there, glancing keenly round at the 
 assembled Chiefs before stepping down the stairs. He 
 was a man of nearly sixty, stout and portly, with a 
 strong face heavily lined by fierce passions and a life of 
 complete self-indulgence. His eye was cold and hard. 
 His mouth was straight and firm with thin, cruel lips, 
 but the voice that issued from it was soft and gentle as 
 that of a woman. He was dressed in brilliant Malay 
 silks, and his only weapon was a tiny dagger stuck in 
 his girdle. 
 
 The moment he appeared a dead silence fell upon 
 those within the room, and every one turned, so as to 
 face him, with the precision of needles turning towards 
 a magnet. 
 
 The King stepped down and seated himself upon 
 the floor, close to Che' Ngah Rahman and Haji Mat 
 Kasim, with whom he carried on a conversation in low 
 
CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 43 
 
 tones, while he prepared a quid of betel nut, slowly 
 and with minute care. 
 
 ' O To' Bandar ! ' said the King, at last, in a voice 
 that all could hear, ' Is it true that a White Man hath 
 come hither to Karu ? ' 
 
 The Chief addressed, a little, wizened old man, 
 hampered with many weapons, raised his hands, with 
 palm pressed to palm, until his thumbs rested against 
 his forehead. 
 
 ' Pardon, Majesty ! ' he said, when he had again 
 suffered his hands to fall clasped into his lap, 'a 
 thousand, thousand pardons ! It is indeed true.' 
 
 ' Then what does it befit us to do ? ' asked the 
 King. 
 
 Che' Ngah Rahman's shifty eyes travelled round 
 the assembly of Chiefs, and the faintest possible smile 
 played about his lips. Haji Mat Kasim inflated him- 
 self in an access of increased importance. The other 
 Chiefs shifted uneasily, and some fell to picking 
 nervously at the plaited palm-leaves of the matting, 
 with restless fingers. No one spoke, 
 
 After a'_long pause the King addressed himself to 
 the oldest of the War Chiefs. 
 
 ' What sayest thou. Imam Prang ? ' he asked. 
 
 The Imam Prang saluted as the Dato' Bandar had 
 done. 
 
 'Whatever thou deemest best, O King,' was all he 
 could find to say, after a moment or two spent in deep 
 thought. 
 
 The Malay Chief in Council is a tiresome person, 
 but the King was well used to his people's peculiar 
 ways, and he knew that these were the preliminary 
 
44 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 antics prescribed by Custom, which necessarily preceded 
 any individual expression of opinion. 
 
 ' O father ! ' said the King, turning to a very old 
 man, who sat in one corner of the room, shaking with 
 palsy, ' O father, what sayest thou ? ' 
 
 The man addressed was To' Pahlawan Bengis, the 
 oldest Chief in Pelesu, a little shrivelled, withered 
 creature, whose load of years pressed sorely upon him. 
 He was dressed in the ancient Malay costume, now 
 but rarely seen, save in the Balai of a Raja upon state 
 occasions. His coat was garnished with a high, stiff 
 collar, standing erect to the level of his ears, and it 
 was so cut that it fell from his armpits in straight, 
 hard folds, leaving his wrinkled breast exposed. His 
 trousers extended only to the middle of his shins, and 
 were brilliant with countless horizontal bars of cleverly 
 blended colours. His sarong, of fine cotton woven on 
 the looms of the Bugis people, and carefully glazed by 
 much friction with a shell, was folded high in front of 
 him, over the hidden handle of his iris. Upon his 
 glassy head a handkerchief was set rakishly, the end 
 twisted into a swaggering point. A goatee beard of 
 absolutely white hair, hung from his chin, and waggled 
 to and fro slightly with the restless motion of the old 
 man's lips. There was a cruel contrast between the 
 brilliant smartness of the costume, and the shrivelled 
 body of the wearer ; between the glossy silk of the coat, 
 and the thin, withered chest ; between the head that 
 shook with the palsy of age, and the rakish handkerchief, 
 whose nodding point seemed to mock it ; between the 
 feeble motiveless hands, and the handsome dagger, which 
 they would never have the strength to wield again. 
 
CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 45 
 
 In days long gone by, Pahlawan Bengis had been a 
 mighty warrior in Pelesu, and the years that had 
 dimmed his sight, dulled his hearing, and robbed him 
 of his strength, had left his memory untouched, so 
 that he could still call clearly to mind tHS brave times 
 when he and all the world were young, and weave 
 therefrom tales to fire the hearts of hot blooded 
 youngsters. 
 
 It was necessary for those who sat near him to call 
 his attention to the King, by sundry tugs and nudges, 
 and when at last his blood-shot old eyes peered in 
 the right direction, and his trembling hands were 
 lifted mechanically to the salute, a dozen voices 
 bawled a paraphrase of the King's question in his 
 ears. 
 
 ' Majesty ! ' began the old man, in a voice marvel- 
 lously strong and musical for one so old. 'In the 
 days when thy revered grandfather ruled in Pelesu, a 
 White Man came hither to Karu. His hair was long, 
 and fine, and yellow, like the beard of the maize, and 
 his eyes were white, not black, as are ours. His skin, 
 seemingly, was blistered in many places, being red 
 hke the hide of a pink bufFalo. He was very hideous 
 to look upon.' 
 
 ' And how did ye receive him ? ' asked the King. 
 He, and every other soul present, knew the tale by 
 heart, but Malays, like little children, never weary of 
 hearing the same story repeated over and over again. 
 
 The old man chuckled gently, exposing a cavernous 
 mouth, the gums and tongue stained scarlet with betel 
 juice, and two yellow tusks pricking up like rocks in 
 mid-stream. 
 
46 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 'Majesty, he brought with him many articles of 
 value, and we had need of them. He offered them to 
 us for sale, but what does it profit a man to buy that 
 which lies at the tip of his dagger ? We fell upon 
 him while he slept, and we seized him and all his gear. 
 We bound him hand and foot to a pole, and bore him 
 on our shoulders to the King's Balai, his head hang- 
 ing downwards like that of a slaughtered deer borne 
 home from the hunting. And all the way, as we 
 carried him, he ceased not to revile us with words very 
 evil and pungent, for the heart of this man was brave. 
 Then we consulted as to what it was fitting that we 
 should do with him, and the Dato' Mentri, the chief 
 adviser of the King, said that it behoved the White 
 Man to give unto us a signed letter, stating that the 
 goods of which we had become possessed were free 
 gifts made by him in token of the love he bore us. 
 This he required lest the Company should hereafter 
 send war-ships to ask the price of the said goods. 
 Now when the White Man heard the Dato' Mentri's 
 words he fell aswearing after the manner of his 
 people, and he made oath saying that he would never 
 sign this letter of gift. Therefore, once more, we 
 held council as to what should be done to this man so 
 that he might be persuaded and coaxed into signing 
 the letter. Many means were devised, but the Dato' 
 Mentri, looking upon the so red and blistered skin of 
 the White Man, said, slapping his thigh, " It would be 
 well to let him make sheep's eyes at the Eye of Day." 
 
 ' Then we bore him to an open space, — it was then 
 about the hour when the Eye of Day is set evenly in 
 the centre of the heavens, — and having divested him of 
 
CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 47 
 
 his clothing, we laid him on his back, and made fast 
 his ankles and his wrists to pegs fixed firmly in the 
 ground. Presently the Eye of Day, looking down 
 upon him, turned him red, so that he took unto him- 
 self the likeness of a boiled cray-fish, very scarlet and 
 raw. Later his skin rose in blisters, like the bladders 
 of goats, and presently he made shift to tell us that he 
 would sign the deed of gift. Never have I beheld any 
 man so quickly vanquished by the Eye of Day ! Pan- 
 dak Mamat was exposed three days and three nights 
 before death came to him j and Jusop was fastened to 
 a pole in mid-stream, so that from the waist upwards 
 he was roasted, and from the belt to the heels was 
 shrivelled with cold ; yet he endured full two days 
 before the madness fell upon him. But this White 
 Man was exposed for a very little space, and yet he 
 went near to die ! When, at length, after many days, 
 he recovered from the fever, thy grandfather, O Majesty, 
 made order that he should be sent back to the Island 
 of Pinang, and never again, until this night, hath a 
 White Man set foot in Pelesu.' 
 
 'And what shall we do with him who hath now 
 come amongst us ? ' queried the King. 
 
 Again those who sat around Pahlawan Bengis 
 yelled a repetition of their master's words in the old 
 man's ears. 
 
 'Thy slave judges that it would be well to treat 
 him in like manner,' said the old Chief calmly, in that 
 musical voice of his, when he had at last understood 
 the question. 
 
 A chorus of delighted approval arose from all the 
 younger men present, but before it had well died 
 
48 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 down Haji Mat Kasim puffed himself out more im- 
 portantly than ever, and, having saluted, opened his 
 mouth to speak, wagging his head in time to his 
 words, with a most laughable. swagger. 
 
 ' Majesty ! ' he said, and then pausing, after the 
 manner of the practised orator, looked round with 
 bursting self-complacency at those within the room. 
 ' The words of thy old servant yonder resemble those 
 of one who raves in delirium, and who knoweth not 
 the things which he saith. The world was little 
 and new when he was young, but behold both are 
 now old and changed. Thy servant yonder hath not 
 gone forth to visit other lands. He is like unto the 
 frog beneath the cocoanut shell which imagines that 
 there is no other world than his. Majesty, thy slave, 
 who speaketh, hath been to Mecca, and by the way 
 many men and cities hath he seen. Formerly the 
 White Men were few and weak, and they had not the 
 power to retaliate if some of their fellows suffered 
 some evil thing ; but now they are numerous and 
 very strong. If it is desired that White Men should 
 be kept beyond the boundaries of Pelesu, it behoveth 
 us to treat this man, who hath come amongst us, with 
 courtesy, for otherwise his death or hurt will become 
 a pretext for war.' 
 
 ' But is not the King all-powerful ? ' asked Che' 
 Ngah Rahman, with his sly, vicious smile. 'Why 
 then should we fear war ? ' He was not sorry to 
 seize the opportunity of showing the King that Haji 
 Mat Kasim was seemingly lacking in loyalty. 
 
 ' Verily the King is all-powerful ! ' murmured all 
 the Malays present, in loyal chorus. 
 
CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 49 
 
 'Majesty,' cried a gaily dressed youngster, who sat 
 near the king, ' Majesty, it is not well that White Men 
 should be suffered to come hither ! ' He was Tiingku 
 Saleh, the King's favourite son, the recognised leader 
 of the youths about the Court, whose natural ferocity 
 found vent in deeds of cruelty, since his eyes had not 
 yet seen the wars for which, in imagination, he longed. 
 ' We know and are aware of the custom of the White 
 Men,' he went on. ' They harbour themselves after 
 the manner of the ara — the creeping fig-vine. It 
 Cometh small and slender, very weak, and soft, and 
 pliable, and thus it stealeth upon a tree, and, behold, in 
 a little space, that tree is a fig-tree ! The trunk hath 
 vanished utterly, as though it had never been, and the 
 giant arms of the vine, which encircle and embrace it 
 have taken its place. There be no thieves so great as 
 these White Men, — for they steal kingdoms ! Be 
 pleased, O Majesty, to make order that this stranger 
 be forthwith driven from out the land.' 
 
 ' That were no easy matter,' said the Dato' Dalam, 
 an old Chief who had not yet spoken. ' The White 
 Men have fire-ships and war-ships in plenty. When 
 they " pounded " Kuala Selangor, though they rode at 
 anchor full two thousand fathoms from the shore, the 
 fort was reduced to powder by their rice-pots of fire 
 (shells). It is well to remember these things, lest, by 
 any chance, a like calamity should befall us. May 
 Allah avert it ! ' 
 
 ' To repent too late, 'tis to repent too long,' mur- 
 mured the Dato' Bandar, quoting a familiar vernacular 
 proverb. 
 
 ' That it is which causes my liver to wax sick ! ' 
 E 
 
50 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 cried Tilngku Saleh, giving his chest a sounding slap 
 with the flat of his hand. As his father's favourite 
 son he was privileged to take exceptional liberties in 
 the presence of his Sovereign. 'What profits it to 
 tell such tales ? Has not the King many warriors at 
 hand ? Who is greater than the King, or who more 
 powerful ? ' 
 
 ' Truly the King is mighty,' chimed in the chorus 
 of loyal Chiefs. 
 
 'Our town doth not lie upon the seashore,' con- 
 tinued Tilngku Saleh, encouraged by the sympathy of 
 his hearers. 'The White Men may send ships to 
 " pound " the land, but only the little crabs that flee 
 so fast along the beach, and the casuarina trees, which 
 shiver like men when the fever is upon them, will 
 suffer any injury. Sooner or later the White Men will 
 land in boats, and then the King's warriors will lie in 
 wait behind trees, and in the underwood, and thence 
 play the game of the stinging bee. Many White Men 
 will die and go screaming to the Hell prepared for 
 Infidels, and after a space their fellows will retire to 
 the place from whence they came. Is there any man 
 present who hath the hardihood to say that the power 
 of the King is not equal to these things ? ' 
 
 The loyal chorus broke out into renewed protesta- 
 tions with redoubled energy. It is a fundamental 
 axiom among the natives of every independent Malay 
 State that their King is the greatest of all the Rulers of 
 the Earth j and as this is an opinion in which the 
 Monarch is inclined to share, it is well to express it 
 loudly, and fervently, and very often, if you would find 
 favour in the King's sight. Many of the Chiefs present 
 
CHIEFS IN COUNCIL 51 
 
 knew enough of the deeds of the English in the 
 Peninsula to convince them that the power of the 
 White Men was greater than anything that a Malay- 
 Prince could bring to oppose to it ; but this was a 
 conviction which they were prudent enough to conceal 
 when possible. The immediate nature of the danger 
 which now threatened them had alone nerved some of 
 them on the present occasion to utter a word of 
 warning. 
 
 The King smiled approvingly at Tungku Saleh, 
 but he was evidently growing weary of this prolonged 
 discussion. It is one of the penalties which great 
 self-indulgence inflicts upon a man that his mind 
 becomes incapable of concentrated attention ; and the 
 King had long found it impossible to keep up any 
 sustained interest in one subject, no matter how im- 
 portant to the welfare of himself or his country. 
 
 Haji Mat Kasim knew the King well, and he 
 quickly noted the signs which told him that his lord 
 was weary of the talk. 
 
 'Majesty,' he said, 'I, thy slave, have no doubt ot 
 thy ability to utterly confound thine enemies ; but. 
 Majesty, it would mean sore trouble, great effort, and, 
 above all, much business would need to be transacted.' 
 He paused for a moment so as to aillow the full horror 
 of this last idea to sink into the King's weary mind. 
 ' Be pleased, O King, to tell us, thy servants, what 
 thou dost desire anent this matter.' 
 
 ' Let him come in peace,' said the King. ' And do 
 ye all treat him with courtesy. Let To' Bandar and 
 Che' Ngah Rahman have a care for his comfort. Ye 
 can depart.' 
 
52 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 The Chiefs saluted and most of them began forth- 
 with to file out of the house into the cool open air. 
 The King beckoned Tungku Saleh and Che' Ngah 
 Rahman to his side, and fell to talking to them con- 
 cerning the points of his new fighting-cock, with the 
 only approach to animation and genuine interest that 
 he had shown during the whole evening. 
 
 The land breeze, which whispers through the coast 
 country just before the dawn, was making a little stir 
 among the palm-fronds, as the Chiefs began to saunter 
 up the main street of Pelesu, with their packs of sleepy 
 followers trailing along at their heels. Old Pahlawan 
 Bengis tottered among them with uncertain steps. 
 
 ' And when is he to be seized and pegged out ? ' 
 he inquired eagerly of the Dato' Dalam. 
 
 ' He is to be treated as the King's guest, with all 
 honour and kindness,' To' Dalam bawled in the old 
 man's deaf ears. 
 
 ' Ya Allah ! Is that indeed so ? Then we shall 
 not come to possess his gear, for there will be no loot- 
 ing, and no plunder. Verily the past days were other 
 than those we now see ! The World is waxing old, 
 very old, and men's hearts are no longer big as they 
 were in the ancient times. Allah-hu ! Alas, there 
 will be no loot, no loot ! ' and mumbling discontentedly 
 to himself, the old man hobbled ofF bedwards. 
 
 And Frank Austin, awakened by the chill which 
 the dawn brings with it, pulled his blanket more 
 closely about his shoulders, and resumed his placid 
 slumbers. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 BY PROXY 
 
 A little, a very little Sin, 
 A little deafness in Virtue's din, 
 A touch of Nature to make us kin 
 With the merrier half of, the world we are in, 
 A little Sin. 
 
 Dear little Sin so hard to leave 
 And so dear that to quit you and make you grieve 
 Is not to be thought of — a saint might believe 
 With you in his heart into Heaven to win. 
 Dear little Sin. 
 
 Anon. 
 
 In the State of Pelesu the word of the King was a law, 
 the force of which was more than Medic. When 
 any one man holds the uncontrolled power of life and 
 death, and is not unduly trammelled by scruples or 
 twinges of conscience in its exercise, it follows that 
 all prudent people will make shift to obey him and to 
 avoid exciting his wrath. The King had bade his 
 Chiefs treat the White Man with courtesy and kindness, 
 and accordingly Frank Austin found life at Pelesu very 
 much to his liking. From the Chiefs who attended to 
 his comfort, to the old women who came to him with 
 bundles of sarongs for sale, all seemed to be anxious to 
 
54 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 please him ; and it was difficult to piece the people, as 
 he found them, on to the evil reputation borne by the 
 natives of Pelesu throughout the length and breadth of 
 the Peninsula. 
 
 A large raft moored in mid-stream, a little below 
 the palace landing-stage, was placed at his disposal. 
 It consisted of a floating house, containing two inner 
 and one fair sized outer rooms, with a wide punting 
 platform running round the exterior of the building. 
 The whole structure was supported upon eight gigantic 
 bundles of bamboos securely lashed with coils of rattan 
 rope, which rode so high out of the water that the lath 
 flooring of the raft was raised full two feet above its 
 surface. The rooms were furnished with mats and 
 carpets, and the walls were hung with many coloured 
 curtains. The running water of the river, fretting 
 around the mooring cables, and in and out of the 
 bundles of bamboos, made a constant sleepy murmur 
 which seemed to cool the atmosphere ; and Frank 
 Austin told himself that he could not have a more 
 luxurious place from which to observe the native life 
 around him. 
 
 The town of Karu lay spread along the river bank 
 in front of him, and shore and water alike were alive 
 with movement. In the gray of the early morning, 
 when great belts of snow-white mist lay upon the 
 surface of the water, like clouds that had lost their way, 
 the whole population, as it seemed, came down to bathe. 
 From the palace a long stream of women and girls, 
 with here and there a little child, trooped down to the 
 large bathing -hut moored below the landing-stage. 
 Frank would watch their lithe forms, to which their 
 
Br PROxr S5 
 
 wet sarongs clung closely, twisting and turning, as they 
 swam and splashed and dived. Some, sitting on the 
 floating logs which supported the bathing-hut, would 
 throw back their heads, till the wet masses of their 
 shining hair fell perpendicularly behind them, the tips 
 sweeping the surface of the water. They kept up a 
 constant babble of chaff and chatter, varied by an 
 occasional burst of merry girlish laughter ; and Frank, 
 watching and listening to them, began to wonder how 
 much truth really lay at the back of the stories which 
 told how these seemingly light-hearted creatures were 
 unwilling slaves, who ate their hearts out in a captivity 
 they hated. 
 
 The groups of natives formed, and broke, and 
 formed again, as Frank sat watching them ; and all day 
 long, a constant stream of busy, gaily coloured life 
 passed restlessly to and fro in the sun-light. There 
 was always something on shore or river for lazy eyes 
 to look upon ; scores of tiny dug-outs, laden with gor- 
 geous piles of fruit from the villages ; a Chief, passing 
 up the main street, with a motley gang of loafers follow- 
 ing at his heels, adding yet another patch of colour to 
 the scene ; the heavy black bulk of a buffalo bull, in 
 training for a fight, led down to water by its keeper, 
 while a dozen young bloods discussed its points with 
 the extraordinary knowingness of extreme youth ; or 
 the King himself, strolling about the thoroughfare, 
 while all his subjects within sight squatted humbly in 
 the dust, and traffic was suspended until such time as 
 it should please him to quit the scene. 
 
 A bamboo raft, laden with jungle produce from the 
 Interior, would slip slowly down the long reach of river 
 
56 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 which leads to Karu ; or a Chinese trading-boat would 
 lurch past on its way up stream. The pale yellow face 
 of the owner would glance at Frank from under the 
 palm-leaf roofing, and the punters, bent double, would 
 keep step smartly as they ran aft, their toes clutching 
 the decking, their bodies leaning forward at an angle 
 at which equilibrium was made possible only by the 
 support derived from their poles. Then with a clash 
 the poles would be drawn clear of the water, glistening, 
 sunlit drops of gold falling from their tips, while the 
 butt-ends, crossed high above the polers' heads looked 
 like the extremities of a gigantic piece of trellis-work, 
 as the boatmen marched forward again. The splash 
 and clatter of the punting would grow fainter and 
 fainter, the bulk of the boat, as she lurched and sagged 
 up the reach, would seem to dwindle, until at last she 
 rolled round the bend, two miles up stream, and 
 disappeared from sight. Occasionally, when the sun 
 was high, a boat, in which lay the shrouded figure of 
 one whose days [were done, would pass down river on 
 its way to the great burying-place near the sea shore. 
 A little cluster of relatives, with a weeping woman or 
 two among them, would be gathered about the still 
 form amidships, shading the motionless head from the 
 sun with umbrellas, for their use is a privilege, which 
 in Malayan Lands, the Dead alone are suffered to 
 share with the sons of Kings. In the afternoon, 
 Frank, sitting on his raft, would watch the fishing 
 boats tearing up the river, canting violently under 
 vast spreads of yellow palm-leaf sail, until the landing- 
 place being reached, the many coloured groups at the 
 fish-market tumbled over one another in their scramble 
 
Br PROXY 57 
 
 for first choice. A dozen lithe native brats, squeaHng 
 with laughter and light-heartedness, were to be seen 
 at almost all hours of the day, swimming and splashing 
 in the water, the sun ghstening on their wet brown 
 skins. These sights, and a thousand others, — each 
 one instinct with life, and light, and colour, — served 
 to amuse and interest Frank Austin, as he watched 
 them idly from his raft, his imagination and his 
 knowledge of life among Malays helping him to fill 
 in details in the outline before his eyes, and to weave 
 therefrom romances without number. He roamed 
 through Karu, and the villages near the town, talking 
 famiharly with natives of all classes, and almost un- 
 consciously learning a great deal about Pelesu and its 
 people. He heard strange tales of cruelty and wrong, 
 told in frightened whispers by men who glanced 
 fearfully^ over their shoulders as they spoke, terrified 
 lest their words should be overheard. He began to 
 have a sound working knowledge of what Malay 
 misrule means, and the misery which it brings upon 
 many of those who live under it ; but all these 
 unpleasant factors in native life seemed to Frank to 
 be, in a sense, merely so many abnormal developments, 
 — ugly stains upon a lovely picture, — and since it 
 sickened him to feel that he was utterly powerless to 
 aid those who suffered, he tried to dwell upon their 
 misery as little as possible. 
 
 Thus it became a relief to him to turn from the 
 consideration of such things, and from the thoughts 
 which they occasioned, to the quiet, peaceful, normal 
 life of the people as he saw it daily from his raft ; and 
 he began to realise what few people fully understand. 
 
58 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 that even under the worst conceivable government the 
 man who suffers grievous wrong must always be the 
 exception, not the rule, and that, for the rest, the 
 bulk of a bad King's subjects may continue to be 
 sufficiently tranquil, light-hearted, and happy. It is 
 because the suffering minority give tongue so lustily, 
 while the unscathed majority hold their peace, that 
 one is apt to imagine the whole of an ill-governed 
 land to be filled with weeping and wailing. 
 
 Such time as can be spared from the toils of pleasure 
 are occasionally devoted by the more energetic of 
 Malay Statesmen to the humorous farce of administra- 
 tion. It must be understood, however, that the former 
 and not the latter take rank as the serious business 
 of life in almost every Malay Court. The normal 
 condition of society, in these unwholesome places, 
 resembles that of a volcano. The network of love- 
 affairs and amorous intrigues, in which all the world 
 seems to be engaged, forms a sort of volcanic fire 
 underlying everything else, from which, ever and 
 anon, flames leap up in the shape of woeful punish- 
 ments running swiftly at the heels of a Raja's wrath, 
 or in the guise of a fierce, hot-blooded fight between 
 rival lovers. Above the fire and the leaping lava there 
 is spread a thin coat, — the conventional, every-day life 
 of the Court ; the social intercourse between the men 
 folk, who meet together to gossip and gamble, to take 
 part in certain fairly honest sports, and to while away 
 the hours by playing a number of rather childish 
 games. The love intrigues, the gambling, the gossip, 
 and the games, combined with a certain reckless light- 
 heartedness, are the things which make up the poison- 
 
BY PROXY 59 
 
 ous atmosphere of a typical Malay Court. The 
 Peninsula is to be congratulated upon the fact that 
 the Courts occupy but an insignificant fraction of its 
 area, and that pure, fresh, healthy life abounds in the 
 villages of the interior, and among the fisher folk of 
 the coast. But, none the less, the evil influence of 
 the Courts taints a vast number of human beings, for, 
 as the vernacular proverb has it, a drop of indigo will 
 discolour a gallon of milk. 
 
 One evening Frank w^as sitting upon the floor of 
 his raft talking to Pawang Ali, an old man who had 
 come with him to Pelesu as the Headman of his 
 followers, when an aged woman crept on board, with 
 a bundle of sarongs in her hands. Her hair was yellow 
 white — that indescribable colour which only comes in 
 old age to locks which, in youth, have been jet black. 
 Her cheeks hung limply in loose, wrinkled bags, and 
 her skinny arms were shrivelled and bony. Her 
 figure was extraordinarily meagre, and she smiled 
 cavernously at Frank, through gums in which only 
 half a dozen blackened stumps remained. 
 
 'What is the news. Mother ? ' asked Frank, 
 adopting the usual form of salutation. 
 
 'The news is good,' replied the old woman in a 
 shrill, discordant voice. ' O Tuan^ have pity upon 
 a poor aged woman ! I be poor, and indigent, 
 poverty - stricken, and very needy ! O have pity 
 upon me ! ' 
 
 ' What ails thee, Mother ? ' asked Frank kindly. 
 
 ' O, I be very, very old ! ' went on the hag, in a 
 monotonous sing - song. ' O pity me ! O have 
 
6o 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 mercy and kindness to one who is passing poor ! O 
 buy my wares ! Sarongs of Pelesu manufacture, silk 
 of the finest, beautiful to look upon ! ' 
 
 ' Let me see them,' said Frank. 
 
 The old woman opened the bundle with fingers 
 which shook with palsy, keeping up her monotonous 
 lamentations the while, and then as Frank leaned 
 forward to examine one of the cloths, she suddenly 
 whispered in his ear. 
 
 ' Tuan, I bring a message to thee ! ' 
 
 'What may it be ? ' asked Frank aloud. 
 
 The hag seemed to shrink suddenly into half her 
 original bulk, and her old eyes looked frightenedly 
 towards Pawang Ali, who sat near. 
 
 ' Have no fear, Mother,' said Frank reassuringly. 
 ' If thou hast aught to say, this man may hear it.' 
 
 'That may not be,' whispered the old woman. 
 ' The message I bring is for thee, Tiian, and for no 
 other man besides.' 
 
 Frank made a sign to Pawang Ali bidding him 
 withdraw. 
 
 ' Speak, Mother,' he said, when they were alone. 
 
 ' There is One who bade me come to thee, Tuan,' 
 the hag whispered hoarsely, leering horribly at Frank 
 as she spoke. ' Daily this One hath beheld thee from 
 afar, and, in truth I know not what magic is thine, 
 Tuan, but this One's heart is mad for thee.' 
 
 ' Who is this One of whom thou speakest ? ' 
 
 ' Patience, Tuan. She bathes daily at the landing- 
 stage opposite to this raft, and her heart is mad because 
 of thy so dazzling beauty ! ' 
 
 Frank Austin grinned. He laboured under no 
 
Br PROxr 6i 
 
 illusions on the subject of his personal appearance, 
 and he said to himself that this was 'a bit too thick.' 
 He was not shocked greatly by the shameless old hag, 
 and her huskily voiced love message, for he knew that 
 the morals of old and young alike were wont to be 
 indifferent at a Malay Court. The situation even 
 seemed to him to be somewhat amusing ; and though 
 he had not the slightest intention of doing anything 
 so foolish as to mix himself up in an intrigue with a 
 woman of the palace, it pleased his humour to allow 
 the old hag to run on, that he might hear what she 
 proposed to say, 
 
 ' The heart which is captivated by my beauty,' he 
 said mockingly, ' is doubtless the heart of one ugly as 
 Shetan, and old as thyself. Mother.' 
 
 The old woman broke out into a torrent of protests. 
 
 'Would it be fitting for me, one who is blessed 
 with intelligence, one who is aware of what is seemly, 
 to be the bearer of a message to thee from one who is 
 old and ugly ? The sparrows mate with sparrows, 
 and the great hornbills with hornbills ; how then 
 should I dare to bring messages from an i^gly hag to 
 one such as thou art, Tuan? But this girl is young 
 and beautiful, even as is the Tuan ; and she loves thee, 
 Tuan, she loves thee.' 
 
 'Cut the throat of a fowl with a knife, and that 
 of a man with soft words, Mother,' said Frank, drily, 
 quoting a vernacular proverb. 
 
 ,._^_^Ambui! The Tuan does not credit my words ! ' 
 exclaimed the old woman, addressing the world at 
 large, with a gesture of mingled wonder and despair. 
 ' It is well ! Let the Tuan judge the matter for 
 
62 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 himself. To-morrow when she goes down to the 
 bathing she will wear a green cloth. Let the Tuan 
 watch, and see if she be not young and lovely, even 
 as I have said. And, Tuan, when thine eyes behold 
 her let the memory that she loves thee lie within thy 
 mind.' 
 
 ' I have no desire to see her,' cried Frank, but the 
 old woman would not hsten to him. She gathered 
 the sarongs together hastily, repeating 'Suffer thine 
 eyes to look upon her ! Let thine eyes behold her ! ' 
 and crept away to her dug-out, as suddenly and as 
 noiselessly as she had come. 
 
 Frank laughed gently to himself when she had 
 gone. This love-making by proxy was a curious 
 experience, and though he told himself that the girl 
 was sure to be hideous or in her second childhood, he 
 could not help hoping that she was neither the one nor 
 the other, and, manlike, felt flattered by a woman's 
 preference for himself. He knew enough about Malays 
 to be aware that while a woman's lapses from virtue 
 are judged very lightly, so long as her lover is a 
 Muhammadan, any intrigue with an Infidel is regarded 
 as an indelible disgrace, both by the woman herself 
 and by all her race-mates. He therefore inferred that 
 any Malay girl who could make overtures to him, such 
 as the hag had hinted at, must be the lowest ot 
 her kind, whose attentions could only be regarded in 
 the light of an insult. He told himself that he stood 
 in no danger of falling a victim to the charms of such 
 an one as this ; that he had no taste for low intrigues, 
 such as some White Men indulged in ; and that, even 
 if his disposition had been otherwise, he was strong 
 
Br PROxr 63 
 
 enough to resist a temptation, should the occasion 
 arise. 
 
 None the less, his vanity was a trifle tickled by 
 what had occurred, and his interest was considerably 
 excited. Any new phase of native character attracted 
 him at once ; and though this could hardly be said 
 to be new in itself, it was a novelty to Frank to find 
 himself the object of a woman's love messages. 
 
 ' I should rather like to see her,' he said to himself. 
 ' She is probably as old as the hills, and as ugly as they 
 make 'em, and a sight of her would knock the romance 
 of this thing endways, I daresay, but, all the same, I 
 should rather like to have a look at her.' 
 
 He sat musing for some time, puffing slowly at his 
 cigarette. 
 
 'I suppose it would be better to let the matter 
 drop, and not to look out for her,' he said regretfully. 
 Then after a moment's thought : ' I do not know why 
 I should not have a squint at her, all the same,' he 
 added, a moment later. ' I will toss for it, and let 
 Fate decide.' 
 
 He took an old pillar dollar — the only silver coin 
 current in Pelesu — out of his pouch, and spun it deftly. 
 
 ' Heads to see the lady ! ' he cried half aloud, as he 
 .caught the coin in the palm of his left hand, and 
 clapped his right hand over it. He raised the covering 
 palm slowly, and peeped at the dollar. The reverse 
 side was uppermost. 
 
 ' I will make it " threes," ' he said, and spun the 
 coin again. This time it came down with the long 
 heavy-jowled face of Ferdinand II. of Spain staring 
 stolidly from its upper surface. 
 
64 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' Third time pays for all ! ' cried Frank, sending 
 the dollar whizzing up once more. 'Confound the 
 thing ! ' he added, as it came down ' tails.' Again he 
 stood thinking for a few minutes, and then exclaimed 
 half aloud, ' But I fancy that I shall have a look at the 
 lady none the less. It cannot possibly do any harm,' 
 and so saying he went off to bed. 
 
 It was a devouring curiosity, inherent in his nature, 
 which had done much to drive Frank to the study of 
 native life ; it was the same passion which now made 
 him long to see the girl who had sent him this love 
 message. He had, in a manner, been quite aware, 
 even while he was going through the farce of tossing 
 for it, that, come what might, he would eventually 
 decide to see the lady ; and he had only spun the coin 
 in the hope that it might confirm what he declined to 
 recognise as the resolution which, in the depths of 
 his soul, he had already formed. Yet, — so marvellously 
 little do we know our own limitations, — he had told 
 himself, almost in the same breath, that he was strong 
 enough to resist temptation should the necessity arise. 
 
 None the less, in spite of his monstrous failure to 
 deny^himself a trifle, which, instinctively, he felt would 
 be better withheld, Frank Austin laid him down to 
 sleep with no misgivings as to what Future might be 
 likely to hold for such an one as he had that evening 
 proved himself to be. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 'BY THE OLD, OLD TRYSTING TREE' 
 
 Was there not evil enough, 
 Mother, and anguish on earth 
 Born with a man at his birth, 
 Wastes underfoot and above 
 
 Storm out of heaven, and dearth 
 Shaken down from the shining thereof. 
 Wrecks from afar over seas 
 And peril of shallovr and firth, 
 
 And tears that spring and increase 
 In the barren places of mirth. 
 That thou, having vfings as a dove. 
 Being girt with desire for a girth, 
 That thou shouldst come after these. 
 That thou shouldst lay on him love ? 
 
 Atalanta in Calydm, 
 
 ' Whither art thou going, Little One ? ' Ma' Pah 
 asked the question of Maimunah, who stood in the 
 half light thrown by a torch, gathering the folds of 
 her sarong hood-wise about her head and shoulders. 
 
 The two women were within the little room of the 
 palace, which was allotted to Ma' Pah's special use, 
 but was practically shared by her with Maimunah. 
 Ma' Pah was slowly preparing a quid of betel nut, and 
 she asked the question idly, with no trace of curiosity 
 
 F 
 
66 ' SINCE THE BEGINNING ' 
 
 in her voice. None the less, Maimunah seemed to 
 resent the interference, for her slender, graceful figure 
 turned towards her companion with an angry move- 
 ment. 
 
 ' That is no care of thine ! ' she said sharply. 
 
 Ma' Pah's soft, patient eyes glanced up at 
 Maimunah in surprise, and for a moment, the two 
 gazed at one another, the girl's face filled with angry 
 suspicion, the woman's sad and regretful. Ma' Pah 
 could never explain, even to herself, how it had come 
 to pass that this perverse, cross-grained waif had 
 succeeded in winning so secure a place in her heart, 
 nor yet why her waywardness and her bitter tongue 
 were tolerated without question. She only knew that 
 Maimunah was very dear to her ; that in some sort 
 she had helped to fill the void in the empty, motherly 
 heart, which should have been occupied by a daughter 
 had Ma' Pah's life tragedy never been enacted. 
 Maimunah's roughness of speech and manner, her 
 heartlessness on many occasions, her complete self- 
 absorption, and her continual want of consideration for 
 Ma' Pah, hurt the latter keenly ; but nothing served 
 to make the girl less dear to her, and she never dreamed 
 of retaliating in kind. 
 
 ' Truly it is no affair of mine,' she said now, very 
 gently. 'But Little One, I fear for thee. Forget 
 not the pain of the live embers, and have a care lest 
 a like calamity befall thee yet again.' 
 
 Maimunah's face contracted with anger, and she 
 stamped her little bare foot savagely, holding out her 
 injured hands towards Ma' Pah as she spoke. 
 
 'What profits it to warn me against that which 
 
'Br THE OLD, OLD TRrSTING TREE' 67 
 
 is impossible ? ' she cried. ' How can I forget the 
 thing which I have suffered until these hands have 
 been lopped ofF? Have no fear, Ma' Pah, I will not 
 forget the live embers, nor Her who made me to 
 tread them ! But now I go to seek him on whose 
 account those same embers were trodden, that I may 
 drive him from me as one chases a dog ! Now art 
 thou satisfied, or wouldst thou still bid me stay ? ' 
 
 ' I know not, Little One,' said Ma' Pah. ' What 
 profits it to make a man wrathful ? If thou wilt have 
 none of him, let him be.' 
 
 ' I hate him ! ' cried the girl. ' I hate him ! Why 
 should I sufitr, and he go unscathed ? I trod the 
 live embers. Now let him also-feel pain. Ta Allah ! 
 I never loved him. I only acted after the manner of 
 the palace folk because they taunted me ; but he, they 
 tell me, is mad for love of me, and tonight I will 
 crush his heart utterly.' 
 
 ' Do not so ! Do not so ! ' cried Ma' Pah, in 
 her turn, evincing a strong excitement, very unusual 
 in her. ' Do not so. Little One, thou hast not loved j 
 thou hast not suffered. Thou knowest not that 
 which thou art about to do. Better a thousand times 
 to tread the red embers, than once to feel the pangs 
 of a love-sick heart ! ' 
 
 Maimunah's handsome fece broke into a ripple of 
 merry smiles, the harsh lines fading and softening 
 under the influence of some pleasant thought, which 
 brought to her, seemingly, a newly found delight. 
 She had her own crude notions as to certain simple 
 methods by which, on occasion, she might inflict a 
 considerable amount of suffering upon a fellow human 
 
68 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 being ; but it was none the less satisfactory to find 
 that there might be other even more effective means 
 of causing pain, v^hich had hitherto entered but slightly 
 into her calculations. She herself had never experi- 
 enced anything remotely resembling love, and she 
 wzs an utter stranger to the misery and the jealous 
 pangs which are born of the sickness of unsatisfied 
 desire. She knew, of course, that a man disliked to 
 be flouted by a woman, — his pride, no doubt, was 
 injured, as she felt that her own would have been 
 under similar circumstances, — but until she marked 
 Ma' Pah's excitement, and the passion she so rarely 
 displayed, Maimunah had never realised that the 
 wounds which a woman could inflict upon her lover 
 might penetrate far more deeply than could be 
 accounted for by mere mortification or bruised self- 
 complacency. She was brimming over with angry 
 resentment at the thought of this man, on whose 
 account she had endured torture, while he escaped all 
 punishment. Ma' Pah's words seemed to show her 
 where lay ready to her hand a new and deadly weapon, 
 which she might use against him ; and it was the 
 hope that he might thus be made to endure pains 
 worse even than those which she had suffered, that 
 brought that happy light to Maimunah's face. 
 
 ' Allahkulihal ! So much the better ! ' she said, 
 and turning a deaf ear to Ma' Pah's detaining voice, 
 she stepped through the door-way of the room, and 
 thence cautiously crept out into the open air, by means 
 of an exit at the back of the building. 
 
 The night was soft and cool, and the palm-fronds 
 in the compound were outlined sharply against a sky 
 
^BT THE OLD, OLD TRTSTING TREE' 69 
 
 of a hue intensely blue and splendid, over which the 
 milky-way was spread, here and there, as a silver veil, 
 indescribably transparent and ethereal, like films of 
 finest cloud. The brilliant Eastern stars were shining 
 in their myriads, and the blazing planets winked at 
 one another, — perhaps mocking Frank Austin, who, 
 on his raft in mid-stream, was at that moment vainly 
 trying to cozen Fate into relieving him of some share 
 in his responsibilities. A night -jar, perched in one 
 of the cocoanut trees, was sounding its clear, bell-like 
 note, at short, regular intervals ; the ticking of a 
 thousand insects filled the air ; the whizzing scream 
 of the great earthworm, which shrieks from its hole 
 a foot beneath the ground, broke out discordantly 
 from time to time ; and the frogs' chorus came 
 monotonously from the marshes behind the town. 
 The night dews were already forming heavily, and 
 Maimunah drew her sarong high about her knees, to 
 avoid the wet, as she stepped through the rank growths 
 of the compound. 
 
 She went stealthily, keeping in the shadows as 
 much as she could, and halting when, now and again, 
 the figure of one of the King's Youths, crossing the 
 compound to the main gate -way, showed dimly in 
 the darkness. A dog, sleeping beneath one of the 
 houses, roused for a moment at her approach, and 
 barked furiously, a chorus of curs, in all directions, 
 taking up the challenge, till the town rang again with 
 the noisy clamour. This was too common an occur- 
 rence to attract any one's attention, and since the 
 yelping and yowling served to deaden the patter of 
 her foot-steps, Maimunah profited by the tumult to 
 
70 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 trip quickly forward, until she was swallowed up in 
 the heavy shadows cast by the stone wall which 
 enclosed the King's compound. She groped her way 
 through the wet underwood, which grew thickly 
 around the foot of the wall, until she reached a spot 
 where a breach in the crumbling stones had been 
 rudely patched with a fathom or so of wattled bamboo 
 fencing. To all appearances this presented an im- 
 passable barrier, but Maimunah grasped the plaited 
 laths firmly in both hands, and as she pulled, the 
 fence lifted inwards. For the convenience of those 
 who sought exit or entry by night, the bamboos had 
 been secretly cut through at the point at which they 
 emerged from the ground, into which they had been 
 driven. The fencing was now only held in place by 
 lashings of rattan near the top, so that it formed a 
 hanging curtain across the mouth of the breach. 
 Maimunah, bending low, crept under the raised edge 
 of the bamboo screen, and stood upon the brink of a 
 wide ditch, which separated the fence on the right 
 of the King's compound from the foot-path that led 
 through the villages behind the town. 
 
 The moat was choked with thick brushwood and 
 interlacing bushes, almost to a level with its banks, 
 but Maimunah knew how to cross it, as did every 
 woman within the palace. Slowly she felt her way 
 step by step down the steep incline, which formed the 
 near side of the ditch, for here, under the shadow of 
 the leaves it was intensely dark. She reached the 
 bottom in safety, and then bending her body double, 
 she crept through the wet slush, under the overhanging 
 boughs arching above her head. A kind of tunnel 
 
'BT THE OLD, OLD TRUSTING TREE' 71 
 
 had been cut through the greenery, like the runs 
 which rabbits make through high grass, but the upper 
 branches of the bushes which crossed and interlaced, 
 had been left intact, so that no trace of this buried 
 passage was visible from the track above, or even from 
 the edge of the moat itself. Very slowly and cau- 
 tiously Maimunah crept up the opposite bank of the 
 ditch, pausing when the brink was reached to glance 
 anxiously to right and left, before emerging upon the 
 comparative open of the foot-path, 
 
 A couple of hundred yards to her right, at a place 
 where three cross-roads met, a score of men were 
 sitting in an open shed, lighted dingily by one or two 
 swinging oil-lamps, playing some game of chance, and 
 every now and then a roar of laughter, or a shrill voice 
 raised in violent excitement came to the ears of the 
 girl. Across the foot-path the lights of a number of 
 scattered Malay houses, showing faintly through the 
 interstices of the walls, amid the trunks and branches 
 of palm and fruit trees, told that sleep had not yet 
 wholly fallen upon the land. Not a soul was moving 
 along the narrow track, and when she had assured 
 herself of this, Maimunah heaved a sigh of relief. 
 
 She tripped lightly across the path, until she was 
 well within the broad belt of shadow cast by the groves 
 of the compounds. Then, at a more leisurely pace, 
 she made her way in the direction opposite to that in 
 which the men sat gambling. Presently she came to 
 a tiny track leading ofFto the right, and, following this, 
 she began to pass through a number of thickly wooded 
 nativfe compounds. The path she was following led 
 close to many of the houses, and she could hear the 
 
72 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 fragmentary talk of the folk who sat within ; the 
 whimper of a waking child ; the droning lullaby, 
 crooned by some tired mother ; a man intoning the 
 Kuran, with harsh monotony ; a whispered word of 
 fondness from a girl to her lover, in a house where the 
 lights were extinguished ; or the hacking cough, and 
 complaining words of a very old woman, the weight 
 of whose years had robbed her of the power to sleep. 
 Maimunah was young, and as entirely self-absorbed as 
 only the very young can be. Her fellow creatures in- 
 terested her but little, save only in so far as they 
 chanced to affect herself, and the sounds which told of 
 the life around her and about her, had little importance 
 or meaning in her ears. It was all so common, so well- 
 known, so wanting in excitement, this life, of which 
 the throb came to her through the wattled walls of 
 the houses, and the dead monotony of it all only served 
 to chafe and irritate her. Yet, had she realised it, she 
 was passing within ear-shot of a dozen little episodes, 
 trifling and unimportant in themselves, yet each one 
 an added brick in the structure of some man or 
 woman's life story. It is the tiny, insignificant, 
 uneventful events, the common, every-day incidents 
 of childhood, of lovemaking, of the bearing and the 
 tending of the little ones, of indolent maturity, of 
 wornout, querulous old age, that make up the simple 
 tale of most natives' lives. 
 
 Presently Maimunah, whose steps had tended 
 slightly to the right, as she wended her way through 
 the villages, came out upon a little patch of open 
 ground. Immediately in front of her the Pelesu flowed 
 sluggishly along, the reflections multiplying the stars 
 
'Br THE OLD, OLD TRTSTING TREE' 73 
 
 and the flecks of fire upon boat or bank, broad gleams 
 of dull, sullen light painting the smooth waters of the 
 river here and there, and plunging the rest of its 
 surface in heavy masses of shadow. On Maimunah's 
 left a small stream fell into the Pelesu, and at their 
 point of junction a vast ant-heap rose up to a height 
 of thirty feet. It was singularly regular in form, 
 being almost circular with a flat, even top, the whole 
 mass being covered with thick, short grass, cropped 
 closely by the grazing of goats. A single tree stood 
 upon the summit of this ant-heap, tall and erect, 
 running sheer up into the darkness, more than a 
 hundred feet without fork or branch. On the banks 
 of the Pelesu river, a few yards to the right of the 
 ant-heap, there stood a little square building, fashioned 
 of stone now crumbling to decay, and roofed with 
 curious old ribbed tiles. It was a disused mosque ; 
 and since it had long ceased to serve the Faithful as 
 a meeting place for the Friday congregational prayers, 
 it was now utilised by the youths and maidens about 
 the Court as a place of assignation. Malays can, on 
 occasion go wild with fanaticism over some real or 
 fancied insult to their religion, — as, for instance, when 
 men who have broken every Law of Muhammad when- 
 ever the opportunity offered, resolutely decline to 
 submit to vaccination because, forsooth, no mention 
 is made of it in the Kuran. But until the slumbering 
 fires, which burn, with more or less intensity, in the 
 breasts of all holders of the Prophet's jealous Faith, are 
 aroused, the Malays are as lax Muhammadans as one 
 would be like to chance upon anywhere in Asia. 
 Thus, though no soul among the people of Pelesu 
 
74 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 would have tolerated the defilement of a holy place by 
 a stranger, no scruples deterred any man or woman of 
 the community from using the old mosque for the 
 unworthy purposes to which they were now accus- 
 tomed to put it. It was conveniently situated, suffi- 
 ciently far removed from prying eyes, yet lying 
 ready to their hands, and these advantages altogether 
 outweighed any objections, which a knowledge of its 
 sacred origin might be supposed to constitute. 
 
 Maimunah flitted swiftly across the open patch, 
 taking advantage of the heavy shadows cast by the 
 ant-heap and by the giant tree to hide herself as far as 
 possible, until she presently gained the door of the old 
 mosque. She stepped into the little building, and 
 paused for a moment to recover her breath, for she 
 had walked briskly since she entered the fruit groves. 
 In an instant, as she stood just inside the door-way, 
 the stone floor and ruined roof of the mosque echoed 
 to a sudden, rapid, noisy clatter, and two dark forms 
 charged wildly by the girl, nearly knocking her over. 
 She was badly startled by the unexpectedness of the 
 onslaught, for she had no time for flight even had she 
 been tempted to run away ; but it was characteristic 
 of her that she uttered no cry, and that, almost before 
 she was aware of it, she had drawn a little keen knife 
 clear of its sheath in her waist-band, and had stabbed 
 savagely at the nearer of the two flitting shadows. 
 She missed her aim, but before the two forms were 
 swallowed up in the darkness, she saw them, for a 
 second, and was reassured. They were only two 
 huge Indian goats, the property of the King, which 
 had found a byre ready made in the old mosque, until 
 
'BT THE OLD, OLD TRTSTING TREE' 75 
 
 they were rudely disturbed by the girl's sudden 
 appearance. 
 
 Maimunah put up her knife, and stepping across the 
 stone floor, sat down in the darkness in one corner of the 
 building. Then she opened her mouth, and immediately 
 the long-drawn hoot of a horned owl carried out over the 
 river. She knew that there was one within hearing who 
 would have risen from his grave to answer that sum- 
 mons ; so she set to work preparing a quid of betel nut, 
 waiting his arrival calmly, and with complete unconcern. 
 She was well aware that she had a strange power over 
 this man, whose coming she was now expecting, but 
 as, until her present unreasoning anger against him had 
 been born in her heart, she had been quite indifferent 
 to him (albeit she suffered him to be her lover) she 
 had never cared sufKciently to speculate concerning 
 the reasons or the extent of the tyrannical control 
 which she exercised over him. 
 
 Where she sat, she could see through the crumb- 
 ling wall of the mosque, the black patch of shadow, 
 lying in mid -stream, with a single point of light 
 burning in its midst, which she knew to be the raft 
 now occupied by the White Man, whose coming had 
 made so much stir in Karu. She gazed at it curiously, 
 as she had often done of late, for in that raft lay what 
 she was beginning to regard as her only chance of 
 deliverance from Pelesu and from the life she hated. 
 She did not even know Austin's name, but before she 
 had set eyes upon him, when on the day following 
 that on which she had been put to the torture, she 
 had heard of the White Man's arrival, she had told her- 
 self that in his coming lay the long sought opportunity 
 
76 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 of escape. Later from the palace bathing -hut she 
 had watched him, unobserved by her companions, and 
 it had been with satisfaction that she had noted that 
 he was young and dark, and, to her notions, not ill- 
 looking. Had he been old and ugly, and grown upon 
 with hair, like an ape, — as was the fashion of some 
 White Men, so folk told her, — she would still have 
 striven to induce him to release her from the captivity 
 in the palace ; but since he chanced to be good to 
 look upon, that made things even more satisfactory 
 than she could have anticipated. 
 
 She had less of the Muhammadan woman's in- 
 stinctive shrinking from a man of an alien Faith, than 
 is common among Malays ; for the superstition, which 
 in Maimunah's fellows took the place of Religion and 
 Morality, had never won a firm grip upon this girl's 
 vigorous mind. The professionally holy men, whom 
 she saw around her, were certainly no better than 
 others who made no show of being fervent Muham- 
 madans ; those of her acquaintance who said their 
 prayers seemed to do as much evil as those who never 
 called upon the names of Allah and his Prophet. For 
 all she could tell, an Infidel might be as good as a 
 true Believer. Anyway, the Faith which owned the 
 Princess who had tortured her for one of its daughters 
 was a Faith which she hated ! 
 
 Maimunah's mind was stronger and more logical 
 than that of most Malay women, but she fell into the 
 common error of judging a religion by its faulty 
 professors. Where she showed her mental superiority 
 was in being able to judge such matters at all ; but 
 her musings upon these subjects had only had the 
 
'BT THE OLD, OLD TRTSTING TREE' 77 
 
 effect of lowering for her the already sufficiently 
 debased standard of morality which obtained among 
 her fellows. Right and Wrong were words of little 
 meaning to any woman in the palace, but even among 
 the dwellers in that hot-bed of iniquity there were 
 certain limits the overstepping of which brought 
 shame upon the transgressor. Poor Maimunah's 
 groping thoughts, stimulated by injustice, and by an 
 intense hatred of her surroundings, without knowledge 
 to direct them, or light to guide, had led her to break 
 down even those frail barriers against wrongdoing 
 which her companions were still accustomed to 
 respect. 
 
 It never occurred to her as a possibility that Frank 
 Austin might decline to accept her advances. She 
 knew — or she fancied that she knew — the nature of 
 men ; and especially of those who had no female ties 
 of their own to bind their fickle affections. Frank 
 she had heard men say, was alone, having no women 
 folk with him, so she thought that she could safely 
 count upon him. Her estimate, so far as it referred 
 to the men of her own race, was sufficiently accurate ; 
 and indeed when woman allies herself with masculine 
 vanity — than which no human weakness is vaster or 
 more universal — let even him who thinks that he 
 stands most firmly take heed lest he fall. 
 
 For the rest, Maimunah asked nothing in return 
 — no 'gifts, no trinkets, no silver dollars, nor costly 
 raiment, — nothing, but only to be taken away for 
 ever from this land of Pelesu. What possible object 
 could a sane man have in declining her proposals on 
 such terms ? She did not even ask herself the question, 
 
78 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 for she was unable to conceive the idea of a refusal. 
 Principles and morality, as Europeans understand such 
 things, were matters of which she knew nothing ; 
 and in judging Frank Austin's probable actions, 
 these were factors in the calculation to which she 
 was blind. 
 
 She smiled softly to herself, as she sat there alone 
 in the darkness of the old mosque, and thought that 
 the days of her captivity were perhaps numbered ; that 
 Pelesu, and all the things and people which she hated 
 with so intense a loathing, would at last be left behind, 
 never again to be revisited. She knew nothing of the 
 wide world outside the little native town of Karu and 
 its neighbouring villages, but she took no thought for 
 the future, placing a childish confidence in what the 
 Fates might send her in her new, strange life. Her 
 brave young eyes looked fixedly out over the dark 
 waters of the river, dreaming of the days which lay 
 before her. It must be a wondrous world, as in her 
 ignorance she pictured it, — where there were no Rajas 
 to oppress and torture ; no palace for a prison ; no 
 spiteful women - folk, at every turn, to tease, and 
 irritate, and sneer, and nag ; and where, perhaps, 
 there at last she would find that something new and 
 wonderful, dreamed of in dreams, but never yet ex- 
 perienced by her in her waking hours, that something 
 born of a woman's feeling for a man, which made 
 Ma' Pah's face soften so strangely when she spoke of 
 it, and dwell lovingly on the memory of those short 
 days of happiness of her brief married life. Maimunah 
 was still building her castles in the air, and turning 
 over the details of her scheme in her mind, when a 
 
'BY THE OLD, OLD TRTSTING TREE' 79 
 
 gentle rustling sound outside the mosque warned her 
 that some one was at hand. 
 
 Presently the dark figure of a man showed dimly 
 in the door-way, and a voice, hoarse with eagerness, 
 asked softly if any one was within. It was Pendekar 
 Aris, the best master of fence in Pelesu, a well set up 
 fellow of five or six and thirty. He was dressed in 
 full Malay costume, with a handkerchief folded stiffly 
 into a swaggering pointed peak, which projected from 
 the right side of his head. It was too dark for any 
 one to have distinguished his fierce moustache, waxed 
 to a point, and twirled truculently upwards, his high 
 narrow forehead, or the hungry love-light in his eyes. 
 None the less Maimunah knew how he looked at 
 that moment, as well as if she had been gazing at him 
 in broad daylight, and her hot anger against the man, 
 on whose account she had suffered torture, surged up 
 anew at the knowledge of his proximity to her, and at 
 the sound of his breathless, excited voice. She gave 
 no answer to his anxious question, and she smiled to 
 herself, well pleased, as she noted the almost despairing 
 tone in which he repeated it for the third or fourth 
 time, for the memory of Ma' Pah's words anent the 
 pangs of the love-sick, was fresh in her mind. At 
 last, when she thought that she had kept him long 
 enough in suspense, she whispered one word ; — 
 
 ' y/da ' (I am here !) and she had hardly spoken it, 
 before Pendekar Aris was on the floor at her side, with 
 his arms clasped about her, whispering love phrases, 
 which came from his parched lips in a tripping, 
 stumbling torrent. 
 
 ' Core of my Heart ! Gold of pure touch ! Pupils 
 
8o 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 of mine eyes ! Ya Allah ! But, verily I have longed 
 for thee, Little Sister, with an exceeding great desire, 
 as the thirsty long for running water, as the famished 
 long for food ! Light of mine eyes ! Pearl ! Gem ! 
 Sweet One ! Loved One ! Ah, but it is indeed sweet 
 to hold thee once more in these arms ! For I love 
 thee, I love thee ! ' 
 
 Maimunah had made no effort to release herself 
 from his embrace, nor to check his swift speech, but 
 stealthily, still holding her peace, she drew her knife 
 clear of its sheath, and then very suddenly, putting 
 forth all her strength, she plunged the blade deep into 
 Pendekar Aris' right arm a little above the elbow. 
 With a quick cry of pain he withdrew his arm, and 
 in an instant Maimunah had eluded his grasp, leaped 
 to her feet, and now stood facing him in the doorway 
 of the mosque. 
 
 As she halted there, her body quivering with excite- 
 ment, her lips slightly parted, her breath coming 
 quickly, the knife still grasped nervously in her right 
 hand, she peered into the darkness, straining her eyes 
 in a vain effort to see what Pendekar Aris might be 
 doing. Her lithe, graceful form was poised lightly on 
 her feet, the muscles taut and ready, her limbs braced 
 for a sudden movement in any direction, should danger 
 threaten her. She could hear the Pendekar cursing 
 softly under his breath, and presently he stumbled 
 forward, his head-kerchief held by one end between 
 his teeth, while with his left hand he wound it round 
 and round his arm as a bandage. Maimunah peered 
 at him curiously, but his face was quite indistinguish- 
 able in the gloom. 
 
'£r THE OLD, OLD TRTSTING TREE' 8i 
 
 ' What meaneth this ? ' he asked gruffly, the words 
 coming thickly and indistinctly through the cloth he 
 held between his teeth. 
 
 ' Learn to/eel ! Learn to feel ! ' cried Maimunah, — 
 they were the first words that she had spoken since 
 his coming. ' Learn to feel ! Is it fitting that I 
 alone should suffer, and that thou shouldst go un- 
 scathed ? Accursed One ! Because I was foolish, 
 and did hearken to thy soft speech, and did heed thy 
 wicked words, I suffered the pains of the live embers. 
 In what art thou greater or more worthy than I that 
 thou shouldst bear no pangs ? Ah ? ' 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances Pendekar Aris would 
 have seized a girl, who had dared to taunt him in this 
 wise, and, without scruple, would have inflicted upon 
 her the severe thrashing which Malays hold to be 
 for the ultimate good of the female sex ; but with 
 Maimunah, somehow, this course seemed to him to be 
 impossible. Before her he felt himself to be powerless. 
 She was bound to him by no ties. The palace was a 
 retreat whither he could not pursue her had she a 
 mind to hide herself. She had a wondrous fascination 
 for him, and he feared to lose her j for nothing that 
 she could do had power to quench the burning fire of 
 desire which her presence set athrobbing and aleaping 
 in his breast. He had reached that stage of abject 
 subjection when a man loses entirely his self-respect, 
 even his self-love, and when a woman's outrages have 
 only the effect of quickening his passion for her. 
 Therefore he now laughed softly. 
 
 ' Thou art indeed brave, Little One,' he said ; ' no 
 other girl had dared to do as thou hast done, and to 
 
 G 
 
82 -SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 say what thy lips have said ; and now, in truth, thou 
 hast made me to share thy pain. It was well done, 
 for very willingly will I share aught that is thine, 
 Little One. But now we are sri (quits), and no 
 further reason for anger may be found betwixt us. 
 Come to me, Beloved, for I love thee dearly,' and he 
 held out his arms towards her. 
 
 Maimunah stabbed at them viciously with her knife. 
 
 ' Get back ! ' she cried. ' Sooner would I mate 
 with a wild man from the hills, with a swine eating 
 Chinaman, than with such an one as thou art ! Son 
 of an evil woman ! What manner of man art thou, 
 who boldest a prick with a woman's needle equal in 
 pain to the torture of the live embers ? I hate thee ! I 
 will have no more of thee ! Thou mayest consume thy 
 heart in longing, but never again shalt thou hold me 
 in thy arms. Listen to my words, thou Evil One ! ' 
 
 Pendekar Aris' breath came harder and shorter, as 
 each bitter word fell upon his ears. It seemed to him 
 that his whole world was, without warning, crumbling 
 in a ruined wreck about his head. He burst forth 
 into an impetuous torrent of extravagant entreaty, 
 mingled with pet names and love phrases, praying, 
 begging, imploring, cursing, praising, almost grovel- 
 ling in his self-abasement ; and Maimunah stood 
 watching him, entirely unmoved, with a mocking 
 smile flitting about her lips and with eyes that gloated 
 over the signs of the agony he endured. From time 
 to time she threw in a word or two of jeer or taunt, 
 and the man before her felt his strength and 
 coherence deserting him, as he encountered her 
 pitiless derision. 
 
'^r THE OLD, OLD TRTSTING TREE' 83 
 
 His eager, passionate words died down in a helpless, 
 impotent prayer for mercy, and ended in fierce, burning 
 tears, and hard sobs that tore at his throat. It was a 
 hideous spectacle, this strong man, distracted by the 
 fury of his desire, lost to all sense of self-respect, abject 
 in his self-abasement, if thereby he might again win 
 Maimunah for his own ; but the sight filled the girl's 
 breast with a transport of delight and triumph. It 
 was indeed true then, as Ma' Pah had said, that keener 
 pain' might be inflicted by love-sickness than by the . 
 blade of a knife. This was a richer vengeance than 
 she had promised herself, and it pleased her mightily. 
 
 Pendekar Aris was at her feet now, fawning upon 
 her with incoherent words and phrases, and clutching 
 vainly at the folds of her sarong. Maimunah snatched 
 the cloth away from his grip, and, leaning slightly 
 forward, she smote him full in the face with the flat of 
 her open hand. Then she turned about, and ran, at 
 the top of her speed, into the darkness. Pendekar 
 Aris staggered to his feet, and started in pursuit, but 
 it was impossible to move quickly along the dark foot- 
 path, which threaded the fruit groves, and though he 
 followed her to the palace fence, he saw no more of 
 Maimunah that night. 
 
 He turned away slowly in the direction of the hut 
 in which he dwelt with his mother. He had been 
 walking and running swiftly, but he had not turned a 
 hair, for a fierce fever was burning in his veins, and 
 his whole body seemed to be afire. As he went he 
 laughed aloud once or twice, in a peculiarly hoarse, 
 discordant fashion, very unpleasant to listen to. Any 
 one who knew Malays well, and had heard that laugh. 
 
84 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 would have recognised in it a danger signal which 
 foretold that an explosion was not unlikely to occur. 
 It is when self-respect begins to reassert itself in the 
 breast of a man who has had a terrible shame put upon 
 him that that laugh rises to a Malay's lips. He then 
 desires to hide the agony of mind which he is enduring, 
 and he seeks to do so by simulating merriment, but 
 the self-repression exercised only serves to intensify 
 the trouble. Also, in Pendekar Aris' case, the return 
 of self-respect filled him with a wild loathing for the 
 man who had grovelled on the ground at the feet of a 
 woman, and whose selt-abasement had been all in vain. 
 In common with the other men of his race, Pendekar 
 Aris despised women in a manner, and with an 
 intensity which no European can readily understand ; 
 and the memory of this particular girl's treatment of 
 him made him writhe when he recalled it. Then 
 came his overpowering longing, scorching his heart 
 with its fire, and the bitter pangs, occasioned by the 
 memory that his desire could never again be satisfied, 
 added fuel to the burning. Intense longing for 
 Maimunah, equally intense hatred of her, wild 
 jealousy, wilder loathing of the part which he himself 
 had played, and of the abject being who had played it, 
 all combined to produce a state of mind which bordered 
 closely upon madness ; and since he sought to conceal 
 the passions which tore his breast, even from himself, 
 that discordant laugh broke out again and again, as 
 the Pendekar made his way homewards through the 
 fragrance, and the wooing, sleepy breezes of the soft 
 Malayan night. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE GIRL IN THE GREEN sJrONG 
 
 Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control. 
 These three alone lead life to sovereign power. 
 
 Frank Austin awoke early on the morning after his 
 futile game of pitch and toss with Fate, and having 
 taken a dip in the river, he lit a cigarette, and sat 
 gazing moodily at the changing East. As he watched 
 it the pale gray in the sky turned faintly yellow, then 
 to rich dun and saffron, and later, spreading upwards 
 in a sea of far-reaching colour, flooded half the heavens 
 with wide washes of vivid scarlet, and crimson, and 
 gold and purple, fading and melting, and blending, 
 always soft, always unutterably splendid, always in 
 perfect harmony. The broad river ran red under the 
 ruddy light arching above it ; and Frank, to whom 
 beauty in any form was a source of a pleasure, almost 
 too acute in its intensity, sat drinking in the magnifi- 
 cent, prodigal display, with greedy feasting eyes. 
 
 Apart from the delight which the beauty occasioned 
 to him, it was with a very real satisfaction that he 
 noted that the day would certainly be extremely hot ; 
 for this was the date fixed for the annual fishing ot 
 
86 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 the Pelesu river by the King and his Court, and fierce 
 heat is necessary for the complete success of these 
 operations. 
 
 In Europe, I believe, fashions are set, almost 
 entirely by certain excellent men of business, vi^ho 
 decree that for a space men and women shall wrear, eat, 
 or use, only such things as may be provided for the 
 purpose, with the object of exhausting the surplus 
 stock of otherwise unsaleable articles in the possession 
 of the excellent men of business aforesaid. This 
 artificial creation of a demand to meet a supply, is 
 among the higher developments of our civilisation ; 
 but the Malays have not yet attained to these ideal 
 heights, and the few fashions that prevail at a Malay 
 Court are mainly set by the King or by his sons. In 
 the matter of love, fashions are an abomination, leading 
 to much blood-shed, and no man is anxious that others 
 should follow his taste in the choice of a ladylove. In 
 dress the ancient customs rule supreme in lands where 
 Brown Men have not yet learned that soiled collars 
 and shirt-fronts, and other unholy garments, borrowed 
 from the Infidel, show intellectual advancement. The 
 fashions which remain to be set, at a Malay Court of 
 the old school, are not, therefore, very numerous, but 
 on the all important subject of games and sports, the 
 passing whim of the King gives the law to all his 
 courtiers. 
 
 Sometimes men bet on which of two nuts possesses 
 the greater power of resistance, and the interesting point 
 is decided by placing one on the top of the other in a 
 wooden frame, and stamping on them, till the weaker 
 is cracked. While this absorbing 'sport' is the 
 
THE GIRL IN JHE GREEN SARONG 87 
 
 fashion, no man, who respects himself, goes to banquet 
 or to council without some specimens of these nuts 
 secreted about his person, to be produced for inspection 
 and discussion when occasion offers. The Rajas and 
 Chiefs, and grey -beards argue concerning the rival 
 merits of the nuts as warmly and eagerly as do the 
 youngsters about the Court. Embassies are despatched 
 by the King, with great state and ancientry, to Rajas 
 who rule in remote parts of the Archipelago, asking for 
 specimens of the nuts gathered from certain trees of 
 great reputation ; and all day long and far into the night, 
 a noisy crowd sits in a house, built for the purpose, 
 arranging matches, 'stringing' for choice of berths, 
 and testing rival nuts, with never ending interest and 
 excitement. 
 
 Then, suddenly, the King becomes fascinated by the 
 subtleties of the game of peg-top, and his courtiers, 
 hastily abandoning their nuts, go mad with enthusiasm 
 over this thrilling sport. The King sits up all night 
 in the Hall of State turning tops upon his lathe, spends 
 such hours as he can spare from less harmless amuse- 
 ments in watching his Youths spinning them, and 
 occasionally pegging on his own account. Later, 
 tops will, perhaps, be succeeded by cock-fighting'; 
 cocking will give place to matches between buffalo 
 bulls ; bull fighting will be followed by the hunting of 
 deer ; hunting by decoying jungle fowl, or turtle 
 doves ; and gambling, with cards and dice will go on 
 steadily all the time, filling up the chinks between 
 game and game, until, in the fullness of time, nuts 
 come into fashion once more, and the sport is resumed 
 with redoubled ardour. 
 
88 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 But, in addition to these periodically recurring 
 games, there is one sport, — the fishing of the main 
 river, — in which the whole Court takes part regularly 
 once in each year. The tuba root, [anamirta cocculus\ 
 which grows in Malayan jungles, is collected in large 
 quantities, is bruised and pounded with wooden mallets, 
 till the sap runs freely, is steeped in water, till a gray, 
 milky fluid is obtained, and is then tipped into the 
 river. The fish which encounter this poison at once 
 rise to the surface, and swim rapidly along, leaping and 
 plunging porpoise fashion, and the spearing and play- 
 ing of them affords most excellent sport. The hotter 
 the day, the more the power of the tuha is increased, 
 and it was on this account that Frank Austin gazed 
 upon the gorgeous colours in the East with even more 
 satisfaction than was usual with him. 
 
 He was anxious to witness a tuha fishing, on a large 
 scale, since he had hitherto only seen the experiment 
 tried in small rivers, and he had looked forward eagerly 
 to the day fixed for the event. Now that it had 
 arrived, however, he found that his thoughts were 
 chiefly filled with curiosity as to the identity of the 
 unknown lady, whose appearance at the bathing-hut 
 opposite might now momentarily be expected. 
 
 Already a stream of women was filing down from 
 the palace to the water's edge ; a mother bearing her 
 baby, clinging straddle-legs to her hip, while one or 
 two shivering little ones pattered along at her heels ; 
 girls wrapped in gaudy silk sarongs ; other older 
 women, scantily clad in frousy garments ; others, older 
 still, hobbling feebly to perform the morning ablutions, 
 which they had never missed during threescore years 
 
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN sJrONG 89 
 
 of life ; some few splashing in the water ; others 
 standing hesitatingly upon the banks, picturesque 
 figures, huddled to the chin in their sarongs, faintly 
 tinged by colour from the ruddy sky above them. 
 
 The sun rose clear of the thick banks of jungle, 
 which edged the horizon down stream, a blinding 
 golden disk, with an airy escort of clouds floating 
 around it, as it cast long slanting rays of dazzlingly 
 white light upon the surface of the water ; but still no 
 girl in green came down to the bathing-hut. Frank 
 began to think that he had been the victim of a hoax. 
 Hitherto he had been actuated by an idle curiosity, 
 quickened by gently tickled vanity, but as the early 
 morning hours crept by, and no girl, answering to the 
 old woman's description, made her appearance, Frank 
 began to feel first disappointed, then aggrieved, and at 
 length keenly anxious to see his unknown ladylove. 
 
 Maimfinah, who, as we have seen, had been late in 
 retiring to rest, slept somewhat longer than usual ; but 
 had her delay in going to the river's brink been due to 
 design, and not to accident, she could not have acted in 
 a way better calculated to interest Frank Austin, and 
 to excite his already awakened curiosity. As his dis- 
 appointment increased, he began to feel that he must 
 see this girl, even if he were to miss the fishing by 
 waiting for a sight of her ; and the whole affair, which 
 until that moment had seemed more or less a joke, 
 suddenly assumed a far more serious aspect. He was 
 afraid to relinquish the watching of the bathing-hut 
 for a single instant, lest he might chance to miss her, 
 and his expectancy gradually became transformed into 
 an anxious longing for this girl's coming. 
 
90 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 Presently there was a rustle of a skirt within the 
 palace gate-way, and a moment later Frank saw the 
 lithe figure of a girl standing erect upon the river 
 bank, bathed in the warm sunlight of the early morning. 
 She wore a sarong folded tightly above her breasts, and 
 another draped hood-wise about her head. Both cloths 
 were of a vivid blue, clear and deep, and the sunlight 
 showed the sheen of the silk, above the dark shadows 
 cast by the folds into which the drapery was gathered. 
 Frank looked at the figure, lightly poised upon her 
 feet in a graceful, natural pose, because the artistic 
 effect appealed to him, but there was no other interest 
 in his eyes, for the girl, for whom he waited, was to be 
 clad in green. Slowly the girl lowered the cloth from 
 about her head, disclosing a wealth of dark hair, a 
 slender neck, supporting a small, well -shaped head, 
 large and lustrous eyes, with strongly marked eye- 
 brows above them. The girl was strikingly hand- 
 some, altogether unlike any Malay woman whom 
 Frank had been accustomed to see, for the Arabic 
 type approximates more nearly to European standards 
 of beauty than does that of any of the races of Southern 
 Asia. As she stood there, lithe and graceful, and very 
 good to look upon, bathed in a flood of sunshine, with 
 the blue sky above her, the brilliant green of the grass 
 at her feet, and the dazzling water beneath, she made 
 a picture that Frank was destined never to forget. He 
 was so absorbed in his artistic appreciation of it that it 
 was some time before he began to realise that this 
 resplendent creature was making signs to him, — little 
 movements of the fingers and eyes, which his keen 
 sight had no diiBculty in recognising, though to one 
 
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SARONG 91 
 
 who observed her less closely they would not have 
 been apparent. Then the truth flashed upon him. 
 This was the ' Girl in Green ' for whose coming he 
 had been waiting. Malays, he knew, habitually use 
 the terms ' blue ' and ' green ' as though they were 
 synonymous, and the lady, whose message had amused 
 him on the previous evening, was none other than this 
 girl, whose grace and beauty were alone sufficient to 
 have attracted him, and to have excited his passionate 
 admiration. 
 
 Frank had been long removed from all intercourse 
 with women of his own race. His standard of feminine 
 beauty had, perhaps, become somewhat debased by the 
 sight of the native girls whom he had seen in all parts 
 of the Peninsula, and who passed for belles among their 
 own people. Perhaps had he had any one against 
 whom to scale her, his admiration for Maimunah 
 would have been less enthusiastic, but as he sat gazing 
 at her, while her bright eyes dwelt softly upon him, 
 with a look of gentle entreaty, he thought that he 
 had rarely seen any one more lovely or more lovable. 
 And this wondrous creature might be his for the ask- 
 ing ! Nay, would fall into his arms, if he but held 
 them ready for her coming ! The bare thought sent 
 a scorching flush to his face ; his heart beat a wild 
 tattoo against his ribs ; and his blood danced surging 
 through his veins. Almost before he reaHsed what he 
 was doing, he had made a quick answering sign, which 
 the light in Maimiinah's eyes showed that she had 
 completely understood. Then, thoroughly dissatisfied 
 with himself, he jumped up quickly, and went hastily 
 into the room he occupied on board the raft. He 
 
92 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 began to roll a cigarette, and was surprised to find that 
 his hand was shaking like a leaf, and that his breath 
 was coming quickly and unevenly. 
 
 He was thoroughly disgusted with himself. He 
 had been mad to act as he had done, because, forsooth, 
 he was for the moment intoxicated by a pair of bright 
 eyes. It had been madness ; but it should go no 
 further. Nothing should shake his resolution to see 
 no more of this girl, come what might. He shut his 
 lips tightly, and told himself that the trouble was past ; 
 but he had been shocked by the revelation of his own 
 unexpected weakness, and he felt insecure, uncertain 
 of himself, as he could never remember having done 
 on any former occasion. Deep down in his heart, 
 too, he was conscious of a feehng of joy and triumph, 
 and of a wild longing to see once more the lovely 
 vision of the ' Girl in Green,' to see her nearer, and to 
 have speech with her. He tried to thrust all thought 
 of the whole affair to the back of his mind, refusing to 
 think of it, but it was difficult to drive away that 
 picture of the figure on the river bank, so persistently 
 did it recur to his mind's eye. Meanwhile the prepara- 
 tions for the start for the fishing grounds were in full 
 swing. 
 
 The King, who had invariably treated Frank with 
 great courtesy upon the rare occasions of their meet- 
 ings, had placed a long, narrow boat at his disposal, 
 though Frank had declined the loan of a crew of 
 Pelesu men, preferring to use his own people, all of 
 whom were eager for the sport. The canoe was some 
 thirty feet in length, modelled from a single piece of 
 wood, and decked stoutly with broad laths of nibohg 
 
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SARONG 93 
 
 palm. She was painted white, had paddles of the same 
 colour, and Frank had dressed his men for the occasion 
 in new calico jumpers and trousers, and had presented 
 each of them with a dark blue sarong of tlie same 
 pattern. As he took his seat on the mat, spread in 
 the centre of the boat, and the score of paddlers bent 
 to their work, with a joyous howl, Frank felt well 
 pleased with his turnout, and perhaps he would have 
 been more than human had he not cast an almost 
 involuntary glance at the river bank opposite to see 
 whether the ' Girl in Green ' was watching the brave 
 figure cut by him and his people. The King's boats 
 were being rapidly loaded, and those occupied by the 
 Chiefs, courtiers, and hangers-on of the Court, clustered 
 about them, like bees about a swarming queen, but 
 the girl he looked for was nowhere to be seen. 
 
 Frank's boatmen swung along for a couple of 
 hundred yards up stream, just to show the men of 
 Pelesu the metal of which they were made, and the 
 pace at which they could travel, old Pawang Ali, who 
 held the steer-oar, coaching his men anxiously, for he 
 felt that the credit of himself and his Tuan — both 
 things of some moment to him — hung that day in the 
 balance. By a skilful twirl of his paddle- he turned' 
 the boat about, fetching a long, regular curve half 
 across the stream, raced her down the river towards 
 the King's boats, and by a word, given at the right 
 moment, caused his men to stop their craft almost 
 dead, by arresting her progress suddenly with the flats 
 of their hard-held paddle-blades. The operation had 
 been watched most critically by the Pelesu people, but 
 though they recognised that the boat was well handled, 
 
94 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 they allowed no sign of approval to escape them. 
 Enthusiasm upon such occasions is not considered 
 good form among Malays. 
 
 Che' Ngah Rahman, the King's favourite, who had 
 his seat in a finely finished boat which the King would 
 share with him when the sport began, drew near and 
 talked to Frank, while the two canoes rocked side by 
 side. Other Chiefs, passing and repassing, exchanged 
 a word or two with the White Man, and so the time 
 slipped by until at last the King appeared, and greeting 
 Frank from afar, crept into the cabin of one of the 
 largest boats. Then the word was given to start, and 
 the whole party began to paddle up stream. The 
 gongs and long drums on board the boats occupied by 
 the King, beat a lively quick step, and in the stately 
 barges allotted to the four neglected queens, a chorus 
 of shrill girls' voices broke out into the sweetly 
 plaintive strains of the thikir. The sun shone brightly ; 
 the river danced and sparkled in its light ; the men at 
 the paddles howled and yelled whole-heartedly ; a run- 
 ning fire of chafF passed from boat to boat ; and so 
 with song and laughter, a wild tumult of glad sound, 
 the merry folk of Karu wended their way up stream 
 to their sport, as happily as though such things as 
 oppression and misgovernment, and cruelty, and wrong, 
 were unknown in this land of Pelesu. 
 
 An hour and a half of hard paddling brought the 
 King's party to the spot which had been fixed for the 
 tipping of the tAba-'wztZT into the stream. Long 
 before they reached it, the clear, melodious notes of 
 wood smiting wood were plainly to be heard over the 
 running water, telling all men that those entrusted 
 
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SARONG 95 
 
 with the preparation of the t{iba had left the bruising 
 of it to the very last moment, as is the manner of 
 Malays, The King and those of the Chiefs who had 
 hitherto travelled in the larger boats now got into the 
 smaller ones, which had been prepared for their use, and 
 three of the King's favourite concubines took their seats 
 within as many dainty crafts, hung with silken awnings 
 of brilliant hues, with golden peacocks fore and aft, and 
 made ready to catch fish in landing-nets of silk, sus- 
 pended from long handles cased in gold, and weighted 
 with balls of the same precious metal. The lawful 
 queens, less favoured than their younger and more 
 attractive rivals, remained among their singing girls 
 and tirewomen in the great barges provided for them, 
 and I know not what fiends of envy and hatred, nor 
 what elfish memories of the days when they too were 
 dear to the King came to mock them in their lonely 
 splendour. 
 
 The King shouted an order to the Dato' Bandar, 
 who screamed a repetition of it to the Pawang, or 
 Medicine Man, to whose care was entrusted the 
 management of the fishing arrangements. A score of 
 dug-outs, each with a couple of men on board it, were 
 ranged in a line across the river, and at a word from 
 the Pawang, the /«^«- water with which they were 
 filled was baled rapidly into the stream. The Pa- 
 wang's face bore an air of extreme seriousness, for to 
 his ministrations would be attributed the success or 
 failure of the day's sport, and it was now his duty, in 
 the presence of many hundreds of spectators, to spear 
 the first fish, in accordance with the ancient custom. 
 The river was covered with numberless boats of all 
 
96 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 kinds, heading up the stream, and giving way slowly 
 before the current ; and while men waited for the first 
 fish to rise, something like silence fell, for a space, 
 upon the noisy people. 
 
 Presently a fish of about one pound's weight rose 
 to the surface, its blunt nozzle projecting above the 
 water, its white belly showing dimly, as it swung 
 floating almost perpendicularly. The Medicine Man's 
 boat shot forward, his three-pronged fish spear, with 
 its long wooden haft, poised nervously aloft. Then 
 his arm darted downwards, the spear-blades struck the 
 fish with a clean, crunching sound, and, in a moment 
 the writhing creature was waved excitedly aloft. A 
 wild burst of sorak — the Malayan cheer or war-cry — ' 
 broke out and rang across the water, waking noisy 
 echoes in the jungles on either bank. The Pawang 
 cut the fish into two halves, muttered the words of 
 some old-world incantation, and then cast the head to 
 the East, and the tail to the West. A moment later 
 he was sitting humbly at the King's feet, with hands 
 uplifted in homage, murmuring that all was now ready 
 for His Majesty's sport. 
 
 Frank, standing erect in his boat, looked round 
 upon the scene with keen interest ; at the gaily-decked 
 barges, lolling lazily along, with the boatmen just 
 paddling sufficiently to prevent the current from 
 carrying them down stream ; at the hundreds of tiny 
 crafts and dug-outs, from the long, slenderly built 
 boat, in which Tiingku Saleh, swaying gracefully 
 from his hips with the quick motion, darted swiftly 
 hither and thither, shouting orders, shrieking jests to 
 his friends as he whirled past them and gesticulated 
 
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SARONG 97 
 
 wildly, down to the rotten, water-logged piece of 
 wood, upon which two small, naked, native boys were 
 trying, with indifferent success, and a great deal of 
 lusty howling, to maintain a precarious seat ; at the 
 groups of Malays, dressed in their brilliant silks, 
 standing upright in the sampans ; at the flickering of 
 the countless restless spear-shafts ; at the light, the 
 colour, the life, the ceaseless, twinkling motion of the 
 picture. 
 
 Suddenly, as he still stood there gazing in fascina- 
 tion, with little thought for the fishing, there arose a 
 wild hurroosh, and his dug-out shot violently forward, 
 propelled by an excited stroke given simultaneously 
 by all his boatmen, nearly throwing Frank from his 
 feet. A few yards away, a monster fish, of the kind 
 called tembelian or termdlek by the Malays, a brute 
 which weighed at least a hundred and twenty pounds, 
 was careering madly along the surface of the water. 
 A great wave rose up on either side as the big fish 
 rushed up stream, leaving a wide wake behind him, 
 and Frank could see the bright red of his round, 
 staring eyes, as his head rose clear at each mighty 
 bound, and plunged downward again as he leaped 
 widly forward. Frank raised his fish-spear high above 
 his head, and brought it down with all his force upon 
 the back of the labouring monster. The blow was 
 true and full, but to wound a tembelian you must 
 strike against the set of his armour, and the only 
 result of the stroke was half a dozen white and 
 glistening scales impaled upon Frank's spear. The 
 great fish dived stoutly, but a moment later appeared 
 on the left of the boat, twenty yards further up stream. 
 
98 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 Again the boatmen raced furiously for the first stab, 
 and Frank, thoroughly put upon his metal by his 
 recent failure, stood gazing eagerly at his wallowing 
 prey, his muscles braced for the stab, his spear weighed 
 lightly in his right hand. He was in the very act of 
 dealing his blow, when something flashed past him like 
 a snake, and the fish dived once more, while his blood 
 reddened the water, and the six-foot long shaft of 
 Tungku Saleh's spear stood protruding perpendicularly 
 from his back, waggling and quivering gently as he 
 bore downwards. Frank was conscious of a keen 
 sense of mortification, as the burst of sorai, which 
 announces a big kill, broke out triumphantly from all 
 Tungku Saleh's men, as their Prince, after playing 
 the fish for a minute or two, at last succeeded 
 in hauling it aboard, with three other spears fixed 
 firmly in its quivering bulk. He looked around to 
 see if many had witnessed his discomfiture, and his 
 eyes fell upon a barge occupied by one of the neglected 
 queens ; and then he flushed pink, for peeping at him 
 from under the awning, where she sat amid a cluster 
 of other palace maidens, the ' Girl in Green ' laughed at 
 him with her pretty face dancing with fun, and a look 
 in her eyes which spoke only too clearly of the secret 
 understanding which she recognised as now existing 
 between herself and the White Man. It made Frank's 
 young blood surge again to mark that glance in the 
 eyes he found so fair, and its meaning seemed so plain 
 to him that he looked round nervously, fearful lest 
 any one should have observed it. All were intent on 
 the fishing, however, with the sole exception of a 
 handsome, well set up fellow, with a bandaged right 
 
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SARONG 99 
 
 arm, who was being rowed about among the other 
 boats, but who, probably on account of his disablement 
 was taking no part in the sport. His eyes seemed to 
 be fixed upon Maimunah, who was apparently unaware 
 of his gaze, and for a moment they were turned upon 
 the White Man with a flash in which there lay a curious 
 wild fire, which was like that of some angry animal. 
 
 But now the fishes were rising on every side, and 
 Frank had enough to do to keep his footing in the 
 spinning, reeling boat, which shot first in one direc- 
 tion, then in another, now forward, now backward, 
 and to strike at the racing monsters around him. He 
 soon mastered the knack of the spearing, and his men 
 set up sorak after sorak, as one big fish after another 
 fell to his hand. The sport waxed fast and furious, 
 and Frank's shoulder and arm ached with the exertion, 
 when, at last the great rush of the fish began to 
 slacken, and the fleet of boats dropped down stream, 
 with only an occasional rise and the race of many 
 canoes for the first stab to renew the excitement. 
 But through it all, even when the sport was at its 
 wildest, Frank was conscious of the girl's eyes follow- 
 ing him from the queen's boat, and of the man with the 
 bandaged right arm hovering round the great barge. 
 
 As they dropped down the river, borne by the slow 
 current, the King drew up alongside Frank's boat, 
 and bade him partake of cocoanut water, and sweet- 
 meats. The former — the fresh, effervescent water of 
 the newly plucked green nut, as difFerent from the 
 thin stuiF obtained from the old, ripe cocoanut, known 
 to the frequenters of country fairs in England, as is 
 newly drawn draft beer to the flattest, stalest swipes, — 
 
100 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 was very welcome to Frank, who after fishing for an 
 hour and a half under a broiling tropical sun, had 
 developed a very healthy thirst, and could feel his 
 heated blood simmering and hissing through his veins ; 
 but the sweetmeats, though, as in courtesy bound, he 
 made gallant efforts to do them justice, filled him with 
 horror. If you can imagine eggs, boiled in syrup of 
 sugar, dressed in treacle, and sauced with cocoanut oil, 
 you may, perhaps, arrive at some faint idea of their 
 deadly sweetness. The King chatted with Frank for 
 a while, distributed cocoanuts among all his people, 
 an act of courtesy much appreciated by the Malays, 
 who think a great deal of the consideration shown for 
 their needs by those who are their superiors in station, 
 and then took his leave, having produced an impression 
 altogether at variance with the tales of cruelty and 
 complicated villainy which Frank was accustomed to 
 hear associated with his name. But this, as Frank 
 was beginning to learn, was the case with everybody 
 and everything in this land of Pelesu. Like the little 
 girl in the Nursery Rhyme, 'when they were good, 
 they were very, very good, and when they were bad 
 they were horrid ! ' 
 
 The fishing party was now nearing the blat^ the 
 place just below the town of Karu, where the broad 
 river had been staked across with a fence of fine 
 bamboo mesh-work, so as to prevent the escape of any 
 of the larger fish ; and the banks were lined by all 
 sorts and conditions of men and women, armed with 
 every description of weapon for the capture of the 
 exhausted fish. Here and there in the shallows an 
 old, old hag might be seen, laboriously scooping up 
 
THE GIRL IN THE GREEN SARONG loi 
 
 the tiny sprats and spike-fish in a rattan-work basket ; 
 there a small, absolutely naked boy floundered and 
 wallowed in the water struggling with a monster 
 temhelian, as large as himself, which fought bravely to 
 escape from its excited little assailant ; hosts of the 
 rag -tag -and -bobtail of the town some with knives 
 lashed to sticks, some with bag-nets, some with land- 
 ing nets, some with large cooking pots, and some with 
 nothing save sarongs in which to capture the fish, 
 fought, and scrambled, and tumbled over one another 
 in their eagerness to secure some of the dazed creatures 
 for their evening meal. The fish were for the most 
 part heaped up against the bamboo fence across the 
 river, held flat against its sides by the weight of the 
 current, but some wallowed in the shallows, and were 
 there done to death, while a few, less exhausted than 
 their fellows, broke back up stream, bounding, leaping, 
 and plunging wildly, with a dozen hurrying boats 
 racing at their tails. The din made by the thousand 
 odd natives, now engaged in the sport, was indescrib- 
 able ; and Frank, rather disgusted at the wholesale 
 slaughter with which the day's amusement was con- 
 cluding, turned his boat about, and began to make 
 his way back to his raft. The last thing which caught 
 his eye as he passed homewards, was the face of the 
 ' Girl in Green,' casting an entreating, imploring look 
 in his direction, but he set his face hard, and resolutely 
 refrained from sending her any answering glance. 
 He noticed that the man with the bandaged arm was 
 still hovering hungrily around the barge, and that his 
 face still wore that queer, wild, animal expression with 
 which he had already impressed Frank so oddly. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE O'ERBRIMMING OF THE CUP OF BITTERNESS 
 
 Rest and be glad of the gods ; but I, 
 
 How shall I praise them, or how take rest? 
 
 There is no room under all the sky 
 
 For me who know not of worst or best, 
 
 Dream or desire of the days before, 
 
 Sweet things or bitterness, any more, 
 
 Love will not come to me now though I die. 
 As love came close to you, breast to breast. 
 
 Swinburne. 
 
 It was at midday on the morning after the tAba 
 fishing, that Pendekar Aris sat in the doorway of his 
 house, ruminating bitterly. His injured arm was 
 still bandaged, and the deep flesh wound smarted 
 keenly whenever the limb was moved, but for this the 
 Pendekar cared little. His whole power of feeling 
 was monopolised by the rage, and passion, and longing 
 which filled his breast ; by the agony of shame which 
 made him desperate ; and by the fierce, angry jealousy 
 which had been quickened into throbbing life by the 
 sight of the soft glances which he had watched 
 Maimunah lavishing upon the White Man during the 
 previous morning. 
 
 He had eaten nothing worth swallowing for six 
 
THE O'ERBRIMMING OF THE CUP 103 
 
 and thirty hours ; he had slept even less than he had 
 eaten, and his eyes were heavy, and weary, and wild, 
 deeply sunken in his head, above the great bruise-like 
 smudges which lay beneath their sockets. As he sat 
 there, turning over and over in his mind the occur- 
 rences of the last few days, he writhed at the thought 
 of the part which he had played at his last interview 
 with the girl ; clenched his hands, and bit his lips 
 till the blood flowed warmly into his mouth, at the 
 recollection of what he had seen at the fishing ; and 
 all the while, mumbled and muttered to himself, like 
 one who had already lost his reason. But Pendekar 
 Aris was not mad, in the ordinary sense of that term. 
 He was utterly miserable, bowed to the earth by the 
 weight of his distress, crushed by the burden of the 
 shame which had been put upon him, torn with wild 
 jealousy, and wilder longing, inexpressibly weary and 
 tired of life — O so deadly weary of it all ! — broken 
 heart and soul, if you will, but sane, and with a more 
 than sufficient reason for all his trouble. 
 
 His old mother, who loved him, crept about the 
 house with frightened steps, glancing uneasily at him, 
 from time to time, but not daring to ask a question, 
 or to speak the words of comfort and sympathy which 
 rose instinctively to her lips. The previous day she 
 had endeavoured to invite his confidence, but the 
 strange, angry glance, with which he bade her hold 
 her peace, the rough manner in which he had with- 
 drawn himself from her touch when she sought to 
 soothe him with a caress, and the unusual silence which 
 had gripped him ever since his return from his meeting 
 with Maimunah, had made the old woman shrink 
 
104 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 terrified into herself. She had cooked viands, such as 
 he was wont to look upon greedily, but he had pushed 
 them from him untouched. She had sought to comfort 
 him by a thousand mute, unobtrusive acts of love and 
 thoughtfulness, but he seemed not to have noticed 
 any of them, and now she had abandoned her eiForts 
 in despair. She knew enough of the nature of men, 
 to make her sure that trouble such as this only came 
 upon a man by reason of a woman ; and as she stole 
 about the house, with noiseless footfall, she cursed the 
 girl who had wrought this evil to her son, to the sixth 
 and seventh generation, with all the raucousness of a 
 liberal Oriental vocabulary, though never a word 
 passed her lips. Had all the thoughts which chased 
 each other through the minds of the two occupants of 
 the hut been voiced aloud that day, a very queer set 
 of phrases, disclosing some ugly depths of Human 
 Nature, would have been sent spinning through the 
 pure air of the noontide. 
 
 As the shadows cast by the palms and fruit trees 
 of the compound began to lengthen, and the fronds 
 and boughs overhead stirred restlessly as the soft 
 breathings of the afternoon wind stole up from the sea, 
 Pendekar Aris roused himself from the trance in which 
 he had passed the day, and having armed himself, with 
 dagger and long im, according to his wont, climbed 
 down the stair-ladder, and wended his way towards the 
 main street of the town, which skirted the river bank. 
 
 A stream of sauntering folk was moving in the 
 same direction ; some on their way to the fishmarket, 
 others, like the Pendekar, strolling aimlessly towards 
 the places where, in the cool of the afternoon, the men 
 
THE O'ERBRIMMING OF THE CUP loj 
 
 of Karu were accustomed to congregate. By the 
 great white mosque which stands opposite to the 
 fishmarket, in a little open space on the river bank, 
 Pendekar Aris turned and looked down stream with 
 heavy eyes that took in but a portion of the things 
 upon which they dwelt. The canting fishing-boats 
 were racing up to the town, there to dispose of their 
 heavy takes ; an airy cloud of white padi cranes, 
 turning, floating, and dropping, looking with the 
 sunlight falling on their wings like flakes of wind- 
 blown snow, circled above the cocoanut trees of an 
 island half a mile down stream, and then flew ofF over 
 the water in a straggling pack ; in the shallows near 
 the island, facing the town, a herd of black and pink 
 water-buiFaloes stood moodily chewing the cud, letting 
 the cool stream play in and out about their knees, 
 while others, of which only the noses and twitching 
 ears were visible, lay luxuriously revelling in the 
 running water. Around the Pendekar the hum and 
 buzz of the busy native life, which, in the tropics, 
 wakes up suddenly as the afternoon brings coolness, 
 sounded strangely remote and far away. Men, and 
 women, and little children were haggling and chaiFer- 
 ing with the dark-skinned fisher-folk — a loud chorus 
 of voices of every kind, from deep, gruff base to pure, 
 shrill treble ; the great, square unwieldy coins, fashioned 
 of tin, which were the small change in Pelesu, clinked 
 as they swung upon the long lines of rattan by means 
 of which they were carried ; there came a distant 
 clucking of fowls, lowing of kine, and singing of birds 
 from the fruit-groves around the Capital, blent with 
 the ceaseless murmur of the people who passed rest- 
 
io6 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 lessly to and fro. It seemed strange to PSndekar 
 Aris that all the ordinary every-day life, to which he 
 was so well used, should be going forward just the 
 same as though nothing had happened. His world 
 had been shattered to atoms ; why did the life around 
 him go on with the same regularity as though no 
 seismic convulsions had occurred to turn beauty to 
 ugliness, hope to despair, honour and happiness to an 
 overwhelming shame ? He felt a redoubled bitterness 
 surge up in his heart, as he realised that all that meant 
 so much to him, which had power to turn his day to 
 gloomiest night, was as nothing of any moment to^the 
 busy folk about him. They seemed to be cruelly 
 self-absorbed ; and even if they knew of his trouble 
 they would only find therein a new subject for jest ! 
 His weary eyes flashed with anger at the thought. 
 Looking aimlessly up stream, he saw Frank Austin 
 crossing the river from his raft to the town. The 
 White Man had his back towards him, and he seemed 
 to be gazing in the direction of the palace bathing- 
 hut. Was he once more exchanging love glances 
 with Maimunah, as the Pendekar had seen him do 
 at the fishing ? The thought maddened him, and he 
 stepped quickly back to keep his eyes upon the White 
 Man as long as might be. In doing so he chanced to 
 bunt against an old woman, the same who had brought 
 a certain love message to Frank a couple of nights 
 earlier, and the tray of sweet-stufF, which she was 
 carrying, was overturned in the collision and its 
 contents spilled upon the ground. 
 
 ' Chelaka ! Accursed one ! ' ejaculated the old hag, 
 'are thine eyes blind ? Son of an evil woman ! ' 
 
THE OVERBRIMMING OF THE CUP 107 
 
 It was all that was needed to snap the tension. 
 Pendekar Aris had been hovering on the brink of a 
 nervous break-down all day. He was utterly weary 
 of life ; but since he was a Malay, suicide never 
 suggested itself to him in the light of a possibility. 
 To run amok was the only conceivable means of 
 courting death ; and the angry words of the old 
 crone were all that were required to push him over 
 the brink. 
 
 In a moment the sorak was bursting from his lips, 
 and with a cry of ' Amok ! Amok ! ' ringing above the 
 clatter of the market he drew his kris and drove it 
 deep into the breast of the crone who stood gibbering 
 before him. 
 
 She fell where she stood, mortally stricken, with no 
 sound save a feeble moan, and a catching, choking 
 cough, caused by the blood welling up into her throat. 
 Pendekar Aris did not trouble himself to strike a 
 second time, but leaping over her body, clear of her 
 clutching hands, he charged down upon the folk in 
 the crowded fish-market, still yelling his war-cry of 
 ^Jmok! Jmok!^ 
 
 An indescribable scene of confusion followed. The 
 people who had been bartering for their fish, without 
 suspicion of danger of any kind, were completely taken 
 by surprise, and though the men were all of them 
 armed, such being the universal custom in independent 
 Malay States, they had little time to look to their 
 weapons. The women and children ran hither and 
 thither screaming in terror ; many leaped into the 
 river, and swam down with the current, heedless 
 whither it bore them ; others jumped on board the 
 
io8 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 fishing- boats, and pushed out into midstream, the 
 overladen crafts capsizing in the deep water ; others 
 again rushed frantically inland, tearing past Pendekar 
 Aris and his reeking dagger-blade, and never drawing 
 breath until they found themselves, panting and sweat- 
 ing, inside the closed doors of their houses. As the 
 hurrying crowd pushed past him Pendekar Aris struck 
 out right and left, wounding many, and bringing two 
 men and another woman to the ground, rolling help- 
 lessly over and over in their death agony. By this 
 time, however, the fishmarket was deserted, and the 
 cry ' Orang meng-amok / ' ' A man is running amok ! ' 
 was ringing up and down the street of the native 
 town. The frightened yellow faces of the Chinese 
 shopkeepers might be seen glancing timidly out, as 
 they hastened to bar their doors. Here and there the 
 whisk of the sarong of some retreating man or woman 
 was visible, as its owner dashed wildly round the 
 corner of house, or door, or fence, in a panic-stricken 
 effort to escape ; and in an incredibly short space of 
 time the main street of Karu was almost entirely 
 empty. 
 
 Almost, but not quite ; for one woman's form was 
 still to be marked tearing up the thoroughfare, her 
 head thrown up, her neck extended, her sarong held 
 high above her knees, so as to let her legs have free 
 play as she ran swiftly but silently, with all her 
 energies concentrated on the strenuous effort she 
 was making to save herself from the certain death 
 flying so nimbly at her heels. Pendekar Aris was 
 some twenty yards behind her, covering the ground 
 with great swinging strides, which seemed to draw the 
 
THE O'ERBRIMMING OF THE CUP 109 
 
 girl back to him, as a sailor hauls in his log-line. It 
 was at this moment that Frank Austin, who, on 
 hearing the tumult ashore, had hastened to land at the 
 palace stage, came up the river bank on to the main 
 street of the town. Old Pawang Ali followed him, 
 clutching him convulsively by the sleeve, and im- 
 ploring him not to run into danger. 
 
 ' Jmok ! Amok ! ' yelled the Pendekar, brandish- 
 ing his blood-stained kris above his head as he ran. 
 He was not so drunk with excitement but that he had 
 recognised Maimunah in the woman upon whom he 
 was gaining so rapidly, and he thanked the Fates in 
 that at the last they had been kind to him. He was 
 already in his own estimation a dead man ; for once 
 having begun his career of slaughter, nothing remained 
 to him but to kill, and kill, and kill, until in the 
 appointed hour he should himself be slain. But since 
 he had made up his mind to quit the world which had 
 treated him so mercilessly, he saw no reason why he 
 should leave the woman who had caused his misery 
 behind to become the property of some other man 
 before his body was cold in its grave. He had run 
 amok because the brimming cup of his bitterness had 
 at length overflowed, — because he was desirous of 
 seeking death, and because this method is the only one 
 that occurs to a man of the Malays, — and in doing so he 
 had had no thought of anything except self-destruction. 
 Incidentally he would take with him as large an escort 
 to the Land of Shadows as the Fates might accord to 
 him, but, speaking broadly, he had no special care as 
 to the choice of his victims. He would certainly not 
 have sought Maimunah, or any one else, out for slaughter 
 
no 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 at such a time, but since she had come across his path, 
 he was well pleased, arid in her coming he recognised 
 the finger of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. 
 
 Living so much among Malays, who regard one 
 who goes unarmed as likely to be a man of poor spirit 
 and little courage, Frank had long ago contracted the 
 habit of never going abroad without his pistol, while 
 sojourning in an independent Malay State. His 
 nervous second finger now pressed the trigger of his 
 revolver, and his index lay along the side of the barrel. 
 Maimunah shot past him, her breath coming in short 
 hard pants and whifFs, her straining face and striving 
 limbs attesting the violence of the futile efforts she 
 was making to hold her own against her relentless 
 pursuer. 
 
 In a flash, as he leaped in between Maimunah and 
 the charging man, Frank saw the face of the Pendekar 
 with marvellous distinctness of detail ; for at such times 
 the brain works furiously, and the impressions which it 
 receives are absolutely instantaneous. It was not a 
 pleasant thing to look upon. The man's teeth were 
 set hard, the upper jaw grinding audibly against the 
 lower ; his lips were drawn back, and the exposed gums 
 were so strained and tense that their colour was almost 
 white. Little thin flakes of foam, like half-evaporated 
 soap-suds, stood at the corners of his mouth. But it 
 was the eyes of the amoi-runner which chiefly riveted 
 Frank's attention. They were blazing with excite- 
 ment, wide open and starting prominently from their 
 sockets, with a world of savage, ravenous fury in their 
 lurid depths. And yet, through all the other expres- 
 sions which seemed to leap out of them, there was 
 
THE OVERBRIMMING OF THE CUP iii 
 
 plainly to be seen the stricken gaze which is only 
 to be marked in the eyes of one condemned to die. 
 Those who have stood upon the scaffold with a criminal 
 who looks his last upon the Earth know this expression, 
 and how it differs from all others. Even through the 
 excitement, the mad fury, the wild joy of fighting, 
 with which the Pendekar was now possessed, it was as 
 plainly to be seen as though he had been a criminal 
 calmly awaiting execution. 
 
 Frank fired once, twice, thrice at the man, who 
 was now but a yard or two away from him, and the 
 bullets went whizzing harmlessly past him, singing 
 their song of battle down the long street. Until you 
 have tried it you can have no idea of the extraordinary 
 ease with which you may miss a man who is quite 
 close to you, more especially when your life depends 
 upon the hitting of him in some vital spot. The 
 white smoke of the revolver hung heavily about Frank 
 in the still air of the afternoon, and through the cloud 
 came the rushing, yelling, savage figure of the Pendekar. 
 It seemed to the White Man that his enemy was upon 
 him, and that he could already feel in anticipation the 
 pain of the steel blade burying itself in his body. 
 Impelled by the instinct of self-preservation, Frank 
 fired again, discharging the three remaining chambers 
 of his revolver, almost at random. The next moment 
 he was conscious of a violent concussion, such as he 
 had often felt at football, and then he was rolling over 
 and over on the hard and dusty road. He was up 
 again in a moment, struggling wildly to thrust fresh 
 cartridges into his hot revolver ; never staying to ask 
 himself whether or no he was hurt j for that is a 
 
112 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 question which does not usually occur to the mind at 
 moments of this kind, arriving as a sort of after-thought 
 when the hurry and the excitement are over. As he 
 fumbled with his revolver, he looked round mechanic- 
 ally for the Pendekar, and for an instant he could not 
 see him. Old Pawang Ali, of whose existence even 
 Frank had been temporarily oblivious, was standing 
 with his back towards his master, and as the latter 
 watched him, he raised his spear again and again, 
 thrusting it into something which lay at his feet upon 
 the ground. It can only have been for a second, but 
 to the White Man quite a long period of time seemed 
 to have elapsed, before it was borne in upon his mind 
 that this something must indeed be the body of the 
 Pendekar. The dead man, — for dead he must be, 
 nothing living could lie so still, — was hunched up in 
 a shapeless bundle upon the ground, and, as is the 
 way with the bodies of men who have died a violent 
 death, and have not been laid out for the burial, he 
 looked so incredibly small that Frank had to peer at 
 him more than once, before he was quite convinced 
 that he had made no mistake. His mind was, of course, 
 working with more than ordinary rapidity, and these 
 thoughts chased one another through it at racing pace. 
 He stepped quickly to Pawang Ah's side, and roughly 
 bade him hold his hand. Then he looked down 
 upon the body of him who, but for the merest chance, 
 might have been the slayer, not the slain. 
 
 The Pendekar was stretched upon his back, with 
 his knees drawn up almost to his neck, the thighs flat 
 upon his body, with the legs lying limply between 
 them, as they had fallen when he ceased to kick in 
 
THE O'ERBRIMMING OF THE CUP 113 
 
 the death agony. What remained of his head, and 
 this included only a small portion of his face, was 
 canted, in an attitude of dislocation, over his right 
 shoulder. Two of Frank's last random shots had 
 taken effect, one entering below the chin and tearing 
 its way up the whole length of the face, at a depth of 
 only half an inch or so below the surface of the skin, 
 the other penetrating under the left eye, and lodging 
 in the back of the Pendekar's head. The third bullet 
 had missed its mark as completely as its earlier fellows 
 had done. The silk garments, in which the body was 
 clad, were torn and stained in a dozen places by the 
 fierce stabs inflicted by Pawang Ali's spear, whose 
 owner, wild with excitement, now danced gibbering 
 and gesticulating around the corpse. 
 
 ' Dog ! Pig ! ' he cried, shaking his spear at the 
 horrible object on the ground. ' Die ! O, die ! Learn 
 to feel, thou son of an evil woman, slain by the hand 
 of my Tuan ! ' 
 
 There was a humming murmur up and down the 
 length of the long street, a distant rumbling sound 
 swelling slowly to a roar, and blent with the creaking 
 of opening doors and window -shutters, as the word 
 spread among the frightened folk that the White Man 
 had killed the Pendekar, and men took heart to peep 
 forth from within their closed houses. Presently, as 
 all became assured of safety, a large, excited, vociferous 
 crowd gathered round the spot where Frank stood, 
 gazing down upon the shattered face, and rent body, 
 of the man whom he had slain. 
 
 Austin's hands were shaking slightly with excite- 
 ment, and he was breathing quickly ; but he was 
 
 I 
 
114 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 surprised to find that he experienced none of the 
 sensations which are supposed to be proper to a man, 
 who, having made his first kill, looks upon the body of 
 his victim. He had not the slightest feeling of com- 
 punction or regret, nay, he was conscious of a distinctly 
 pleasurable sensation when he remembered that he 
 had been put to the test, and had not been found 
 wanting in the courage to face an ugly death, in defence 
 of a woman whom he had never seen, — for his eyes 
 had been too busy with the Pendekar to recognise in 
 the flying girl, the blue-clad figure which had bulked 
 so big in his thoughts of late. It was satisfactory, too, 
 to know that he had maintained the credit of the 
 superior race among an alien people ; and, moreover, 
 in common with most young Englishmen, Frank 
 Austin had sufficient latent savagery in his composi- 
 tion to make the chances and the incidents of a fierce 
 fight for Hfe a keen delight, which sent the red blood 
 dancing and throbbing through his veins. 
 
 As he stood there, thinking and feeling these things, 
 a soft voice spoke at his elbow, and, looking down he 
 recognised in the speaker the Girl in the Green 
 Sarong. She was looking up into his face, with eyes 
 blazing with excitement, and alive with a very real 
 admiration. 
 
 ' The Tiian is indeed brave ! Veritably the son of 
 a Man ! ' she said almost in a whisper, and her words 
 were very sweet to Frank, for every man finds a 
 pleasure, keener than any other, in the genuine delight 
 inspired in a woman by the sight of his greait deeds. 
 ' But, Tuan, thou art wounded ! ' cried the girl, her 
 voice softening with pity, and Frank, looking down. 
 
THE OVERBRIMMING OF THE CUP 115 
 
 saw that the blood was running freely from a long 
 gash in his right leg below the knee. The Pendekar, 
 as he fell, must have struck him with his kris, but 
 until this moment Frank had been quite unconscious 
 of the fact. Maimunah seized Frank's handkerchief 
 from his pocket, and, kneeling in the dust at his feet, 
 she bound it tenderly round the injured leg. It was 
 only a scratch, but the blood continued to well up 
 through the thin bandage, and Maimunah, turning 
 quickly, snatched a head-kerchief from oiF the ground, 
 where it lay close to the dead and shattered head which 
 it had adorned but a few minutes before. Frank ex- 
 perienced a keen feeling of horror and disgust at the 
 complete callousness betokened by this action, and he 
 drew his leg angrily away from the girl's grasp. She 
 glanced up at him, inquiringly, beseechingly, feeling 
 instinctively that she had offended him, but wholly 
 ignorant of the cause of his displeasure. Then she 
 rose slowly to her feet and stepped to the side of the 
 corpse. As she gazed upon the mangled body of the 
 man who had once been her lover, and had so nearly 
 been her murderer, her whole expression underwent a 
 change. The soft light which had shone from her 
 eyes, dazzling the White Man as she spoke to him, 
 died out, and was replaced by the fierce, savage, 
 resentful, angry look which Ma' Pah had so often 
 watched when the rebellion against her life at the 
 Court of Pelesu welled up anew in the girl's untamed 
 heart. 
 
 ' This accursed One,' she said addressing those who 
 stood around, ' would of a certainty have slain me, had 
 it not been for this Tuan, who shot him as men shoot 
 
ii6 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 the wild things of the forest. He was a dog, and 
 behold he hath died the dog's death, and now is, 
 doubtless, roasting in the cleft of a split stick in the 
 kitchen of Iblis down in Jehannam ! And now let 
 this carrion be cast to his fellows, the other dogs, that 
 they may have their will of him ! Thus in death he 
 may, perchance be of some little use, who in life was 
 nothing worth.' 
 
 As she finished speaking she spurned the body 
 brutally with her little slender foot, and spat on the 
 dust, as though some unclean thing were at hand. 
 Frank leapt forward to prevent a repetition of the 
 insult, but Maimunah, having said her say, turned 
 away, and began to make efforts to force a passage 
 through the crowd. As she went, she cast more than 
 one tender glance back over her shoulder at the White 
 Man, but Frank, stooping over the body, was not 
 looking her way. 
 
 Presently above the hubbub of the noisy people 
 there arose a sound of lamentation, a wailing and 
 a weeping, in a high querulous voice, like the sound 
 of Rachael mourning for her children, that will not 
 be comforted because they are not. Then an old 
 woman, lean, and withered, and dry, with the hard 
 and scanty tears of old age, each one of which is a 
 burning agony, ouzing with difficulty from her time- 
 worn eyes, rushed forward with trembling limbs, and 
 feet which trod uncertainly, as she stumbled to the 
 side of the corpse, and threw herself at full length 
 upon it, in an agony of grief. She beat her white 
 head mercilessly in the dust ; patted the mangled 
 limbs with tender, loving hands ; pressed her withered 
 
THE OVERBRIMMING OF THE CUP 117 
 
 face against the shapeless one beneath her, till her 
 own became horribly stained, and called upon the 
 dead man, using the gentle, kindly, meaningless words 
 and phrases with which she had been wont to pet him 
 in those dear far ofF days, when he was a little helpless 
 creature nestling warmly in her breast. For this 
 woman was his mother ; and she had loved him. 
 
 It was very pitiful to watch the grief of this feeble, 
 aged mother for her only son cut off, thus suddenly, 
 in the prime of his strong manhood ; and Frank, as 
 he looked upon it, felt all the remorse for the deed, 
 which had hitherto been lacking, coming upon him in 
 an overwhelming rush. For a moment, inconsequent 
 though he knew it to be, Frank felt himself to be the 
 perpetrator of a brutal murder ; he, and he alone, was 
 the cause of this poor old creature's unutterable grief, 
 and the fact that he had only killed the Pendekar, 
 because no other course was open to him, did not, for 
 the moment, bring any comfort to him. He could 
 only think of the sorrow of which he was the cause, 
 of the mother's heart which he had made desolate, and 
 as the lump rose uncontrollably in his throat, and the 
 tears came smarting to his eyes, he wondered vaguely 
 whether his own death, had the Pendekar been more 
 fortunate than he, would have caused anything like 
 the same distress, as that which he was now witnessing 
 with such an aching sympathy. 
 
 He turned away, miserable, dejected, and with all 
 the feelings of triumph and satisfaction, which had 
 been his during the first moments following upon his 
 victory, dying out of his heart with the excitement, 
 and leaving it very weary, stale, and flat, and most 
 
ii8 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 indescribably melancholy. As he turned, all the 
 people, who formed the crowd, squatted suddenly in 
 the dust, and Frank, glancing up, saw the King 
 standing before him, and looking curiously at him. 
 The Monarch held out his hand to Frank. 
 
 ' What is the news, Tuan F ' he asked in that 
 dreamy, gentle voice of his. 
 
 'The news is good, Tuanku^ replied Frank 
 mechanically. 
 
 ' One may indeed praise a man whose heart is set 
 evenly in his body,' said the King. ' Titan, they tell 
 me that when all others fled, thou didst oppose this 
 amok-runn&T, and slay him with thy pistol. Tuan, it 
 was well done ; but I have a mind to be angry, in 
 that none of mine own Youths relieved thee of this 
 trouble, for had they fallen it would have mattered 
 little, since such as they are the food of spears from 
 the beginning.' 
 
 Frank cut the King's thanks and congratulations as 
 short as the elaborate Malay Customs render possible, 
 for he was in no mind to tell the tale of what he had 
 been forced to do. He then took his leave, and 
 making his way down to his boat, bade his men paddle 
 him back to the raft, which he had only quitted three- 
 quarters of an hour earlier. As he passed over the 
 still water, with the evensong of the birdfolk ringing 
 in his ears, and the peace of the sunset hour mellowing 
 all the land, the agonised cry of the old woman still 
 seemed to drown all other sounds, and to obliterate 
 almost all other impressions. None the less, the 
 memory of Maimunah, of the soft, sweet words which 
 she had found to say to him, and of the bitter, cruel. 
 
THE OVERBRIMMING OF THE CUP 119 
 
 heartless things which she had addressed to the deaf 
 ears of the dead, came back again and again most 
 insistently to his mind. He was filled with wrath at 
 the wickedness which she had displayed ; but, man- 
 like, the edge was to some extent taken ofF her sins, 
 in his recollection of them, because, even as she 
 spurned the dead body of her enemy, she had been 
 very fair to look upon, and because, moreover, Frank 
 knew that she might be his for the asking. It was 
 curious, he thought, how constantly this girl was 
 thrown across his path. There almost seemed to be 
 a Fate in it, such as the Muhammadans around him 
 were wont to regard as the real fashioner of a man's 
 life. But though he was dazzled by her beauty, 
 though her proximity made him experience a strange 
 thrill and excitement, he was more resolved than ever 
 to have nought to do with this savage maiden, and her 
 invitations and allurements. 
 
 Meanwhile, on the opposite bank of the river, old 
 Pawang AH sat in the presence of the King, boasting 
 vaingloriously of the great deed wrought by his Tiian, 
 and giving these men of Pelesu to understand that he 
 himself had had no small share in the killing of 
 Pendekar Aris. 
 
 And in the little shady house among the fruit 
 groves, in which the Pendekar had sat glumly through- 
 out the long, hot hours of the day, the mangled corpse, 
 which was all that was left of him, lay stretched upon 
 the great state sleeping- platform, while his mother 
 rocked her body to and fro in a frenzy of misery, 
 which the little knot of sorrowing relatives gathered 
 about her, was powerless to allay. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BY NIGHT 
 
 By night there stood over against my bed 
 
 Queen Venus with a hood striped gold and black, 
 
 Both sides drawn fully back 
 
 From brows wherein the sad blood failed of red, 
 
 And temples drained of purple and full of death. 
 
 Her curled hair had the wave of sea-water 
 
 And the sea's gold in it. 
 
 Her eyes were as the dove's that sickeneth. 
 
 Strewn dust of gold she had shed over her, 
 
 And pearl and purple and amber on her feet. 
 
 Swinburne. 
 
 They had been having a noisy evening on board 
 Frank Austin's raft, his people how^ling the thtiir, 
 which is a semi-religious chant, and thereafter singing 
 their plaintive Malayan airs lustily, until, at length, 
 Frank bade them be still, and one by one they dawdled 
 off to their sleeping mats, spread on a neighbouring 
 raft, which the hospitality of the King of Pelesu had 
 provided for the purpose. To the European, who 
 hears any native music for the first time, the eiFect is 
 that of pure discord ; but this is because he has not yet 
 learned to understand it, and to grasp its meaning. 
 Later, when his ear has become attuned to it by 
 
Br NIGHT 121 
 
 custom, though the melodies are necessarily of a 
 primitive order, they none the less have the powder to 
 convey their message to his heart, w^hich, when every- 
 thing is said and done, is the mission of all music. The 
 Malayan airs are all set in the minor key, and under- 
 lying the tingle-jingle-jangle of the tune, you will dis- 
 cover a wailing, yearning, heart-wrung strain, which 
 speaks of a settled hopeless melancholy, soft and tender, 
 and absolute in its calm and unresisting resignation, 
 but, to the thinking man, no whit the less profoundly 
 sad for that. And this, when you come to know the 
 people, from whose hearts these songs spring, will be to 
 you the very voice of the Malayan Race crying in the 
 Wilderness. With their natures as with their music, on 
 the surface, beneath which so few men trouble to 
 penetrate, is the irresponsible gaiety of a people child- 
 like in their feckless light-heartedness ; but below is 
 an unfathomed depth of plaintive, heart-rending melan- 
 choly, — that overwhelming, all-pervading sadness which 
 finds a place in the souls of those who are predestined 
 to be blotted out of existence, or at best to be moulded 
 into foreign shape, wholly uncongenial to their 
 national character, by contact and intercourse with a 
 stronger, harder race. 
 
 Frank had not made a study of the Malays without 
 thinking deeply about their future, which, when the 
 present immediate results of civilisation are marked, 
 cannot be regarded as encouraging ; and as he sat now, 
 smoking a final cigarette before 'turning in,' the 
 thoughts, with which the sound of Malayan music 
 always inspired him, made his heart yearn over the 
 people whom he had learned to love ; though, even to 
 
122 'SINCE THE beginning; 
 
 himself, he was bound to own that his affection for 
 them was as inconsequent and unreasoning as that of 
 a mother for the child whom others find strangely 
 unattractive. To some extent, no doubt, Malays 
 were more loved by Frank than facts altogether 
 justified, because it tickled his vanity to know that he 
 understood them and their language as did very few of 
 his fellows ; but, on the other hand, the complete and 
 large-hearted sympathy, which this comprehension 
 presupposed, made him judge his brown friends with 
 a leniency which would have seemed strange and 
 unnatural to the majority of his race-mates, for there 
 is not a little truth in the saying ' tout comprendre cest 
 tout pardonner.'' 
 
 Frank sat upon a mat spread on the floor of the 
 punting-platform, which ran round the raft, with his 
 back against the side of the erection which formed his 
 dwelling. The water flowed coolly at his feet, silvered 
 softly by the moon, which was sinking to her rest amid 
 the cocoanut-groves, lining the bend of the river above 
 the native town. The inevitable night-jar, perched 
 upon a tree, on the neighbouring island, was sounding 
 its single monotonous note ; a selanting bird, in the 
 jungle far away across the stream, was trilling out its 
 ringing song at intervals ; a myriad crickets and tree- 
 insects were chirping and ticking merrily ; and, now 
 and again, a horned owlsent its heart-broken hoot, like 
 the despairing cry of a lost soul, to tell its message of 
 sorrow to the dying moon. The water, fretting in 
 and out of the bundles of bamboos, upon which the raft 
 rested, and sighing round the cordage and the anchor 
 ropes, murmured its discontent faintly and sleepily. 
 
Br NIGHT 123 
 
 The moon sank out of sight, seeming to race down 
 into the under-world with incredible speed as it neared 
 the horizon, and the semi-darlcness of a clear star-lit 
 night fell upon the land. 
 
 Suddenly, above all the thousand gentle noises of 
 the night-time, Frank became aware of a regular, even, 
 splashing sound, recurring again and again, at first 
 distant and indistinct, but presently growing louder 
 and louder, until it almost drowned the murmur of the 
 water flowing beneath the raft. Frank peered into 
 the darkness, which seemed to lie most heavily over 
 the star-spangled river, but, for a time, he could dis- 
 tinguish nothing. Gradually he began to make out a 
 dark object, floating on the surface of the stream, a few 
 yards above the raft, and drifting quickly towards it, 
 borne onwards by the set of the strong current. It 
 separated itself slowly from the bulking shadows, and 
 every now and again, broke the even face of the water 
 into little white edged gashes, making the reflections 
 of the stars reel and dance, as the splashing eddies 
 swallowed them. A moment later, and Frank, sitting 
 very still, and watching curiously from the darkness, 
 saw that it was some creature swimming towards the 
 raft. He wondered what it could be, and his mind 
 went back to the tales which he had heard the Malays 
 tell, of strange monsters, seen floating on the waters in 
 the quiet night-time, whose coming foretold an over- 
 whelming flood. But the head of the swimmer, 
 which he could now dimly descry, was not that of a 
 dragon or a horse, though the long black mane, which 
 clouded it, might conceivably belong to the latter 
 animal. It was nearer still now, and at last Fran^k 
 
124 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 was certain that the head was human. His first 
 thought was that this was one of the relatives of the 
 man whom he had killed ; for he knew that 
 Malays often take a life for a life, no matter what 
 the justification for the original slaying. He crept 
 noiselessly into his room, and came out again with his 
 revolver in his hand. Emerging suddenly from the 
 light, though he had carefully avoided being silhouetted 
 against it, his eyes were for the moment blind, and 
 though he could hear the heavy, laboured breathing of 
 some one, who was apparently sitting upon the edge of 
 the raft, he could not make out even the outline of the 
 figure. He squatted down, as quietly as he could, under 
 the shadow of the raft-house, and presently his sight 
 began to become accustomed to the darkness. 
 
 What he saw was a figure sitting on the edge of 
 the punting-platform, with its legs still dangling in the 
 water, and a profusion of long, wet hair cloaking it to 
 the waist. Frank knew that among Malays long hair 
 was often the distinguishing mark of a swaggering 
 brave, and as this creature was still breathing hard 
 after its swim, Frank resolved to give it no more 
 time than he could help for the recovery of its wind. 
 He levelled his revolver at it, determined that, if it 
 came to shooting, he would not, this time, make so poor 
 a job of it as he had done, when he fought Pendekar 
 Aris for the life of one of them. As soon as he was 
 satisfied that he had drawn a steady bead upon the 
 intruder, he spoke in a well modulated voice, for he 
 knew that complete impassiveness in the face of danger 
 was most likely to inspire his untimely visitor with 
 awe. 
 
Br NIGHT 125 
 
 ' What thing dost thou seek, Friend ? ' he asked. 
 
 He had half expected to see the figure plunge back 
 into the water ; he had also held all his limbs in readi- 
 ness to repulse a sudden rush j but he was in no wise 
 prepared for the manner in which his question was 
 received. A soft and musical laugh rippled out through 
 the darkness, as the figure turned its face towards him, 
 a laugh such as only the slender throat of a young 
 girl could produce ; and as he dropped the point of his 
 pistol, and stared in wide-eyed astonishment, an unmis- 
 takable woman's voice spoke mockingly, in a half 
 whisper. 
 
 ' Can thy heart bear thus unkindly to receive one 
 who cometh to thee in peace and love ? ' it said. ' Ta 
 Mlah, Tuan, thou art indeed ready with thy weapons, 
 but have no fear ! At the worst thou shalt sustain no 
 injury more vital than the prick of a young sirih 
 shoot,' and the rippling, musical laugh came again, 
 softly and merrily. 
 
 All the Peninsula over, the leaves and shoots of the 
 sirih vine are used to symbolise love. 
 
 Frank was displeased with himself for having been 
 discovered so very much on the alert when no danger 
 was at hand. He was angry, too, at any woman 
 daring to come to his raft in this manner, and his feel- 
 ings voiced themselves distinctly in the tones in which 
 he now spoke, 
 
 ' What wantest thou ? What is thy business in 
 coming hither, woman, devoid of shame ? ' he said 
 roughly. 
 
 The girl was standing erect now, and even in the 
 half darkness, Frank could distinguish the graceful 
 
126 ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 curves of her form, to which her wet sarong clung 
 closely. She took no notice of his words, but began 
 very deliberately to put on some dry garments, which 
 she had managed to carry in one hand held high above 
 her head, as she swam the river. Frank watched her 
 helplessly. This maiden had apparently come to stay ; 
 and he wondered vaguely in what manner he might 
 best convince her that her presence was not welcome. 
 She passed a sarong over her head, shuffled with her 
 feet until the wet cloth, in which she had been dressed 
 for the swimming, lay on the floor about her ankles, 
 fastened the first sarong tight round her waist, with a 
 dexterous hitch, and folded a second over her breasts, 
 after drawing it close under her arm-pits. Then, with 
 the same calm deliberation, she let down her back hair, 
 which she had coiled into a great loose knot when first 
 she set about the making of her toilet ; she threw her 
 head back, so that her profile and the delicate curve of 
 her throat were visible against the star-lit sky, shook her 
 wet hair hurriedly, and then, with a few quick motions 
 of her fingers, twisted it into a roll at the back of her 
 neck. Next, without seeking leave or invitation, she 
 made her way into the room, which Frank occupied 
 as a sleeping place on board the raft, and seated herself, 
 very composedly upon the edge of his bunk. Frank 
 followed at her heels, feeling utterly powerless to do 
 anything to control the actions of this extraordinary 
 young woman. 
 
 As she seated herself, she turned her face to Frank, 
 and smiled up at him radiantly. Then, seeing her 
 really distinctly, for the first time, Frank recognised 
 Maimunah, and the odd thrill which a sight of her 
 
Br NIGHT 127 
 
 beauty always occasioned him ran through his 
 veins. 
 
 ' Tuan,' she said softly, 'this night I may whisper 
 in thy ears the quatrain made by the men of ancient 
 days : — 
 
 The Sun stands high in the Heavens above, 
 The Kine which he smites with his rays expire. 
 For long, O Lover, I've sought thy Love ; 
 At last I have won Thee, — my Heart's Desire ! ' ^ 
 
 Frank knew the answering verse which should have 
 been repeated by him to cap that of the girl, and since 
 he was vain of all such unusual knowledge, his tongue 
 itched to quote it. He swallowed the jingling words 
 down manfully, however, and said angrily. 
 
 'What means this coming of thine at an hour so 
 untimely ? This raft is the abode of men, not of 
 women, outcast such as thou must be ere shame could 
 completely have abandoned thee. Begone ! I will not 
 suffer thee to remain longer in this my dwelling.' 
 
 Maimilnah stared at him blankly, and the little 
 fierce puckers formed between her arched eye-brows, 
 
 ^ The Malay fantun, or quatrain, is much used among the people, 
 more especially in their love affairs. Of the four lines which compose 
 it the first and the third, and the second and the fourth, rhyme with 
 one another. The distinguishing mark of the Malay fantun, however, is 
 that the first two lines are simply inserted for the sake of the rhyme, 
 their meaning being as wholly inconsequent and irrelevant as are most 
 products of the Malay mind. Natives are very fond of quoting only the 
 first line (which means nothing) and leaving you to infer their meaning 
 from your supposed knowledge of the remaining three : — 
 
 Ti>'gg>-^">gg' Mata-hari, Anak kerbau mati ter-tamhat. 
 Sekian lama adek men-chart, Bharu ini adek men-dapat ! 
 
 is the original of the translation above quoted, 
 
128 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 while her dark eyes flashed ominously. It was only 
 for a moment, and then her expression softened again, 
 while her voice took on the wooing tones in which 
 she had hitherto always addressed Frank. 
 
 ' What can I do, THan ? ' she asked, throwing out 
 both her hands towards the White Man, with the 
 little yellow palms uppermost, in a graceful, natural 
 gesture of deprecation. ' What can I do ? Behold 
 the madness of love is upon me, and, Tuan, I want 
 thee for mine own ! ' She sidled along the bunk 
 towards the place where Frank stood looking at her, 
 and all the time her eyes pleaded with him in a manner 
 which made the White Man feel supremely uncomfort- 
 able. ' And, Tiian,' she continued, with an added 
 softness and tenderness in her voice, 'hast thou no 
 little love for me ? On the morning that I stood 
 upon the river bank yonder thou didst signal to me 
 with thy hand, bidding me come hither, and behold I 
 have obeyed thy summons.' 
 
 ' That was not my desire,' said Frank, rather 
 weakly. ' And now. Little Sister, get thee back to thy 
 dwelling, for it is not fitting that thou shouldst come 
 hither when the night has shut down upon the world.' 
 
 ' Have a little mercy, Tuan, even though I, thy 
 servant, be ugly and ill to look upon. Verily thou 
 canst not desire me by reason of my beauty ; but my 
 heart loves thee, Tiian, no whit the less because there 
 is little sweetness in my face ; and I cannot willingly 
 leave thee. Have a little pity and compassion upon 
 me, thy servant.' 
 
 Her great black eyes, softened and deepened by the 
 love of which she spoke, gazed up entreating, implor- 
 
Br NIGHT 129 
 
 ing, with just that trustful, innocent expression which 
 may be seen in the face of a child, who cannot believe 
 that any one will find it in his heart to refuse the trifle 
 for which the request is made so prettily. Frank 
 drew in his breath sharply, and felt that he was behav- 
 ing like a brute. It was difficult to recognise in this 
 wheedling, plaintive girl before him, the fierce, savage 
 creature, whom he had seen spurning the dead body of 
 Pendekar Aris so short a time before. He was not 
 naturally a cockscomb, — indeed, like so many men, he 
 found it hard to believe that he was capable of inspiring 
 love in the breast of a woman, — but Maimunah's words 
 had a very genuine ring in them, and the thought of 
 her love for him was intoxicating, since her beauty 
 appealed more strongly than ever to his senses. Still, 
 he was not quite lost to reason, and he was as thoroughly 
 convinced as ever, that, quite apart from all questions 
 of morality, he would be guilty of an act of immense 
 folly, were he to allow himself to become involved in 
 an intrigue with a woman of the palace while he 
 continued to reside at the Court of Pelesu. 
 
 ' Little Sister,' he said, ' have patience, and hearken 
 to my words. That which thou desirest cannot come 
 to pass. Say not evil things of thy beauty, but try 
 to think what would be the end for thee and me. 
 Get thee back to thy dwelling, and strive to forget 
 that which hath passed between us twain. In a little 
 space thou wilt be glad in thy soul that I refused to 
 suffer thee to do that which can only lead thee to 
 death or torture.' 
 
 Frank knew that the high moral attitude, even had 
 he been capable of assuming it in the presence of this 
 
 ic 
 
130 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 girl, would be less likely to have the effect which he 
 sought to produce, than would practical considerations 
 such as he was now placing before her. 
 
 'Be pleased to listen first to that which I, thy 
 servant, would say to thee,' returned the girl. ' 7uan, 
 long before the hour of thy coming, it had been in my 
 mind to escape from the palace, but I was fearful to 
 make the attempt lest, by any evil chance, I should be 
 recaptured, and thereafter should suffer many things, as 
 is the lot of those who incur the wrath of the King. 
 Then, when folk had told me that a White Man had 
 come to Karu, I thought in my heart that he had 
 been sent by Fate to work my deliverance ; and I was 
 glad, though I concerned myself not at all as to the 
 manner of man that he might chance to be. I only 
 knew that it was said that the White Men were just 
 and merciful, and life with such an one would be a 
 less evil thing than the misery of the palace. But, 
 at that time, T-lian, I dreamed not of the madness 
 of love.' 
 
 The caressing tones of her voice breathed faintly 
 through the quiet room, for the last words had been 
 spoken very softly. Maimunah bowed her head upon 
 her breast, after casting one quick, provoking, tender 
 glance at the White Man. Frank's breath came more 
 hurriedly than ever, and he shifted his feet irresolutely, 
 while a wild thrill shot leaping through his blood. 
 
 ' Then, upon the day when I so narrowly escaped 
 death. Fate sent thee to my aid. Tuan, I beheld thee 
 leap in between me and the reeking steel ; I saw thee 
 brave, fighting for the life, as a man should fight, and 
 I knew in my heart that no one of these loud-mouthed, 
 
BT NIGHT 131 
 
 paltry folk of Pelesu had had the courage to do that 
 which was wrought by thee. In that hour, Tuan, my 
 love for thee was born ; and though others have been 
 mad for me, men, two or three, not worth the count- 
 ing, never till now have I experienced longing such as 
 that which now devours me. A longing which 
 endureth from day-break unto dawn, which maketh 
 food to cease to satisfy, which maketh sleep uneasy ; 
 and if my love be returned by thee even for an hour, 
 thereafter let torture or death be mine, for even so the 
 price will be a light one. Before the madness came 
 upon me I had no thought but for escape and liberty ; 
 now all is swallowed up in my so great love for thee ! 
 Think not that I speak lightly, for I have known the 
 pain of torture. Behold, Tuan ! ' 
 
 She extended her little hands towards him, once 
 more, and showed him the ugly scars which still dis- 
 figured her thumbs. The swellings had long ago 
 subsided, but the bossy cicatrices made by the cutting 
 of the rattan, rose high, and red, and shiny, and the 
 muscles, seen in the lamp-light, still wore a strained 
 and wrenched appearance, in witness of the racking to 
 which they had been subjected. 
 
 'The treading of the live embers,' Maimunah 
 whispered j and Frank winced at the sight, drawing in 
 his breath quickly. It was horrible to him to think 
 of any one inflicting pain upon this girl. 
 
 ' Tilan^ she went on, ' if thou hast fear of the King, 
 — for all men stand in dread of him, though they are 
 in awe of nought besides, — let the risk be mine alone. 
 Very willingly will I sufFer for thy sake, if thereby I 
 may gain thy love. Let me sleep this night at thy 
 
132 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 feet, and if trouble ariseth, let punishment fall upon 
 me, while thou escapest unharmed.' 
 
 ' Is it fitting that I should be so base ? ' cried Frank 
 angrily. 'I bid thee begone because I cannot find it 
 in my heart to injure thee ; but think not that I act 
 thus through fear of any man. I will not do evil, 
 bringing pain and misery upon thee, for in truth the 
 madness of which thou speakest is not so very far 
 removed even from me. Desist ! Be still ! ' he added 
 hastily, for as his words reached her, Maimunah's face 
 lighted up with a sunshiny gleam of pleasure, which 
 seemed to transfigure her, and she threw herself 
 forward upon the floor at Frank's feet. Before he 
 could prevent her, her arms were cast about his ankles, 
 and she was kissing his bare feet, and murmuring all 
 manner of extravagant words and phrases in an abandon- 
 ment of love. 
 
 Frank had all the Englishman's innate horror at 
 the sight of a woman debasing herself before him, and 
 he strove as gently as he was able to release his im- 
 prisoned feet from the girl's embraces. She clung to 
 him closely, and in order to free himself, it was 
 necessary for him to take her hands in his, and to force 
 her gently away from him. The touch of her smooth, 
 warm skin sent a renewed thrill through him, and 
 when, at last, he held her at a little distance, with her 
 arms extended widely, she sank down again upon the 
 floor, and resisted all his efforts to raise her. Nestling 
 there amid the curves and billows of her soft silk 
 draperies, with her beautiful face lighted up by a new- 
 found joy, and her great dark eyes, swimming with an 
 aching tenderness, staring in mute entreaty into Frank's, 
 
BT NIGHT 133 
 
 she looked more attractive and desirable than any woman 
 upon whom he had ever gazed, and he found his self- 
 possession, and his resolution rapidly deserting him. 
 With a quick motion, he let fall her hands, and turning 
 away called the name of Pawang Ali, who alone of all 
 Frank's followers had his sleeping place on board the 
 raft. The old man, sleeping lightly, as is the manner 
 of the aged, roused quickly, and Maimunah could 
 hear him tumbling out of his bed-curtains. She got 
 up from off the floor settled her garments about her 
 feet, and stood still waiting his coming. Frank 
 remained without in the passage, with his back 
 resolutely turned towards the lighted room in which 
 he had had his strange interview with the girl. 
 
 'To' Pawang,' he said, in a voice which shook 
 queerly, when the old man made his way out of the 
 little room he occupied, ' This woman hath come hither 
 to make to me a complaint concerning certain ill- 
 treatment of which she hath been the victim, and 
 now, having said her say, she would return to the 
 river bank opposite. Do thou see to the sampan.' 
 Old Pawang Ali, who believed himself to know as 
 much about the ways of a man with a maid as most 
 people, looked curiously at Frank, and then at Mai- 
 munah, before going out on to the punting-platform 
 to do his master's bidding. Frank turned back 
 towards the girl. 
 
 ' SMah ! It is done ! ' he exclaimed in a voice of 
 great self-satisfaction. ' I told thee that I would have 
 no hand in harming thee Little Sister. Had I been 
 able to aid thee, or to make thy life easier for thee by 
 my love, God alone knoweth what part I might have 
 
134 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 played this night, for men be weak in the grip of a 
 maiden ; but only much sorrow and bitterness could 
 be thine, were I to suffer thee to linger here, for while 
 I Hve in this land of Pelesu I can do nought to shield 
 thee from the wrath of the King. Wherefore go in 
 peace Little Sister, and be not angry in that I have 
 saved thee from further pain.' 
 
 A hard, fierce sob tore Maimunah's throat as Frank 
 finished speaking, and she half buried her face in the 
 sarong which she had drawn up from around her 
 shoulders. Then, without a word she passed out of 
 the room and stepped into the sampan in which 
 Pawang Ali sat awaiting her. She squatted miserably 
 in the bows, and the Pawang paddled the boat noiselessly 
 out into the dark centre of the river, while Frank 
 stood watching their disappearing figures with a 
 curious mixture of conflicting emotions in his 
 heart. 
 
 His longing to hold this girl in his arms, his burn- 
 ing admiration for her beauty, the keen thrill of 
 delight which the thought that she loved him inspired, 
 were all as powerful as ever, nay the recent interview 
 with the girl, and the memory of the touch of her lips 
 upon his feet, and the clasp of her hands in his, had 
 excited in him wild emotions to which he had hitherto 
 been a stranger. The feelings with which he regarded 
 Maimunah were not to be dignified with the name of 
 love ; but they were born of that overwhelming attrac- 
 tion which the physical beauty of a woman may have 
 for a man, without his heart or his intellect being in 
 any way influenced by her. Also, Frank felt a very 
 genuine pity for the sufferings which, as her scarred 
 
Br NIGHT 135 
 
 hands told him only too plainly, this girl had already 
 endured, and her evident hatred of the life she led 
 inside the palace made him long to be able to aid her 
 to escape. The incident was closed now, he told him- 
 self, and he felt that, in the face of a very considerable 
 temptation, he had acted wisely and well. And yet, 
 and yet, — he would dearly have liked to take that 
 woman to himself, to comfort the solitude of his 
 life, and to bring to him love in a land where none 
 cared greatly whether he lived or died. And had he, 
 in truth, played the man, by allowing a girl who loved 
 him to go back unaided to the degrading misery of the 
 palace, when, if he had had the courage to do so, he 
 might have set her free without their intercourse 
 being a sinful one. But he had felt his own weakness ; 
 the woman loved him for himself, and had she been 
 constantly at his side to break down his resolves, he 
 knew that he would, in the end, have been tried 
 beyond his strength. 
 
 Long after Pawang Ali returned with the sampan, 
 and passed silently to his sleeping mat ; long after the 
 sounds of waking men had ceased to murmur across 
 the river from the sleeping town, Frank sat on the 
 edge of his raft, enacting over and over again his 
 interview with Maimunah ; imagining how it might 
 all have fallen out differently ; questioning whether, 
 after all, he had acted for the best ; and pondering 
 dreamily on the Might Have Been. For now the 
 incident, as he told himself again and again, was 
 closed for ever. 
 
 And, on the opposite side of the river, in the little 
 room within the palace, in which Maimunah slept, the 
 
136 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 girl lay, face downwards upon her pillows, biting into 
 the flock which stuffed them, in an agony of rage and 
 baulked desire. She had been very meek and amenable 
 during her interview with the White Man, and she 
 had gone quietly and obediently when he bade her 
 follow Pawang Ali into the sampan, but she had acted 
 thus because this new-born passion of love seemed to 
 render her powerless to resist her lover, even though 
 his bidding had for her the bitterness of death. But 
 now that the influence of his presence was removed, 
 the old fierce rebelliousness of her nature reasserted 
 itself, and she vowed in her heart that, come what 
 might, this White Man should be bent to her will. 
 She loved him, — now indeed she knew the meaning of 
 that thing of which Ma' Pah was for ever prating, — 
 and he had owned that he thought her fair, and that 
 the madness which burned her heart was not so very 
 far removed from his own. 
 
 'The cat and the roast, the tinder and the spark, 
 and a boy and a girl, are ill to keep asunder,' she 
 whispered to herself, seeking comfort in one of the 
 proverbial sayings of her people. ' And behold the 
 tinder is dry, very dry, and only a spark is wanting 
 for the lighting of the blaze. He is mine, mine, 
 mine ! But why do the Fates decree this so long 
 delay ? ' 
 
 That night sleep visited Maimunah as tardily as 
 it had come to Frank Austin, but to her thinking the 
 incident of the man and the maid was by no means 
 ended. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 ON THE EVENING OF THE SEMBOR JtER. 
 
 The Moving Finger writes, and having wfrit 
 Moves on. Nor all your Piety nor Wit 
 Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, 
 Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 
 
 Omar Khayyam. 
 
 Almost from the first moment of his arrival at 
 Karu, Frank Austin had heard much talk concerning 
 some mysterious 'work,' upon which the King of 
 Pelesu was said to be engaged. At first he had been 
 somewhat puzzled by this, for the King seemed to be 
 sufficiently idle at all times. Occasionally he would 
 disappear into the rabbit-warren of huts occupied by 
 his favourite concubines, and would cause word to be 
 sent out to all who sought an interview that he was 
 asleep ; now and then he would stroll aimlessly about 
 the main street, in the cool of the afternoon, causing 
 an instant blockade of the traffic of that busy hour ; 
 and, not infrequently, the passer-by might see the 
 Ruler of the Land squatting in a small thatched hovel, 
 within the palace wall, matching game birds, discussing 
 their points, and handling them knowingly, while 
 Che' Ngah Rahman, the favourite, and half a dozen 
 
138 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 other obsequious courtiers sat in the dust around him. 
 Sometimes his presence in some Chinese shop might 
 be marked by the knot of gaily dressed spearsmen 
 waiting at the door ; or the King would loll up river 
 with some of his women, to snare turtle-doves or 
 jungle-fowl. But whenever and wherever Frank 
 chanced to meet him, he was always the same listless, 
 soft-voiced, dreamy, tired man, utterly incapacitated 
 for effort of any kind, or even for concentrated thought, 
 by long years of complete self-indulgence. The 
 notion of this indolent being undertaking any ' work ' 
 had something incongruous about it, and Frank was 
 in no way surprised to learn that the labour referred 
 to was uncommonly like the play of less privileged 
 mortals. The term, as used in an independent Malay 
 State, signified, as he soon discovered, nothing but 
 feasting, festivities, and Court ceremonial. A little 
 Princess of the House was being married to her first 
 cousin, as is the unhealthy native way, and the elaborate 
 ceremonies which prefaced the actual wedding, repre- 
 sented the ' work ' which the King was by courtesy 
 said to perform. 
 
 During the whole period of Frank's stay at the 
 Capital, the celebrations attendant upon the marriage 
 had been going forward fitfully and at irregular 
 intervals. Three or four times a week the King gave 
 a State Feast in the great Hall of Audience, and the 
 Princes, Nobles, and Chiefs were ranged within the 
 building in the order of their rank, while the many- 
 headed, — the 'sons of sharks,' as the Malays name 
 them upon such occasions, because of their voracious 
 appetites, — scrambled eagerly for a share of the meal, 
 
THE EFENIJVG OF THE SEMBOR AYER 139 
 
 in the little booths erected in the compound around 
 the Hall. On most nights the Chinese gamblers 
 spread their mats, beside their reeking oil-lamps, on 
 the floor of the outer Balai, and Prince and Noble, 
 gentle and simple, staked their money wildly till the 
 dawn was yellow in the East. Once in a while, a 
 long procession of tribute-bearers would wind through 
 the villages, carrying the countless gifts which some 
 Chief was bringing to lay at his Master's feet ; or one 
 of the great Barons of the Interior would drop down 
 the river, with a flotilla of boats and rafts laden to the 
 load-line with jungle produce, ground out of the 
 plundered peasantry, that their immediate lord might 
 the more easily find favour in the eyes of the King. 
 
 Frank, who took a keen interest in all native 
 customs, had been present at most of the Feasts and 
 State Processions, which had taken place during his 
 stay in the Capital. He had seen the Procession of 
 the Henna, prepared for the staining of the finger and 
 toe-nails of the Bride ; the Procession of the Rice ; 
 the Procession of the Dancing Girls of the Joget^ who 
 performed with difficulty in the narrow space afforded 
 by the rocking, swaying platform, borne aloft on the 
 shoulders of a hundred straining men. The Procession 
 of the Bridegroom had wound its way through the 
 town, on the day of Maimdnah's nocturnal visit to 
 the raft, and, as little therefore remained for the com- 
 pletion of the ceremonies, Frank had intended to stay 
 at Karu until the King's ' work ' was done. 
 
 After his interview with Maimunah, however, he 
 suddenly became conscious of a feeling of flatness and 
 weariness, and with it came a longing to get away from 
 
14.0 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 this land of Pelesu. For the time he felt that he had 
 seen more than he wanted of the inside of native life, 
 and the conflicting feelings with which he looked 
 back upon his conversation with the girl, tended to 
 make him restless and unhappy. He accordingly 
 decided to set about his preparations for an immediate 
 departure, and as he did not feel inclined to face the 
 long and tedious journey up the Pelesu river, he sent 
 Pawang Ali to the coast, which was distant only a 
 few miles, and bade him buy a native sailing boat. 
 A single masted craft, of the kind called jalak by the 
 Malays, could be obtained for about a hundred and fifty 
 dollars, and there would be no difficulty in disposing or 
 it again at a profit, when his journey's end was reached. 
 
 Two days later Pawang Ali returned, bringing 
 with him a trim little sailing-boat, capable of holding 
 Frank and all his people, and the latter at once set 
 about the construction of a palm -leaf shelter at the 
 stern, for the accommodation of their master. Frank, 
 meanwhile, sought out Che' Ngah Rahman, and bade 
 him tell the King that, with his leave, the White Man 
 proposed to take his departure from Karu as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 Frank was genuinely vexed when a message was 
 brought back to him to the effect that the King 
 begged that he would postpone his start at any rate 
 until the final ceremonies of the wedding were at an 
 end. It was impossible for him to refuse, without 
 being guilty of inexcusable rudeness, the more so as 
 the Sembor Ayer, the last of all the celebrations, was 
 timed to take place upon the following day. So 
 Frank sent back a civil answer to the King's message, 
 
THE EVENING OF THE SEMBOR AYER 141 
 
 and made up his mind to set sail as soon as ever he 
 should get back from the Feast. He could not account 
 for it, but somehow the postponement of his departure 
 seemed to be a matter of far greater importance than 
 could possibly be the case, since his leave was not yet 
 up, and there was no real cause for haste. Perhaps, 
 almost unknown to himself, he was conscious of a 
 feeling of weakness, and was the more anxious to be 
 gone, because he dreaded the breaking down of his 
 resolution if it were again subjected to such a test as 
 that which Maimunah's visit had imposed upon it. If 
 this was, in truth, the reason of his hurry, he declined 
 to recognise it as such, and explained his sudden desire 
 to leave Karu by the fact that it was terrible to him 
 to be the witness of so much misery, which he was 
 altogether powerless to alleviate. 
 
 The fierce sunshine of early afternoon was beating 
 pitilessly down upon shore and river, till the palm 
 fronds stiffened in the heat, the waters ran white, and 
 the sky faded and faded till its vast expanse was a 
 glowing, aching blue, of which the colour was so 
 pale as to be more a hint than a reality. Presently 
 the sea breeze would spring up bringing its grateful 
 breath of cool air to relieve the stifling agony of the 
 shore; but, for the moment, the sun -glare ruled 
 unopposed even by the little interceding clouds, which 
 sometimes plead for men, and induce it to relent some 
 portion of its wrath. 
 
 None the less, in spite of the tyrannous heat, the 
 work of preparing for the last of the marriage cere- 
 monies was going forward at the gates of the palace, 
 
142 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 as Frank Austin crossed the river, with Che' Ngah 
 Raham and To' Bandar to take part in the festivities. 
 The main street of the Capital was already crowded 
 to overflowing with men and boys of all sorts and 
 conditions, dressed in their best, and armed with their 
 finest weapons, in honour of the occasion. Nowhere 
 else in all the world, probably, can a more splendid 
 combination of brilliant hues, prettily blent tartans, 
 and magnificent weapons be seen, than those exhibited 
 by a Malay mob in its holiday attire ; and each 
 individual, among those who compose it, is himself a 
 picture. Old men, with shaven heads, and fine, hard 
 lined faces, stand leaning upon their spears, with 
 gorgeous silks hanging about their withered limbs, 
 because it has become a habit with them to dress 
 handsomely, and because they still delight in fine 
 raiment though the original object of its use has long 
 ago been lost sight of. Around them stand knots of 
 swaggering youngsters, who find life and love very 
 good, and array themselves with as much care as a 
 woman could do, in order that their numerous ladyloves 
 niay be driven to despair by their magnificence. The 
 middle-aged men, who are really the most dangerous 
 both in love and war, cannot alFord to let the 
 youngsters outdo them in the matter of dress, so it is 
 only the little naked boys, running in and out among the 
 feet of their elders, who sacrifice nothing to the graces. 
 Soon after Frank landed, the Procession of the 
 Water began to file out of the palace gate-way. 
 First came a motley rabble of the King's Youths, 
 with their loins girt, and the long sleeves of their 
 coats rolled up above their elbows ; next a further 
 
THE EFENING OF THE SEMBOR AyER 143 
 
 detachment of the Body-Guard bearing the Spears of 
 State, from the great, broad chogan, shaped like a flat 
 shovel, and fashioned of gold, blade and hasp, and eight- 
 foot shaft, to the little, attenuated spear, eaten through 
 and through with age, which tradition said had been 
 the property of the rulers of Pelesu for more than five 
 hundred years. After the spear-bearers came a score 
 of Saiyids — descendants of the Prophet Muhammad — 
 whose birth entitled them to the privilege of carrying 
 the regalia or the King. A curious collection of 
 articles were these insignia of royalty, done up care- 
 fully in little yellow bags, and borne with the most 
 grave-faced attention by the men to whose charge 
 they were entrusted. There were one or two long 
 swords, with oitly their gem-studded hilts visible above 
 the yellow cloth which wrapped them about j three or 
 four very ancient iris, with names which were famous 
 throughout the length and breadth of the Peninsula ; 
 a beautifully wrought bowl of chased gold, supposed to 
 contain the water for the cleansing of the King's 
 hands, and the moistening of the royal lips j a huge 
 sirih -box, also fashioned from the precious metal, 
 borne upon a large tray of the same ; and a miscel- 
 laneous collection of stones, said to have been found 
 in the bodies and heads of snakes, pigs, rhinoceroses, 
 and porcupines, which were treasured as charms of 
 great potency. Behind the bearers of the regalia, 
 came the King, dressed very quietly, in contrast to the 
 gaudily clad retainers who surrounded him, holding 
 gorgeous silk sun-shades over his head, and waving 
 the long wands of their spears, with tufts, of horse- 
 hair attached to the bases of the blades, as they 
 
144 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 straggled along. Next behind the King came another 
 mob of noisy, swaggering Youths, a mass of bright 
 colours, as they pressed forward, shouting and gesticu- 
 lating in the sun-light ; and at their heels, surrounded 
 by a yelling mob, the tinsel litter, in which stood the 
 gold urns containing the water for the ablutions of the 
 bride and bridegroom, rocked and swayed upon the 
 shoulders of the men who carried it. 
 
 As soon as the tail of the procession won clear of the 
 gate-way, suddenly, at a given signal, each one of the 
 King's Youths drew his dagger clear of its sheath, and, 
 waving it frantically above his head, with the point 
 directed skywards, rushed madly forward, capering, 
 prancing, leaping, hopping on one leg, shrieking, 
 howling, and yelping like a man demented. Down 
 the street they dashed, wild with excitement, and as 
 they came, every man among the spectators drew his 
 iris, and, sounding the war-yell, threw himself hotly 
 into the swaying, fighting, screaming, struggling 
 throng. It was the most realistic sham fight imagin- 
 able, and the roar of the sorai, breaking out again and 
 again, made even Frank's cold European blood dance 
 and sparkle with the infectious excitement around 
 him. The entire length of the long street was filled 
 to overflowing with the capering crowd, and Frank, 
 standing on tip-toe, saw a sea of wild, brown faces, 
 starting eyes, and wide open, noisy mouths, with a host 
 of quivering ,fm-blades, lighted by the sunshine above 
 them, and a confused, kaleidoscopic blending of reds, 
 and greens, and blues, and pinks, and yellows, with a 
 fleck of white here and there, and a straggling, in- 
 extricable maze of naked arms and legs below. 
 
JHE EVENING OF THE SEMBOR AVER 145 
 
 From time to time the men, exhausted by their 
 exertions, would sheath their weapons, and the Pro- 
 cession would move on a few paces, the drone of the 
 thikir singers, around the litter, making its monotonous 
 cadence heard above the noise of the people, who were 
 all talking vehemently, with shouts and gesticulations. 
 
 The King beckoned Frank to his side, and taking 
 him kindly by the hand, led him with him along the 
 line of the procession ; and in this manner, amid a 
 noise and an excitement which baffles description, the 
 streets and alleys of the Capital were traversed. Once 
 or twice, Frank thought that he caught a glimpse of 
 Maimunah, looking imploringly at him from among 
 the little knots of women-folk who lined the way, and 
 his sense of having abandoned this girl to her cruel 
 fate became strengthened within him on each occa- 
 sion. It was very hard that he should find himself in 
 such a position that he must either act the part of 
 coward, who refused to aid a woman in distress 
 because of the risk he would himself incur, or that 
 of the men he had hitherto despised, who stooped 
 to low intrigues in an Eastern Land. He thought 
 so with an increasing bitterness ; for he was quite 
 convinced that in the face of Maimunah's love for 
 himself he would be altogether unable to resist her 
 were she to be his companion, even for a little space. 
 He might, perhaps, have tried to purchase her liberty, 
 and then have given her in marriage to one of his own 
 people ; but it was exceedingly improbable that the 
 King would have accepted ransom offered for a woman 
 of the palace, and already Frank felt that he could 
 never willingly see Maimunah made over to some 
 
 I. 
 
146 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 other man, even if she herself would consent to any 
 such arrangement. It was a hopeless business, he told 
 himself, no matter which way you looked at it, and 
 the sooner he was away from Pelesu, and out of it all, 
 the better it would be for him. 
 
 The King talked familiarly with Frank, pointing 
 out the humours of the scene, speaking with ludi- 
 crously profound admiration of the skill displayed by 
 some of the sword and dagger -men, and laughing 
 cruelly at the clumsiness of others. Presently, as the 
 procession came abreast of a shop occupied by a party 
 of Bugis traders, — men who had come to the Peninsula 
 to dispose of the fine cotton fabrics of their looms, — a 
 band of wild looking Celebes folk rushed out of their 
 dwelling, and charged full tilt at the struggling mob 
 of Pelesu Malays. They were dressed, after the 
 manner of their people, in tight, sleeveless fighting- 
 jackets, clinging closely to their wiry bodies, in short 
 scarlet drawers, spangled with gold thread, covering 
 only half the length of their thighs, and fitting them 
 like gloves, and with long cotton sarongs^ the ends 
 unsewn, and worn like a sash, so that the loose tails 
 flapped about them, or trailed in the dust, in the fury 
 of their dance. Their sorak was of a shriller falsetto 
 than that of the Malays, and with their waist-long 
 hair flowing from under their loosely folded head- 
 kerchiefs, their fluttering draperies, their brown arms 
 brandishing their naked weapons wildly, and their 
 fierce excited feces, they presented an appearance 
 sufficiently savage and imposing. The King broke 
 out into words of extravagant admiration, and the 
 Malays stopped their war-dance for a moment, while 
 
JHE EVENING OF THE. SEMBOR AYER 147 
 
 the strangers, thoroughly enjoying the sensation which 
 they were causing, engaged in a most realistic sham- 
 fight among themselves. Then the Malays joined in 
 once more, and the procession crawled along upon its 
 appointed path. 
 
 The sun was sinking redly behind the cocoanut 
 groves up river when, at length, the procession wound 
 back into the palace enclosure, and the tired litter- 
 bearers set down their burden. The King retired to 
 one of his concubines' houses, there to smoke the 
 opium-pipe for which his soul was craving, and Frank 
 and the Chiefs and Nobles took their seats in the Balai, 
 or Hall of State, where they were to await the spread- 
 ing of the banquet to which they had all been bidden. 
 
 In every land, the hour during which men await 
 the coming of the evening meal is dreary and tiresome 
 in the extreme, but in the Malay Peninsula, at a 
 native Court, this time has an added misery which is 
 peculiarly its own. In Europe a man, while waiting 
 for his dinner, can relieve his feelings by roaming 
 restlessly to and fro, like a wild beast at the Zoo 
 before feeding time ; or he may stand with his back 
 to the fire, and find pleasure in shutting off the 
 warmth from those who sit in front of it. There are 
 half a hundred ways in which he may seek comfort 
 according to his nature, but in the Balai of a Raja of 
 the old school there are no such possible alleviations 
 for the man who longs for his food. Custom renders 
 it necessary that he should sit cross-legged, without 
 once relieving his cramped limbs by shifting their 
 position ; that he should be satisfied with the merest 
 fragments of conversation 5 and in no wise displeased 
 
148 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 by intervals of silence, which may last for nearly half 
 an hour, separating one utterly uninteresting remark 
 from another. Even the consolatory knowledge that 
 dinner will make its appearance at a certain hour, 
 which may be felt in any well regulated establishment 
 at Home, does not come to the rescue of the guest at 
 the Court of a Malay Raja, for one can never tell, 
 within an hour or two, when the meal will, in truth, 
 be served, 
 
 Frank sat among the Nobles and Chiefs for nearly 
 an hour, listening to the fitful talk of trivial things 
 which passed listlessly from one to the other, and 
 occasionally throwing in a word or two himself. He 
 had got over the first stages of the study of native 
 life, when the manner of the people is in itself an 
 affliction, and though he would have been inexpressibly 
 bored had his silent companions been fellow Europeans, 
 he was now so used to the etiquette of a Malay Court 
 that he accepted it unquestioningly as all in the day's 
 march. The moon was at the full, and from his seat 
 in the Bdlai, Frank could see the broad river, running 
 white in its gentle light, with the black masses of 
 wooded islands lying like heavy shadows upon its 
 surface, their reflections rising so firm and vivid from 
 the water that they seemed as real and as tangible as 
 the material things to which they owed their existence. 
 There is always some picture at hand upon which to 
 feast the eyes in this lovely land ; and surely to any 
 thinking man the marvels with which Nature sur- 
 rounds him may supply sufficient entertainment, even 
 though for an hour or so the folk about him have little 
 to say for themselves. 
 
THE EVENING OF THE SEMBOR AVER 149 
 
 At last the King made his appearance, and after a 
 quid of betel nut had been chewed in absolutely 
 sepulchral silence, — for at his coming even the fitful, 
 fragmentary talk of the chiefs died down in their 
 throats, — the longed for signal was given, and the 
 feast was forthwith spread, A procession of some 
 fifty men, all dressed in the elaborate costume which 
 on state occasions, is still de rigeur in the Bdlai of an 
 old-world Raja, filed out of the palace, in the soft 
 moonlight, and crept, serpent-wise, towards the hall in 
 which the assembled guests were seated. Each man 
 carried in both hands an immense brass tray, sup- 
 ported upon a single, bell-shaped leg, and covered by 
 a cone of plaited minkilang leaves, over which was 
 draped a patch-work cloth of many colours. They 
 walked in single file, stepping slowly and carefully, 
 and keeping their eyes fixed reverently upon their 
 burdens, and thus they made their way across the 
 compound, and up the wide stairs at the foot of the 
 hall, which, save for its drooping eaves, was open to 
 the air on all four sides. 
 
 Arrived in the Balai, the leaders of the procession 
 passed slowly up the centre of the highest platform, 
 upon which the King, Frank, and all Princes of the 
 House, and descendants of the Prophet Muhammad 
 had their seats. Here they ranged themselves in a 
 long rank, 'dressed' carefully, like soldiers fixing 
 bayonets, and at a signal from their chief, sank 
 suddenly, and simultaneously to one knee, still hold- 
 ing their trays before them. At a second nod from 
 their chief they swung their trays round to the right, 
 then whisked them back to the left, and finally de- 
 
ijo 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 posited them upon their knees. A short pause 
 followed, and then with a dextrous twist, each man 
 quickly changed his position from a kneeling to a 
 sitting posture, and with a final flourish, from right to 
 left, placed his tray carefully upon the floor of the 
 Hall, so that they formed an exactly straight line, 
 bisecting the thick carpet accurately. 
 
 Then the covers of the trays were removed, dis- 
 playing heaps of fat, spiced rice on the smaller, and 
 fifty odd dishes of rich, cunningly concocted curry 
 on the larger ones ; and when hands had been duly 
 washed, and the King had eaten the first mouthful, 
 all present set to work at the eating with great 
 concentration of attention. For twenty minutes or 
 so no sound was to be heard in the Balai, save the 
 faint clink of china, and the soft, guzzling noise made 
 by the hungry folk as they ate ; for Malays have no 
 sympathy with the European custom of talking while 
 at meals. The business of feeding is one which they 
 consider requires attention, and the mind should not 
 be lightly distracted by subjects of lesser moment. 
 When the meal was over, and several of the chiefs 
 were giving token of their complete satiety with an 
 elaboration and a noisiness, which Frank could not 
 but think unnecessary, betel nut and cigarettes were 
 discussed, and a sleepy, fitful conversation was re- 
 sumed. Later sweetmeats, such as Frank had long 
 ago learned to shudder at, were produced, and shortly 
 after the King again withdrew, taking a courteous 
 farewell of Frank Austin, who had declared his in- 
 tention of making a start at day-break. 
 
 The main Balai was soon deserted, when the King 
 
THE EVENING OF THE SEMBOR AVER iji 
 
 had quitted it, and Frank sat near the head of the 
 stairs, which led from the outer building to the 
 ground, talking to two or three of the Chiefs, who 
 seemed strangely unwilling to allow him to take his 
 leave at so early an hour. There was to be no 
 gambling that night, he learned, and as the humours 
 of the gaming-mats were about the only thing which 
 held any amusement for him when the day was done, 
 he was bored by his entertainers' persistent, misplaced 
 hospitality. 
 
 Suddenly a mob of women streamed out of the 
 palace gate-way, carrying every conceivable description 
 of water-vessel in their hands, and began to sluice 
 their contents over Frank and his companions before 
 the former was aware of their intention. Frank 
 leaped to his feet with a yell, as the cold current made 
 its way down his back, and as he did so, he was 
 greeted with a fresh stream of water in his face. 
 ' 'Tis the Custom of the Evening of the Sembor Ayer ! ' 
 cried a voice in his ear ; then some one thrust half a 
 cocoanut shell into his hand ; the lights in the Bdlai 
 were suddenly extinguished ; and Frank found himself 
 standing in the moonshine, amid a hundred flitting 
 forms, racing, chasing, dodging, tripping, and falling, 
 scurrying to the river's edge for more water, and 
 raising a delirious babble of most infectious laughter. 
 Frank, as excited as any of the merry folk around 
 him, joined eagerly in the fray, which waxed faster 
 and more furious, more noisy and more boisterous at 
 every second. He soused the reverend Dato' Bandar 
 in the face, till that worthy chief reeled choking and 
 spluttering away into the darkness. Then he was 
 
1 52 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 fiercely attacked by Tiingku Saleh and his Youths, 
 till he in his turn had to seek safety in flight. He 
 sneaked back to the river for a fresh supply of water, 
 and, in spite of all his precautions, had to run the 
 gauntlet of three old hags, who shook their withered 
 arms at him, like the witches in Macbeth, and soused 
 him most unmercifully with streams of cold fluid. 
 Breathless with exertion and laughter, he won at last 
 to the river's brink, and was leaning forward in the 
 act of filling his water vessel, when he was suddenly 
 violently propelled fi-om behind, and narrowly escaped 
 falling head foremost into the stream. He turned 
 round quickly, and in the pale moonlight, he caught 
 the fluttter of a sarong, whose owner was running 
 swiftly along the river's edge, keeping parallel to the 
 stream, under the shadow of the high, shelving bank. 
 It was too dark for the form of the fugitive to be 
 plainly visible, but Frank concluded that it was 
 Tungku Saleh who had once more assaulted him, and 
 hastily filling his cocoanut shell with water, he started 
 in pursuit. 
 
 The figure in front of him flitted along the edge 
 of the water, as lightly as a shadow, until the shouts 
 of the laughing folk near the palace gate-way became 
 faint and distant. Then, suddenly, it left the river, 
 and broke away inland, Frank tearing after it, more 
 determined than ever to be even with his assailant. 
 The path taken by the fugitive led through a maze of 
 fruit-groves, and Frank completely lost sight of his 
 quarry, and was only guided in his chase by the patter 
 of the light feet ahead of him. Presently, when he 
 was very close to them, these sounds ceased abruptly. 
 
THE EFENING OF THE SEMBOR AYER 153 
 
 and a moment later, Frank stumbled headlong into a 
 patch of long grass. Two small warm arms were 
 locked about his neck ; two soft, tender lips sought his 
 cheek ; and in his ears were whispered the words : 
 
 ' The Sun stands high in the Heavens above. . . . 
 Beloved, it is written that thou shalt not leave me. . . . 
 Fate is mightier than thou art, Loved One, and it is 
 decreed that thou shouldst take me with thee. . . . 
 At last I have won thee, — my Heart's Desire ! ' 
 
 The gentle moonbeams bathed the cool earth on 
 which he lay in a dreamy flood of voluptuous, ener- 
 vating light ; the far away murmur of the night 
 insects fell softly on his senses ; the glowing eyes of 
 Maimunah burned into his own, and her clinging arms 
 drew him down, down, down, impotent and unresisting, 
 into a measureless oblivion, which obliterated all the 
 memories of a lifetime. 
 
 The dawn was splashing the East with faint washes 
 of yellow and pink, as Frank Austin, in his jdlak, 
 canting under its vast spread of palm-leaf sail bellying 
 flappingly in the gusts of the land-breeze, slipped out 
 of the mouth of the Pelesu river, on to the broad 
 bosom of the China Sea ; and, seemingly, it was 
 written that he should not go alone. 
 
 And Ma' Pah, sitting lonely and weeping in her 
 room within the palace, mourned miserably for the 
 loss of the only creature whom she loved in all this 
 bitter world. 
 
PART II 
 
 'THE SUNSHINE OF ONE SOLITARY DAY' 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 
 
 A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, 
 A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou 
 
 Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
 Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 
 
 Omar Khayyam. 
 
 It was a peaceful, bright, merry-looking little spot, 
 this bungalow upon the beach, to which Frank Austin 
 had brought his young wife. All day long the light- 
 hearted breezes played in and out of the swaying 
 fronds of the cocoanut palms, and made the graceful 
 casuarina trees shiver and shake, while the leaves of 
 the tnengkuang palms rattled quickly one against 
 another. The regular, rhythmical thud of the waves 
 upon the sandy shore beat a sleepy time to the faint 
 and tired whisper of the wind j and the laughing, 
 dancing waters tumbled, and rippled, and glistened in 
 the glad sunshine. The bungalow stood on a long 
 tongue of sand, thickly covered with palm and casuarina 
 trees, with the broad waters of the Senangan river on 
 the right, flowing slowing and gently into the China 
 Sea. Inland three conical hills rose out of the plain, 
 their outlines sharply defined against the sky, and 
 
iS8 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 round about their feet a tiny native town clustered 
 cosily, amid fruit-groves and palms of half a dozen 
 varieties. Inside the river's mouth a number of Malay 
 sailing-boats, of all shapes and sizes, rocked gently on 
 the rippling w^ater, their masts flickering and swaying 
 in the wind. Out at sea the horizon was flecked 
 here and there with tiny yellow points of light, — the 
 palm-leaf sails of half a hundred homing native crafts, 
 pricking their ears above the sky-line, and catching 
 the sunshine on their smooth surfaces. A long 
 lozenge-shaped sand spit, rising out of the sea, a little 
 to the left of the river's mouth, was white with the 
 clouds of sea -fowl perched upon it, or fluttering 
 restlessly around it. Half a mile up the shore two or 
 three dark figures could be seen, wading to their 
 waists in the waves, and dextrously casting their 
 circular nets, to catch the little belanak fish, which, 
 when startled, have a trick of scudding over the face 
 of the water, standing erect upon their tails, in direct 
 defiance of all laws of equilibration. On all sides the 
 quiet of the afternoon seemed to breathe a profound 
 air of sleepy, dreamful ease and rest. The faint cry of 
 the sea birds, the distant creaking of the boats lying at 
 anchor, the recurring thud of the waves, the squeaking 
 low of the water-bufFaloes near the village, and the 
 tender whisper of the wind through the foliage around 
 the bungalow, all blent into one hushing lullaby, which 
 aided the heavy air to tempt the world to slumber. 
 
 On the verandah of the bungalow a girl lay 
 curled up in a hammock fast asleep. Her long eye- 
 lashes lay upon her cheek softer 
 
 ' than petals from blown roses on the grass ' ; 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 159 
 
 her wealth of curly, ruddy yellow hair was tossed 
 about her forehead, eyes, and ears, in little, dainty, 
 wavy locks, which moved slightly in the breeze ; and 
 her rather full lips were parted ever so little, as her 
 breath came regularly in her sleep. She was a singu- 
 larly pretty girl ; delicately formed, with soft, rounded 
 features, and tiny hands and feet. Lying there in the 
 hammock, in all the complete abandonment of pro- 
 found, childlike slumber, she looked so pure, and 
 innocent, and young, that an on-looker, had there 
 been one, might have been impelled to hold his 
 breath, fearful of committing sacrilege by even inhaling 
 the same atmosphere as that breathed by one so holy 
 and so near to God. 
 
 She was dressed in a loose flowing wrapper of some 
 soft, white material, with knots of bright blue ribbon 
 at her neck and wrists, and her little, shapely, rosy 
 feet were bare. Her left arm was thrown up behind 
 her head, the fingers clutching the strings of the 
 hammock, and her right hand hung limply at her side, 
 so that the extended fingers almost reached the 
 matting of the floor. Close to them, where it had 
 escaped from her sleepy grasp, the book which she 
 had been reading lay tumbled helplessly upon its face. 
 A half finished sketch of some fishing boats stood on 
 a table on her left, and a confused heap of needle-work 
 lay bunched up on a wickerwork basket on her other 
 side. The doors of the rooms opening out on to the 
 verandah were hung with cool, muslin curtains, the 
 walls with a few water-colours and engravings. The 
 small tables, with which the verandah was studded, 
 were piled with books ; and the whole house looked 
 
i6o 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 as lived-in a little nest as a tender woman could well 
 make for herself in a distant land, — for herself and for 
 the man she loved. 
 
 Presently there was the sound of a light, firm step 
 on the stairs which led from the verandah to the 
 ground, and Frank Austin ran up them, with a sun-hat 
 on his head, and a bundle of blue minute-papers in his 
 left hand. He had changed somewhat in appearance 
 since the half- forgotten days when he had paid a 
 certain visit of discovery to the Court of Karu, for 
 seven or eight years, spent in the sweltering tropics, 
 had passed over his head since he slipped out of the 
 mouth of the Pelesu river in the quiet dawn -time. 
 His figure was more formed and set, though he was 
 as lean and hard as ever, and his sun-tanned fiice was 
 marked with heavy, deep lines, and a perfect maze of 
 tiny creases and puckers round his keen, alert-looking 
 eyes. His lips and mouth had tightened, as could be 
 seen in spite of the dark moustache which cloaked 
 them partially, and Time had scratched his parentheses, 
 in deep straight brackets, one on either cheek. He 
 looked well and strong, ' fit as a fiddle,' as he would 
 himself have expressed it ; and his face wore a firmer, 
 more resolute air than had formerly belonged to it. 
 His eyes were bright and gay, and they softened 
 lovingly as they fell upon the figure of the girl in the 
 hammock. He halted at the head of the stairs, fearful 
 of disturbing her, but aroused by an instinctive con- 
 sciousness of his presence, she opened her eyes, and 
 glanced at him dreamily from under her sleepy lids. 
 
 ' Is that you, Frank ? ' she asked drowsily. ' I 
 am so glad that you have come back. I hate that 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH i6i 
 
 horrid office for always taking you away from me. I 
 am sure that it cannot want you as badly as I do.' 
 
 Frank stepped across the verandah, and kissed her 
 tenderly. ' I am awfully late in getting back today,' 
 he said. ' For some reason or another the Native 
 Chief chose this afternoon as an appropriate day upon 
 which to come and see me in bulk. I had to give 
 them each a separate interview, and that took time, 
 for a Malay's conversation is like a scorpion, it always 
 carries the best part of it in its tail. They jawed 
 about everything in heaven and earth, and then as they 
 were in the act of leaving, suddenly pretended to 
 remember, as a sort of after-thought, the one thing 
 which they had really come to say. So then the 
 conversation had to start all over again. That is one 
 of their winning ways.' 
 
 ' How patient you are with them.' 
 
 ' Oh, that is habit and training ; and now, I think, 
 it has become more of an instinct than a virtue, I 
 should never hear anything of any importance, if I 
 were to hustle them. You must let a Malay say what 
 he has to say in his own way. But, all the same, I 
 have had a beast of a time this afternoon, and I do not 
 think that tomorrow will be much better, for unless I 
 am very much mistaken, they have not ieven yet said 
 the things which they believe to be most important. 
 There is something up. I can tell from their manner. 
 But I can only sit still and wait for them to reheve 
 their minds.' 
 
 He had been pacing up and down the verandah, as 
 he spoke. Now he threw himself down into a deep 
 arm-chair, and put his clasped hands bShind his head. 
 
 M 
 
i62 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' Ah well,' he ejaculated. ' Sufficient for the day is 
 the evil thereof! Let us have some tea.' 
 
 Cecily touched a bell that stood at her elbow, and a 
 Chinese servant, with the impassive, expressionless 
 face of his people, brought in the tea-things on a tray, 
 and then withdrew as noiselessly as he had come. 
 Both Frank and his wife loved this hour of five o'clock 
 tea, the hour which saw them reunited after a long 
 day spent in enforced separation, and they were apt to 
 linger over the tea-cups until it was almost too late 
 for the stroll along the beach, which, in this out-of- 
 the-way part of the Peninsula, was about the only 
 amusement they could find. But, when all was said 
 and done, this newly married pair wanted no keener 
 excitement than was afforded by the companionship 
 which each found so sweet, and they saw no cause for 
 a quarrel with Fate on the score of the dulness or the 
 monotony of their lives. 
 
 It was a matter of surprise among Frank's contem- 
 poraries, that at the end of more than a dozen years' 
 service he should be only the District Officer of so 
 distant, wild and unprofitable a place as the Senangan 
 Valley. It consisted of a vast number of Malay 
 villages, scattered up and down the banks of a long 
 river. It was beautiful with spreading rice-fields, and 
 clustering fruit-groves, but it lacked the quality which 
 alone can raise the fairest district in the Peninsula to 
 a position of dignity and importance, — it was not a 
 good revenue-producer. There was no tin or gold to 
 be found throughout the length of that smiling valley, 
 and consequently no man envied Frank the post 
 which he now held. 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 163 
 
 During the first few years of his life in the 
 Peninsula, Frank Austin had been looked upon as a 
 very rising man, and he soon bore the reputation of 
 knowing more about the natives than almost any one 
 else. When the Native State of Pelesu was placed 
 under British Protection, the Government had un- 
 hesitatingly selected Austin as the man best fitted for 
 the post of Political Agent at the unruly Court of Karu. 
 All his fellows regarded the appointment as obviously 
 the best that could be made, and they agreed among 
 themselves that he was a lucky fellow, for Political 
 Agents are the chrysalides from which that resplendent 
 butterfly, the Resident is hatched. These latter, to 
 change the metaphor, are very fine birds indeed, so 
 long as they take care to crow upon none save their 
 own particular dung-heaps. To every one's astonish- 
 ment Frank had refused the post offered to him. 
 Gregson, who was now himself a Resident, had in 
 common with several big-wigs of the Service, both 
 spoken and written to Frank in protest, urging him 
 to reconsider a decision which, in the nature of things, 
 could not but be damaging to his future prospects. 
 But Austin had remained firm. He thanked the 
 authorities for the honour which they had done him, 
 expressed regret at being unable to avail himself of 
 their kind offer, and then and after resolutely declined 
 to give any sufHcent reason to account for his refusal. 
 So the vacant billet had been given to one John Norris, 
 a youngster some years his junior, whose sound know- 
 ledge of native character and of the vernacular, 
 certainly could not compare with Frank's deep and 
 boundless understanding of the hidden inner life, and 
 
164. 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 subtle ways of the people of the land. Later Frank, 
 in a sort of access of despair, longing to escape from 
 the society of his inquisitive race-mates, had applied 
 for the post of District Officer at Kuala Senangan, an 
 appointment which, as I have said, was not an object 
 of much desire in the eyes of other civil servants. He 
 had been duly gazetted, and thereupon retired into the 
 wilderness, and Government, — the gift -horse into 
 whose jaws he had stared, — straightway forgot all about 
 him, which, under the circumstances, was natural. 
 Government never gives a man two chances running 
 if he fumbles the first ; and why in the world should 
 it be expected to do so, seeing that it is for ever 
 surrounded by a host of Daughters of the Horse- Leech, 
 crying ' Give ! Give ! ' with clamorous mouths. 
 
 It was during his last absence on long leave to 
 Europe, that Frank had met Cecily Blandford, and he 
 had forthwith fallen in love with her, very steadily, 
 very deeply, very gravely, as he now did most things. 
 He knew what life in an up-country station in the 
 heart of the Malay Peninsula meant for a woman ; he 
 knew by observation some of the miseries of marriage 
 in the East, be the station what it may ; and in 
 common with other Eastern Exiles he had told him- 
 self over and over again that he had no business to ask 
 any girl to share his lot with him. Nathless, with 
 that old fatal weakness of his, he had played about the 
 temptation ; and in the end, when the limit of his 
 leave was looming ahead of him in the near future, 
 his resolution had given way, and he had asked Cecily 
 to become his wife. 
 
 To any man who cares to think seriously upon the 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 165 
 
 subject it must be evident that the whole notion of 
 marriage for one whose days are destined to be spent 
 East of Suez, is radically, lamentably unsound. All 
 such unions must end in separations, for while men 
 can stand the climate of the tropics to some extent, 
 the more delicately formed organisation of women 
 cannot be subjected to too long a trial under the glare 
 of a pitiless sun. No matter how devoted the wife, 
 no matter how loving the husband, the time must 
 surely come when health demands that the woman 
 should return alone to Europe. Some women, if 
 their husbands are selfish enough to permit it, will 
 struggle on, in spite of failing strength, rather than 
 suiFer themselves to be parted from the men they 
 love ; and to such as these the final separation of 
 Death comes before its time. Others take a well- 
 founded dislike to the East, and having once quitted 
 it decline to return, which is sensible but heartless ; 
 and what becomes of these matters little, save to the 
 men in Asia, who work and sweat in order that the 
 monthly remittances may not fail. The majority, 
 listening to the entreaties of their husbands, and to 
 the voice of reason, go Home when the medical men 
 declare that it has become necessary for them to do 
 so ; and, in the end the separations fill almost as large 
 a portion of their lives as the years which they and 
 their husbands can manage to spend together. If 
 there be children the misery of the situation is only 
 intensified. Very soon the wan, pale little faces tell 
 all who look upon them that a change of climate 
 has become imperative, and the loving mother and 
 devoted wife has then to decide whether her life is 
 
i66 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 to be spent apart from her husband or from her 
 children. She generally tries to compromise the 
 matter, with the result that, on the one hand, her 
 husband falls gradually back into all his half-forgotten 
 bachelor ways, and when she returns to him has none 
 of the romance of the honey-moon to soften his 
 weaning from them ; while the little ones, on the 
 other hand, grow up with only a passing, fitful know- 
 ledge of the mother who bore them, and early learn 
 to do without her love and sympathy, and to have no 
 desire to confide their joys and sorrows to her kind 
 ear. 
 
 It is a sad, sad business, view it how you will ; 
 one of the many things we Englishmen pay as the 
 price of our country's empire ; and indeed one knows 
 not which of the poor souls concerned to pity most : 
 the exiled man, working out his soul in the aching 
 sun-glare, that a dark-skinned folk may learn the 
 meaning of Right and Wrong, and the diiFerence 
 between meum and tuum, and, incidentally, that certain 
 dear ones in far ofF England may have food to eat, 
 and the wherewithal to be clothed according to their 
 caste ; or the anxious, weary-eyed wife and mother, 
 forever torn this way and that, by her love for her 
 husband warring ceaselessly with the love she bears 
 her young, toiling to and fro between them, the 
 weariest wanderer on all God's Earth ; or the boys 
 and girls the off^spring of such a marriage, the former 
 growing up without a father's influence to encourage 
 them in manly qualities, without a mother^s love to 
 soften the brutalities which may be found lurking in 
 the souls of all the male young of our species ; the 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 167 
 
 daughters, giving their confidence to friends or at best 
 to mere blood relations, half strangers to their own 
 mothers, and thus robbed before their time of girl 
 hood's sweetest, surest support, and deprived almost 
 from their birth, of all that is tenderest and best in 
 that which goes to the forming of perfect woman- 
 hood. 
 
 All must admit that the theory of marriages, of 
 which the results are such as I have described, is as 
 hopelessly unsound as any given theory can well be ; 
 yet when the right man meets the right girl, — and 
 even, unfortunately, when both the parties concerned 
 are obviously the wrong ones, — the soundest of 
 theories goes incontinently to the wall, the wild-fire 
 of love burns reason and common-sense to ashes, and 
 as a consequence the Eastern Exile continues, and 
 will continue, to take unto himself a wife, in spite 
 of all the grave arguments which prove conclusively 
 that such an act is a fair qualification for a lunatic 
 asylum. 
 
 And thus it came about that Frank Austin now 
 sat in the verandah of his little seaside bungalow, with 
 his wife pouring out his five o'clock tea for him. 
 He had seen, with even greater clearness than is usual, 
 that he, in common with every other man whose life 
 was destined to be spent in the East, had no right to 
 marry ; and, like all the others, who have told them- 
 selves the same thing, when the temptation to throw 
 his theories to the winds had come upon him, to the 
 winds his theories had been thrown. Perhaps, he had 
 not been altogether selfish in what he had done, for 
 he had seen the love-light peeping out of Cecily's 
 
i68 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 shy, sweet eyes, and a world of despair, occasioned by 
 the thought of his approaching departure, throbbing 
 in their depths. It is hard for any man to keep his 
 head, and to be mindful of the soundest of theories, 
 when he sees such things in the eyes he loves best in 
 all the world ; and certainly experience had convinced 
 him, so far, that Cecily was happier with him in exile 
 that she would ever have been without him in the 
 cosiest of European homes. 
 
 'Come for a stroll along the beach, darling,' he 
 said, when tea was over, and Cecily, having changed 
 her dress, and thrown a boy's cap upon her curls, 
 went with him out of the bungalow. 
 
 They made their way along the sandy shore, 
 within twenty yards of the great green waves, which 
 were hurling themselves with a soft thud, and a long 
 swishing whisper upon the yellow beach. A profusion 
 of marvellously fashioned shells, presenting a view of 
 all the hues of the prism, and every conceivable form 
 of spiral, curve, and dainty tracery, strewed the sand at 
 their feet, and a million little colourless crabs scampered 
 hither and thither, startled at their approach. Two 
 or three great tussocks of the wire-like beach grass 
 which grows with such luxuriance on the shores of 
 the China Sea, round and yellow, and shaped like 
 blown thistle-down, raced one another along the shore, 
 as though endowed with life. The mellow, gentle 
 sunshine of the evening hour was hallowing sky, and 
 sea, and land, and a peace, as of Heaven, had fallen 
 upon the Earth. Cecily clung closely to Frank's 
 arm, with the loving pressure which still had power 
 to send a thrill through all his veins ; and for a 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 169 
 
 time they walked along in that silence which is 
 more eloquent than words. The man was the first 
 to speak. 
 
 ' There's a rollicking, devil-may-care dissipation 
 about our life at Kuala Senangan that you must often 
 find over-exciting after spending half your days in 
 London,' he said lightly, but with very real bitterness 
 underlying his words. 
 
 Cecily roused herself from her day-dream, and 
 looked up at his face with eyes brimming over with 
 love and happiness. 
 
 ' I was just thinking how happy I am,' she said. 
 ' It is so wonderful to have you all to myself. I 
 should always be quite content to go on as we are 
 doing now. Do you find it so dull ? ' 
 
 ' No,' said Frank. ' I was not thinking of myself 
 just then. But it has often been borne in upon me 
 of late that it would be better for us, after all, if we 
 were to give up all thoughts of living in this out-of- 
 the-way part of the world, and were to make up our 
 minds to being poor people at Home, instead of fairly 
 well-to-do ones out here. Between us we could scrape, 
 together enough money to live upon, and I daresay 
 that I could get a secretary-ship, or something of that 
 sort, to bring a little added grist to the mill. We 
 should always be badly off, of course, but at any rate 
 you would not be doomed to transportation beyond 
 the seas, as though you were a little convict.' 
 
 ' How dare you call your wife a convict ? ' cried the 
 girl, laughing. ' But seriously, Frank, why will you 
 worry your dear self about me ? You know that I 
 am perfectly happy, transportation or no transportation. 
 
170 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 so long as I have you with me ; and you must see that 
 I should be simply miserable if I felt that you had 
 sacrificed all your life's work, and all your ambitions, 
 just because you had married a useless little wife.' 
 
 ' You are awfully plucky, and you are the dearest 
 little wife man ever had. It would be no sacrifice to 
 chuck the whole thing, if it made your life less dreary. 
 Besides, my prospects are no great shakes. They 
 never have been worth a tinker's curse since I refused 
 Pelesu.' . 
 
 ' Why did you refuse that appointment ? ' asked 
 Cecily, looking up into his face with trusting, inno- 
 cent, wide-open eyes. Her husband shifted his gaze 
 from them rather abruptly, and looked out over the 
 tumbling waters. He drew in his breath sharply, and 
 the muscles about his mouth tightened and twitched. 
 
 ' Because I was an ass — an infernal, God-forsaken 
 ass,' he said bitterly. 
 
 Cecily knew that this was a sore subject with her 
 husband, and she was wont to attribute his disHke to 
 any allusion to it to the fact that his refusal had been, 
 in a manner, the death-blow to his prospects. She 
 knew the profound melancholy that often possessed 
 Frank, and she always strove to lighten his depression. 
 
 ' Any way, I am very glad that you did refuse it,' 
 she said cheerfully. ' It was a terribly dangerous place. 
 They say that Mr. Norris was nearly killed, over and 
 over again.' 
 
 'AH the same that had nothing to do with my 
 refusal of the post. And, after all, Norris did win 
 through unharmed. And then just think how the 
 beggar has got on in the Service. Besides, a clean 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 171 
 
 death and a quick one, — z. knock on the head, or a jab 
 in the ribs with a sharp knife, — is about the best thing 
 that could happen to some folk, I am inclined to 
 think.' 
 
 ' Don't, Frank ! ' cried Cecily, her face working 
 with emotion. ' How can you ? It is wicked to talk 
 like that. And if you had been killed, what would 
 have happened to me ? I could never have married 
 anyone but you, my darling.' 
 
 They walked along in silence for a while, the man 
 gazing moodily at the sand at his feet, and the girl's 
 eyes still dewy with unshed tears. It hurt her keenly to 
 hear Frank speak as though even now, when she was 
 at his side to cheer and comfort him, life still bore for 
 him so melancholy an aspect. 
 
 ' Frank, dear, why is it that you sometimes talk 
 like that ? ' she said presently. ' I can't bear to hear 
 you. I am so happy ; have I no power to make you 
 happy too ? ' 
 
 Frank stooped and kissed her tenderly. 'My poor 
 little wife,' he said. ' I did not mean to hurt you. I 
 am sour and crabbed, at times, I know, and I make 
 both you and myself much " evil cheer." But I am 
 really happier than I have ever been before in all my 
 life. Can't you see it ? ' 
 
 ' I think that it must be the effect of the horrid 
 lonely life that you have had to lead for so many years, 
 you poor boy,' said Cecily, still pursuing her own train 
 of thought. ' But you must not let yourself get 
 depressed. When we have each other, why should we 
 worry ourselves about old Pelesus and places ? ' 
 
 ' It is not that, darling,' said Frank. ' I can't bear 
 
172 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 to think of you doomed to exile for my sake. I am 
 not worth it for one thing ; and for another, I have 
 been more and more convinced of late that my prospects 
 also are not good enough to justify the sacrifices which 
 we are both making for them.' 
 
 'Why are you so down in the mouth about your 
 prospects today ? Have you heard anything new that 
 has vexed you ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, nothing particular. They have just given the 
 vacant billet of district ofScer at Kayangan to Bird. 
 The post is a capital one in a really charming part of 
 the country, and you would have found it a far jollier 
 home than Kuala Senangan can ever be. That is 
 what makes me sick about it, and, of course, I don't 
 particularly like being passed over, for Bird is some 
 months my junior, and he really is not capable of doing 
 the work any better than I could do it.' 
 
 'That I am sure he is not,' said Cecily loyally. 
 ' But try not to fret about it, dear.' 
 
 'I am not fretting about it for myself,' replied 
 Frank. ' I should not mind at all, if it were not for 
 you. It is so dull for you to be stowed away in this 
 out-of-the-world hole, never seeing a white face from 
 year's end to year's end.' 
 
 ' Your face is all I want, and besides, I am never 
 dull for a single moment. Why, I never find the 
 hours drag. I am busy all day long, quite as busy as 
 you are, you conceited boy. And how could anyone 
 be dull alone with the man she loves best in such a 
 lovely land as this ? Look, Frank ! Look ! ' 
 
 The blazing eastern sun was sinking to the left of 
 the three conical hills behind them, in a blinding 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 173 
 
 splendour of copper and gold, too intense and dazzling 
 for the eye to rest upon it for more than a second or 
 two ; but out over the sea, where the banks of heavy 
 evening clouds dipped to the western horizon, and 
 climbed up and up to the very summit of the heavens, 
 the reflection of the sun-set was working miracles of 
 beauty. First great washes of colour dyed them with 
 amber and saffron, and orange, and crimson, and rose- 
 colour, leaving here and there patches of open sky of 
 the purest, most ethereal azure, and painting the finer 
 wisps of filmy cloud all manner of opalescent hues, 
 more tender and more delicate than the tints of 
 mother-of-pearl. Presently, as Frank and Cecily stood 
 looking seaward, the rose and crimson and the deep 
 purple with which the out-lying clouds were tinged, 
 deepened, and mellowed, and intensified, spreading 
 widely round the entire semicircle of the horizon 
 facing them, and staining the dark green of the 
 heaving waves with great streaks and patches of a 
 sombre ruddiness, like the glow of red-hot embers 
 reflected in the surface of dulled metal. Very slowly, 
 very gradually, very gently, the Splendour of the cloud- 
 tints faded and paled, the crimsons and purples 
 changing to delicate pinks and rose colours, the deep 
 yellows and oranges to the hue of the primrose, and 
 the fainter dyes to a brilliant, ethereal gray. An all- 
 enveloping veil of darkness was already being drawn 
 over the face of the restless waters by the hand of 
 approaching night, and though the evening sky still 
 glowed overhead, and smote with its shafts each wave- 
 crest as it rose in turn, the deep hollows of the jostling, 
 see-sawing billows took to themselves an added black- 
 
174 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ness of shadow in contrast to the shifting, glinting 
 suggestions of colour on the tips of the surrounding 
 waves. When once the fading of the sky-glow had 
 well begun the light waned rapidly, until at last black 
 darkness, like some vast night-bird, brooded over sea 
 and land, and nothing save a faint splash of gray in 
 the East, and a slender line of reflected radiance low 
 down on the Western horizon bore witness that the sun 
 had ever been. 
 
 Frank and Cecily stood upon the shore until the 
 darkness had quite fallen. Then they turned slowly 
 homewards. A puiF of the warm, wet. Western wind, 
 which had made its way over some hundreds of leagues 
 of open sea, ran in among the casuarina trees, and set 
 the dry leaves of the mengkuang palms rattling and 
 clattering one against another. 
 
 ' Listen, Frank ! ' said Cecily brightly. ' They are 
 clapping their hands to show that they are appreciative 
 spectators. Even inanimate things lind it beautiful, 
 so why should not I also take pleasure in a life which 
 is led in such a lovely land, when I have my own 
 husband all to myself? ' 
 
 Again Frank stooped and kissed her. Then they 
 picked their way towards the bungalow through the 
 thorny spines of the beach-grass. Their talks always 
 ended in this way when pity for his little exile wife 
 made Frank anxious to give up his career in the East, 
 and take his treasure to some less beautiful but more 
 familiar place. It was she who always found good 
 where he saw only privation and hardship ; she who 
 refused to look upon the gloomy side of things, who 
 declined to acknowledge that the life which she was 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 175 
 
 leading with the man she loved could for her be any- 
 thing but a delight. She cheered Frank when the 
 despondent fit was upon him, and almost convinced 
 him against his better judgment that the horrors of 
 Eastern exile were powerless to depress her brave, fear- 
 less nature. In her heart of hearts, more especially 
 during the long hours when Frank was away at his 
 work, Cecily often experienced those pangs of nostalgia 
 to which none of us who sit upon the knees of ' the 
 grim Stepmother of our kind ' can hope to be altogether 
 strangers. But when Frank returned he always found 
 a gay and laughing face to welcome him, for never by 
 word or token did she give him ground to fear that 
 she was ever homesick or unhappy. This was not 
 owing to any want of confidence between the pair, but 
 partly because Cecily dreaded the fits of intense melan- 
 choly to which she knew Frank to be subject, and 
 partly because in his presence all regrets and longings 
 for other things seemed to fade away and disappear as 
 though they had never been. 
 
 The little bungalow was brilliantly lighted by kero- 
 sine oil lamps, which threw long spear-shafts of dingy 
 yellow light out upon the darkness, the rays splitting 
 up and multiplying, casting streaks of colour upon the 
 tree-trunks about the house, and then wandering away 
 to lose themselves in the black walls of the great bulky 
 shadows. Frank and Cecily sat down on the verandah, 
 and each took up a book, but though the girl quickly 
 became absorbed in the volume in her hand, the 
 thoughts of the man were far away from the printed 
 page which he held before his face. Cecily's careless 
 question, ' Why did you refuse Pelesu ? ' had awakened 
 
176 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 some painful memories, and called up to the vision of 
 his mind's eye a figure which he was ever anxious to 
 forget. Now as he sat thinking, he was in fancy once 
 more floating out of the wide mouth of the Pelesu 
 river, with old Pawang Ali and his people, and with 
 the girl Maimunah lying sleeping peacefully, wrapped 
 from head to heel in a coverlet, under the palm-leaf 
 shelter in the stern of the sailing boat ; how had it 
 come about, he asked himself, that he had acted as he 
 had done ? It all seemed so remote ; his own person- 
 ality as it Tiad been in those days was now to him 
 little more than a memory, vague, shadowy, unreal ; 
 the passions and motives which then had shaped his 
 actions were now entirely powerless to sway him, or 
 to quicken his pulses ; and thus it was that the whole 
 of his conduct during his visit to Pelesu, and especially 
 his elopement with Maimdnah, appeared to him now 
 to be absolutely incomprehensible. It is often difficult 
 to recognise the satisfactory individual whom one 
 knows as oneself in the Present, in the hopeless idiot 
 who, in the Past, has been so singularly wanting in 
 discretion and good sense. How could he ever have 
 been such an ass ? How could he even for a moment 
 have been the willing slave of a savage, half-animal 
 creature like Maimunah ? With Cecily sitting in the 
 long chair opposite to him, the sweetest, fairest, most 
 innocent type of loving, gentle, civilised womanhood, 
 these questions seemed to Frank to be altogether 
 unanswerable. Then his mind flew forward over the 
 years during which he and MaimAnah had lived 
 together. He remembered at first how he had found 
 a strange pleasure in the study of this wild creature's 
 
AT THE BUNGJLOPF ON THE BEACH 177 
 
 character ; how he had been attracted by her beauty ; 
 and how in his lonely life he had taken delight in the 
 knowledge that there was one being, at any rate, to 
 whom he was dear. It seemed a queer thing that a 
 love that was like that of the tigress for her mate 
 should ever have had any power to please him, for he 
 could recall distinctly enough the wild jealousy which 
 she was wont to display upon all occasions, and how 
 little by little her very presence had become an offence 
 to him. Then the Agentship at Pelesu had been 
 offered to him, and as he knew that it would be 
 impossible for him to go there without the whole of 
 his misdeeds becoming known, he had been forced to 
 decline the one chance which would, if accepted, have 
 been the turning point in his career. He had always 
 been ambitious until then, and the necessity for refusal 
 had been none the less bitter because he knew it to be 
 imperative. How heartily he had cursed his folly in 
 that hour, and how the recollection of what he had 
 been called upon to sacrifice for MaimAnah had in- 
 creased his bitterness against her. To separate himself 
 from her had then gradually become his one object in 
 life, and to this end he had applied for the post he now 
 held as District Officer at Kuala Senangan, and when 
 his application had been granted he had at the earliest 
 opportunity claimed the leave that was due to him, 
 and had gone home to Europe before taking up his 
 new appointment. He had been at some pains to 
 leave MaimAnah in ignorance of his intention of ever 
 again returning to the East, and in spite of her furious, 
 jealous anger, he had declared her to be formally 
 divorced from him, had given her five hundred dollars, 
 
 N 
 
178 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 which to a native woman in her rank of hfe meant 
 almost untold wealth, and had finally shipped her back 
 to Pelesu, where she would have many friends and 
 acquaintances, and where under the new regime she 
 would be free to come and go as she willed. It had 
 all been a very unpleasant business, for MaimAnah had 
 been furious when first the arrangement had been 
 discussed between them, and even in the end, though 
 she went obediently at his bidding, it had been with 
 the wild cries and tears of unrestrained grief, for, in 
 spite of all her waywardness, and her unbridled temper, 
 she had loved Frank fiercely and faithfully during all 
 the days that she had sojourned with him. On his 
 side Frank had heaved a sigh of very real relief when 
 at last she was gone. Deep down in his heart he 
 thanked the God against whose law he had sinned 
 that his freedom had once more been restored to him, 
 and that no worse consequences than a missed oppor- 
 tunity of advancement in the Service had ensued as the 
 punishment for his misdoing. For Maimdnah he had 
 little pity. She belonged to a race of which the 
 women-kind were accustomed to be put away without 
 explanation or pretext when the fickle men-folk wearied 
 of them, and she therefore had not been treated by 
 him in a manner of which she had any right to com- 
 plain, the more so since in parting with her he had 
 made her rich for all her days. He knew that he had 
 always exercised an extraordinary influence over this 
 wild creature, and that even at her most savage 
 moments she had never been as fierce and intractable 
 with him as she was wont to be to others about her, 
 but he had never fully realised that this was not due 
 
AT THE BUNGALOW ON THE BEACH 179 
 
 to the fact that he was one of a superior race, but 
 because he chanced to be the man whom MaimAnah 
 loved more dearly than any one else upon the Earth. 
 Frank was not a cockscomb, and he had consistently 
 underestimated the strength of the passion with which 
 he had inspired the girl, the more easily since the 
 feeling which he had for her had been a purely physical 
 attraction, which had speedily faded into nothingness. 
 Had he realised to the full all the depths of sorrow and 
 bitterness which the parting had held for MaimAnah 
 he would surely have compassionated her, and his own 
 joy at being quit of her would perhaps have been 
 tempered by some feeling of compunction, but nothing, 
 nothing, could have induced him to postpone the hour 
 of the separation. As all these ancient memories 
 crowded his mind he chanced to glance up at the pure 
 face of his wife, and the hatred and disgust of his dead 
 self caused him to make an involuntary motion with 
 his hand and to draw in his breath sharply. Cecily 
 dropped her book upon her knee. 
 
 ' What is it, darling ? ' she asked softly. 
 
 ' Nothing, nothing,' Frank replied as lightly as he 
 could. 'But it is time to dress for dinner. Come 
 along.' 
 
 It was one of Frank's fads that evening dress was a 
 necessity even in the jungle when a lady was present, for 
 this once semi-orientalised White Man, whose friends 
 had been wont to lecture him upon his too great 
 disregard for European civilisation, was now among 
 the most punctilious observers of social convention- 
 alities. He had gone too far the other way, and now 
 was suffering from the inevitable reaction. Presently 
 
i8o 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 the whole bungalow resounded to his jubilant cries 
 and shrieks as he sluiced the cold water from his bath- 
 can down his back-bone, and when he rejoined Cecily 
 half an hour later all thoughts of the past, and all 
 memory of his own incomprehensible ill-doing, were 
 swallowed up in his supreme content and happiness in 
 the present. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 CECILY 
 
 Is it a little thing that she hath wrought? 
 
 Then Life, and Death, and Womanhood are nought, 
 
 Rudyard Kipling, 
 
 It is popularly supposed to be the dream of most newly 
 wed, and still ardent lovers to seek the solitude of some 
 desert island, where, far from the prying eyes and ears 
 of vulgar folk who mock their rhapsodies, they may 
 indulge in the thousand extravagances proper to their 
 condition, without fear of ribald laughter, or Philistine 
 interruption. Frank and Cecily had only been married 
 a few months when they came to live at Kuala 
 Senangan, and their love for one another wras of the 
 kind which would find them as devoted at sixty as they 
 were now that the twenties were still green for them. 
 Accordingly they, of all lovers, might well be content 
 with the lot that Fate had meted out to them ; and 
 indeed the hours which they spent in one another's 
 company were never long or irksome. Cecily, too, 
 had taken hold of her strange new life with a firm 
 resolution, from the first, to see nothing in it but what 
 was interesting or amusing ; and it is wonderful how 
 full of delights the East can be for the new-comer who 
 
i82 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 looks out upon it from bright, intelligent eyes, deter- 
 mined to find a keen pleasure in such unwonted sur- 
 roundings. The change from Europe is so complete 
 that the sensations of the stranger may be supposed to 
 resemble the experiences of one who finds himself 
 suddenly transported to some other planet. The sky 
 overhead, the green growths at his feet and around 
 him, the birds that flutter hither and thither through 
 the branches of the strange trees, the kine squeaking 
 in the pastures, the men and women passing to and fro, 
 are one and all new and wonderful things to which 
 memory supplies no counterparts. The very air that 
 fans his cheek is soft, and voluptuous, and fragrant as 
 never was the air he breathed in the rougher climes 
 that saw his birth. The Hghts which add such marvels 
 of beauty to the scenes about him are brighter, more 
 vivid, more intense than any sun -glare seen in the 
 temperate zone ; colour itself seems here to have a new, 
 and more wonderful meaning than any which he has 
 hitherto been accustomed to associate with the word. 
 The scents, the sounds, the sights, every one of these 
 is loaded with new sensations, new delights, and all 
 taken together combine to make up the glamour of 
 the East, which once experienced has more power over 
 a man than aught else among created things. 
 
 To Cecily, looking out upon the new life to which 
 her husband had brought her through eyes that sought 
 beauty and goodliness in everything, nothing was 
 common, nothing unworthy of her attention, her pity, 
 her admiration, or her love. Perhaps it was the sight 
 of two or three naked urchins, splashed with gray mud 
 fromhead to heel,shoutingandgesticulatingwith waving 
 
CECILY 183 
 
 arms, as they careered madly through the lush grasses 
 around the /laafZ-swamps, perched high upon the heaving 
 rumps of the plunging, lumbering water-bufFaloes ; or, 
 as the rain fell heavily, she laughed to see tw^o small 
 brown pufF-balls of children walking gravely by the side 
 of a motherly little girl beneath the shade of a huge 
 umbrella which was certainly not needed to protect any 
 scanty clothing which the tiny things could boast. 
 Sometimes one of the neighbouring Chiefs would come 
 to pay a stately call, with a mob of picturesquely 
 tattered followers, bearing all the stained hues of the 
 rain-bow on their backs, dawdling along at his heels ; or 
 a minor potentate would come with seven aunts, and 
 a couple of shy young wives to pay reverence to the 
 White Woman. The man would sit uncomfortably 
 upon the edge of the unaccustomed chair, while his 
 women-folk squatted humbly on the floor, grouped in 
 picturesque attitudes about the feet of their lord. 
 When the season of fruits was at hand long strings of 
 gift bearers, sent by some of Frank's Chiefs, would 
 wend their way up the path to the bungalow, carrying 
 gigantic clusters of full-juiced tropic fruits on long 
 sticks supported from shoulder to shoulder, looking, as 
 Cecily said, like Joshua's messengers returning from 
 the Promised Land. As they walked abroad together, 
 Frank would carry on a running commentary upon all 
 the sights around them, and Cecily, listening eagerly 
 to all he could tell her of the people among whom 
 their lives were to be spent, learned rapidly many 
 things concerning the inner being of the strange folk 
 about her. She picked up the liquid tongue of the 
 Malays with great ease and quickness, and the natives 
 
i84 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 smiled to hear their familiar speech come so readily 
 and in such sweet accents from her lips. The utter 
 childlikeness of the Malays, as she saw them in their 
 quiet and peaceful daily life, had a great fascination for 
 the girl, and yet filled her with pity, just as the feeble, 
 aimless movements of a little child inspire one with a 
 depth of compassion, for the need of which the little 
 thing is itself altogether unconscious. Such pity as 
 this is very near akin to love, and Cecily's kindly 
 nature soon brimmed over with a ready sympathy for 
 those about her, which found its expression in a 
 thousand little acts of kindness and forethought which 
 speedily endeared her to the people of the land. Her 
 husband was the District Officer, and as such was to 
 be feared before he was loved. He it was who assessed 
 the rent to be paid by those whose harvests were un- 
 satisfactory, who sent men to gaol when they chanced 
 to break the strangely capricious laws of the White 
 Men, and generally acted the part of a local Providence 
 meting out praise and blame, and punishments and 
 rewards. They appreciated the fact that he was just 
 according to his lights, that he spoke their language as 
 one of themselves, and that he was on the whole 
 sympathetic to them in their afflictions, and as lenient 
 in his judgment of them as was compatible with the 
 preservation of his authority, and the performance of 
 his duty to the Government he served. But to them, 
 and more especially to the women-folk, Cecily was 
 different. She never had unpleasant duties to perform ; 
 she never exacted payment for rent, or for the gifts 
 which she gave so readily j she was always at liberty 
 when they sought her aid or her sympathy ; a mother 
 
CECILr 185 
 
 with a sick child, a weeping girl with some sad little 
 story to tell to kind ears, a shock-headed little boy in 
 trouble with his parents, all the afflicted of body or 
 mind, all the sad, and the sorry,' and the sick, came to 
 her instinctively for comfort, aid and encouragement, 
 and none ever came in vain. She made many mistakes 
 at first, as for instance when Frank found her doing 
 her utmost to force a dose of medicine down the throat 
 of a protesting and reluctant villager who, on enquiry, 
 proved to have come to seek physic for an ailing 
 brother ; but her mistakes were few, and she laughed at 
 them as merrily as did the folk about her. Malays are 
 not an enthusiastic race, but the people of Kuala 
 Senangan began to find that their lives were the 
 brighter for the presence of the light-hearted, great- 
 souled little English girl in her pretty bungalow on the 
 beach. Frank looked on wondering. In the days 
 when he had striven so manfully to know and under- 
 stand the natives he had never during long years won 
 for himself half the love which the people of Kuala 
 Senangan lavished upon Cecily, before she had been 
 twelve months among them. He wondered within 
 himself what was the origin of her strange power over 
 those around her, for in truth his sympathy with them 
 was as keen as hers, and his knowledge of the people 
 was deeper and vaster than any to which she could ever 
 hope to attain. Perhaps the key to it all was to be 
 found in the fact that even when he laboured most 
 diligently to know and understand them, when he was 
 fullest of sympathy for their needs and aspirations, and 
 most anxious to aid and befriend them, the natives had 
 realised what he had lost sight of, that all his efforts on 
 
i86 -SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 their behalf, and all his study of their wants and troubles, 
 had been inspired by the desire to gratify himself. It 
 had not been so much from love of the Malays as from 
 a wish for personal knowledge that his studies had been 
 prosecuted, and of this they had been instinctively 
 aware. But Cecily brought to them a ready love and 
 sympathy which were wholly unselfish, and the mere 
 fact that she did not know too much about them, made 
 intercourse with her a simpler thing for her native 
 friends than it could ever be to them where her husband 
 was concerned. So the girl won her place in the hearts of 
 Frank's people, and in her own bright home ; and in the 
 happiness which she spread around her, she soon found 
 a measureless content which could never know satiety. 
 
 Cecily was sitting upon the verandah one after- 
 noon, Frank, as usual being still absent at the office, 
 when a heavy, stupid-looking Malay crept up the low 
 stair-case which led from the ground, and squatted on 
 the floor, picking at the cocoanut matting with slow, 
 nervous fingers. He was a man of about five or six 
 and thirty, a fisherman, judging by his dark, sun- 
 tanned skin, and his face was so dull and expressionless 
 that it was only because the girl was used to observing 
 the looks of those about her closely, that she was able 
 to perceive what she fancied was some trace of anxiety 
 in her visitor's countenance and attitude. Cecily 
 glanced up at him brightly, with the smiles which 
 came so readily to her lips. 
 
 ' What is the news ? ' she asked. 
 
 ' The news is good,' replied the man mechanically. 
 He spoke slowly, and the restless motion of his fingers 
 
CECILY 187 
 
 never ceased for a moment. He kept his eyes fixed 
 firmly upon the mat in front of him, and it must be 
 owned that he looked most uncommonly gauche and 
 stupid. 
 
 ' What thing is it that thou needest ? ' asked 
 Cecily, for it was evident to her that this man would 
 never have come to an interview, which obviously 
 overpowered him with discomfort, unless he had some 
 important object in view. 
 
 '■Ann ! ' The Malay jerked the monosyllable out 
 with a supreme effort, and then relapsed into his 
 former stolid silence. Cecily's brows contracted into 
 little petulant furrows. The word ' anu ' means just 
 nothing at all, — ' What do you call it ? ' ' Thingabob,' 
 — and it annoyed the girl to see a great hulking man 
 like this unable even to find words in which to voice 
 the request which he had evidently come to make. 
 
 ' Speak,' she said. 'What ails thee ? ' 
 
 '■J'nu ! ' ejaculated her visitor once more, and then 
 paused again to collect his scattered wits. ^Anu ! 
 It is in this wise. As it were, my wife is sick, as it 
 were ; for lately, as it were, she did give birth to a 
 man-child. I, thy servant, made vows to the Shrine 
 of Habid Nur, promising to slaughter a goat, as it 
 were, if we were granted a man-child, as it were, and 
 now that I have slaughtered the said goat my child, 
 as it were, is dying too. Therefore, as it were, I, thy 
 servant, am like to lose man-child, and goat, and wife, all 
 three together, without any fitting or suitable reason.' 
 
 His heavy stolid face worked queerly, and a large 
 beady tear welled up over one eye-lid, and slid slowly 
 down his cheek.. 
 
i88 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' Of what manner is the said sickness ? ' asked 
 Cecily, from whose face all signs of impatience had 
 now entirely vanished. 
 
 'Jnu ! ' said the man once more. ' Behold, as it 
 were, it is a sickness. Were I, thy servant, to describe 
 it, I, thy servant, should be like to err, and behold I, 
 thy servant, am reluctant to lie. Were I, thy servant, 
 to name it a fever, perchance 'tis no fever ; were I to 
 deny that it is fever, perchance, as it were, it may be 
 a fever of the most heated. Allah alone knoweth, 
 Allah and thyself, Mem, as it were j but behold, as it 
 were, 'tis a sickness. That, as it were, is certain.' 
 
 While he rambled on, the fat, round tears continued 
 to chase one another down his cheeks, and Cecily, 
 seeing that no help was to be looked for from him, 
 gathered up her little medicine - case — the black 
 japanned box in which, the natives said the Mem 
 carried many potent charms, and a little healing Spirit, 
 — and almost before the man had done droning his 
 vague diagnosis of his wife and child's ailments, she 
 bade him briskly lead the way, and loaded him with 
 a couple of hot-bottles, a large roll of flannel, and 
 several other things which she thought might aid her 
 in her ministrations. 
 
 She was so used to the queer manners of the 
 Malays about her, that she experienced no feeling of 
 irritation at the extreme stupidity of her companion, 
 who, now that he was once fairly started, continued 
 to babble aimlessly, punctuating every sentence with 
 ' as it weres ' as is the custom of some of the more 
 ignorant among the natives. Her quick feminine 
 sympathy recognised beneath all the talk about it. 
 
CECILY 189 
 
 and the occasional lamentations for the loss of the 
 slaughtered goat, a very real distress for the sufferings 
 which his wife was enduring, and a misery of grief 
 at the prospect of her approaching death, which event 
 he noisily proclaimed his belief was imminent and 
 unpreventable. Had the man been a Malay of the 
 upper classes it is probable that he would have con- 
 sidered it due to himself to preserve a stoical air of 
 complete indifference in the face of his trouble, and 
 such an attitude would have had less power to enlist 
 the sympathies of the English girl than had the 
 awkward, comically expressed sorrow of the poor 
 fisherman. 
 
 It was not yet four o'clock, and the sun still stood 
 high in the Western sky, as Cecily and her companion 
 passed through the villages on their way to the latter's 
 hut. The salt sea air was fresh along the shore, but 
 in among the native houses, where half the population, 
 women and children alike, were busy pounding prawns 
 into the evil-smelling compound called bldchan, and 
 drying great flat flakes of fish upon mats spread in 
 the open spaces before their huts, the very wind, 
 blowing amid the palm-trees, was heavy with the 
 sickening odours which are to be met with in per- 
 fection only in a fishing-village of the tropics. The 
 pungent reek of the drying fish, the salt, stale smells 
 emitted by the fishing tackle lying about in all 
 directions were things to which Cecily was now well 
 used. They often made her feel sick and faint, but 
 she had fought against the feeling of repulsion from 
 the first, and she was too completely unselfish to 
 suffer such unpleasantnesses to interfere with her acts 
 
igo ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 of mercy to the people about her. Several of the 
 women looked up at her from the work upon which 
 they were engaged, smiling brightly as they saw the 
 White Woman approaching, and it was amid a fire of 
 courteous, genial questions, and kindly words of greet- 
 ing that she passed between the close-set huts and 
 compounds. The children ran after her, dancing 
 about her, for the pockets of her short skirt were 
 often loaded with sweet things, such as the little ones 
 loved, and one tiny naked girl, bolder than her fellows, 
 tugged gently at Cecily's dress. She stooped and 
 picked the little thing up tenderly in her arms, and 
 kissed her. 
 
 ' I will go with thee, Mem,' said the little girl, 
 nestling closely to her kind breast, and patting her 
 cheek softly with tiny, caressing hands. 
 
 ' My daughter is a very evil person, Mem,' cried 
 the child's mother. ' Do not suffer her to molest 
 thee. Hat, ^^.ng, thou art verily an evildoer.' 
 
 The child displayed the complete indifference to 
 reproof common to the majority of small native 
 children, who know that most of the abuse which 
 is so freely lavished upon them by their parents is of 
 a purely formal character, only indulged in for the 
 sake of appearances, and altogether unconnected with 
 the behaviour of the urchin to whom it is applied. 
 The little girl in Cecily's arms only nestled the closer 
 when she heard her mother's words, and laughed up 
 at the kind, pale face above her with the happy con- 
 fidence of childhood. 
 
 ' I will go with thee also, Mem,' she said again. 
 
 'Tomorrow thou shalt come with me, Httle one,' 
 
CECILY 191 
 
 answered Cecily, ' but today I may not bear thee 
 whither I am wending, for I go to tend one who is 
 smaller even than thou art, and I may not tarry on 
 the way.' She put the child down as tenderly as she 
 had lifted her up. ' Take this, little one, to comfort 
 thee,' she added, putting some sweeties into the little 
 hands held ready to receive them. The child looked 
 up at her with wondering eyes. 
 
 ' Pity filleth me for the little one who aileth,' she 
 said gravely, repeating, as children will, a phrase of 
 which she but dimly comprehended the meaning. 
 Then she ran away gleefully, screaming to her play- 
 mates, to share with them some portion of her newly 
 acquired treasure. 
 
 'She goeth to tend the woman of Mat Sam for 
 whom the dank earth is already yelling to the coffinn 
 planks, crying " Haste ! Haste J " ' said a woman who 
 was drying fish before her house to another who sat 
 near her. The latter looked up after the retreating 
 figure of Cecily. 
 
 ' The Medicine Men have done all things according 
 to their wisdom but without avail,' she said. ' How 
 then should the Mem prevail against the strength of 
 the evil spirits which so grievously afflict Mat Sam's 
 woman ? ' 
 
 'When the big house has to be abandoned one 
 must be content with a smaller ; when one hath no 
 rattan a root or a creeper may prove useful,' said the 
 first speaker sententiously, quoting the oft-used pro- 
 verbs of her people. 
 
 ' Who is this White Woman ? ' asked a voice near 
 them. 
 
192 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 Both women looked up at the speaker. She was 
 tall and fair for a Malay, with clearly cut features, and 
 very strongly marked black eyebrows above a pair of 
 marvellous, brilliant eyes. She was a stranger to both 
 women, and her accent told them plainly enough that 
 she was not a native of any part of the Senangan 
 Valley. 
 
 'She is the JHem,' said the elder of the- two women 
 simply. To them such an explanation was all sufficient. 
 Surely all men knew of the wonderful White Woman 
 who had come to live in the bungalow on the 
 beach. 
 
 ' What is her name ? ' asked the stranger roughly. 
 
 ' God alone knoweth,' said both the women together. 
 ' Men call her only the Mem, and perchance she hath 
 no other name.' 
 
 The tall stranger stamped her foot impatiently. It 
 was a very small and shapely foot, which might com- 
 pare for beauty with Cecily's own. 
 
 'All White Women are called Mems^ she said. 
 ' What is the name of this Infidel woman's husband ? ' 
 
 ' He is the Great Tuan,' replied the younger of the 
 two women, and her companion added sulkily, ' Infidel 
 or Daughter of the Faithful, she is good and kind, and 
 sweet to all of us, and it is not well for a stranger to 
 miscall our Mem^ 
 
 ' One saith the woman is called Mem, and the other 
 that her man is the Great Tuan ! ' cried the stranger 
 apostrophising the world at large, with out-stretched 
 arms. ' Ya Allah ! Verily these women be as frogs 
 beneath a cocoanut shell who dream not that there is 
 any world beyond their narrow pen ! ' Then turning 
 
CECILT 193 
 
 sharply on the women at her feet, ' And what may be 
 the name of this Great Tuan of thine ? ' 
 
 ' God alone knoweth ! ' ejaculated the woman as 
 before j and the stranger, with an angry flounce of 
 her silken draperies, turned impatiently away from 
 them. The women resumed their labour among 
 the unsavoury fish as though nothing unusual had 
 occurred. 
 
 'She is one whose parents have neglected to give 
 fitting instruction in polite manners,' they said one to 
 another, in explanation of the stranger's rudeness, and 
 then fell to discussing the probable death of the woman 
 whom Cecily had gone to attend. 
 
 Cecily, as she passed, had noticed the strange woman, 
 for she now knew almost every soul in the Senangan 
 Valley by sight, and she fancied that the woman had 
 looked curiously and malevolently at her. The tall, 
 silk-clad figure, and the strongly-marked, beautiful face, 
 in such striking contrast to the native women whom 
 Cecily was accustomed to see in her walks abroad, 
 would have attracted her attention at any time, but 
 she was so well used to kind words and pleasant 
 glances from the Malays about her, that anything 
 resembling a hostile look made her shrink within 
 herself with a strange feehng of repulsion, and un- 
 defined uneasiness. Love from those about one is a 
 thing to which one who experiences it becomes so 
 used, and so greedy for withal, that any lack of it, no 
 matter how slight and unimportant, has power to hurt 
 as habitual hostility can never do. As she pressed 
 forward with rapid steps upon her work of mercy, she 
 asked the babbling and furtively weeping man at her 
 
194 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 heels whether he knew aught of the woman whom 
 they had passed. 
 
 ' I, thy servant, know her not,' he replied. ' But, 
 as it were, a pdyang — a large native sailing-craft — hath 
 this day arrived at Kuala Senangan. There are folk 
 in it, as it were, men, as it were, strangers to the 
 Senangan Valley, Men say that, as it were, they 
 belong to Pelesu, and perchance this woman is one of 
 these people, as it were. But of this I, thy servant, 
 know nothing that is certain, as it were, and behold I, 
 thy servant, am very reluctant to lie to thee, Mem.' 
 
 ' Pelesu people are they ? ' thought Cecily. ' I 
 wonder whether Frank knows any of them. He will 
 be interested to hear about them I am sure.' She 
 passed on through the village with the man still follow- 
 ing at her heels, until presently he stopped her before 
 the entrance to a tiny compound, in which a house 
 stood up to its knees in rubbish, and literally smothered 
 by trailing palm -fronds, smooth banana trees, and 
 drooping branches of mangosteens and rambutans 
 weighed down half to the ground by the load of 
 ripening fruit. Cecily climbed lightly up the rough 
 ladder of boughs which led from the ground to the 
 low door-way of the hut. The interior was much the 
 same as that of any other Malay hut occupied by 
 natives of the lower class, and Cecily was well used to 
 their squalor and utter lack of comfort. The house 
 consisted of one room, oblong in shape, but a small 
 portion of it was screened ofF from the rest by a low 
 partition, over which hung a number of soiled sarongs 
 and tattered, frowsy garments. The only light that 
 penetrated into the room came from the door-way. 
 
CECILT 195 
 
 now blocked by Cecily and her companion, and the 
 interior was very dim, and doubly so to the girl who 
 had just entered from the full glare of the bright, glad 
 sunshine of a Malayan afternoon. In a few moments 
 her eyes became accustomed to the gloom, and she 
 then saw the various ugly details which taken together 
 made up a strange picture of disorder and discomfort. 
 At the back of the room, enclosed in a frame of 
 blackened and charred wood, the masses of earth and 
 ashes which formed the simple cooking-range of the 
 family could be dimly discerned. A banked fire 
 burned in its midst, smouldering sullenly. A score of 
 dirty plates and dishes, with half as many cooking- 
 pots tumbled about amongst them, all with unpleasant 
 looking fragments of food and rice adhering to them, 
 were littered over the floor around the fire-place with- 
 out pretence to order or arrangement. A naked and 
 very filthy little boy sat playing with the warm ashes, 
 and now and again picking furtively at the unappetis- 
 ing scraps on the dirty pots and dishes. Over the 
 fire-place a shelf hung suspended from the low roof, 
 and on it a few poor household stores, all black with 
 soot, were placed to be free from the onslaughts of 
 ants and cockroaches. On other shelves, formed by 
 the rafters of the hut, dingy rolls of mats, dusty rattan 
 and palm -leaf baskets, and other musty and grimy 
 rubbish, the disused lumber of years, were stored in 
 untidy heaps. The floors were covered with mats 
 fashioned from thick leaves of the mengkAang palm, 
 torn at the edges, and soiled by much use. An old 
 wooden sirih-hox, brown and battered, a spittoon or 
 two of coarse green earthenware, some more plates 
 
196 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 and cups, and one or two heaps of soiled clothes lay 
 scattered about the floor in hopeless confusion. A 
 large-limbed, heavy-looking native girl, a sister of Mat 
 Sam's ailing wife, occupied the centre of the room, 
 sitting cross-legged on the matted floor, with a tiny 
 scrap of brown humanity, the sick baby, in her arms. 
 It was wailing piteously, and it rocked its little head 
 ceaselessly, but very feebly, from side to side, and the 
 sound of its cry went straight to the soft heart of the 
 English girl. The atmosphere of the hut was stifling, 
 and the suggestions of half a hundred contending 
 odours made the air heavy and sickening, but Cecily 
 had no thought for her own discomfort as she threw 
 herself upon her knees at the side of the sitting woman 
 and took the baby tenderly from her. There were 
 three other children in the hut, the boy by the fire- 
 place, and two equally dirty little girls who, with the 
 maternal instincts of their sex, sat looking at the sick 
 baby out of wide compassionating eyes. Cecily spoke 
 to the eldest of the children bidding her take the 
 others out of the crowded hut, and when they had 
 gone she turned her attention to the poor little 
 atomy in her arms. It was hideously small, giving 
 Cecily, as she held it, the uncomfortable sensation of 
 contact with some tiny, half-formed animal. Its head 
 was disproportionately large for the size of its body, 
 and was disfigured by a clot of tangled black hair, 
 matted and damp, while the little pinched face was 
 rendered indescribably grotesque by two straight, coal- 
 black eyebrows, made by a mixture of cocoanut oil 
 and soot, smudged in above the eyes which burned 
 with fever. It was the weirdest little creature to look 
 
CECILT 197 
 
 upon that can well be imagined, — more like some tiny 
 brown ape or an elfish changeling, than a living human 
 being, — but Cecily, all the mother which lies latent in 
 most good women thoroughly awakened, nursed and 
 gentled it as tenderly as though it had been her 
 own. 
 
 'The Pen-anggal'^ is having her will of him,' said 
 the girl stolidly to Cecily. ' No charm seemeth to be 
 of any avail. See, we have hung a disused fishing- 
 net above the hammock of the Little One, but that 
 has not kept the Pen-anggal away from him, for the 
 fits which mark her coming are with him even now.' 
 
 ' How long is it since this Little One was given 
 the breast ? ' she asked as she felt the baby's thready 
 pulse. 
 
 ' His mother is ailing, and since yesternight the 
 Little One hath had nought to eat save only rice, and 
 bananas, and molasses,' replied the girl. 
 
 ' How old is the child ? ' asked Cecily, aghast at 
 the idea of such a dietary for an infant in delicate 
 health. 
 
 ' This, as it were,' said the man Mat Sam, ' is the 
 seventh day of its age. No, perhaps it is the eleventh, 
 or, may be the twentieth. Try to remember, Minah, 
 how many days ' 
 
 Cecily cut his rambling speech short. 
 
 'Bring water,' she cried suddenly. 'Water hot 
 from the fire. Quick ! Quick ! ' 
 
 ^ Pen-atiggal is the name of a Spirit which is supposed to be the 
 direct cause of infantile convulsions. It is popularly supposed to be the 
 wraith of a woman who has died in childbirth. The name is derived 
 from tanggal to undo, and it means ' The One who is Undone.' 
 
198 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 'Would it not be well, as it were, if the Mem 
 would first see the woman my wife ? ' asked the man 
 tentatively. ' Behold the Spirits are making an on- 
 slaught upon the Little One, my man-child, and, as it 
 were, no one can now aid him ; but my wife, as it were, 
 is afflicted by a sickness in which perchance ' 
 
 'Go fetch hot water with speed, as I command 
 thee, and let there not be so many words ! ' cried 
 Cecily almost fiercely. Every moment she knew 
 was of importance if the child was to be saved, and 
 it maddened her to hear this man babbling aimlessly 
 on, instead of affording her the assistance she needed. 
 ' Fetch the big cooking-pot yonder,' she added to the 
 girl Minah. ' Fetch it and clean it out quickly ! ' 
 
 Both Mat Sam and Minah ran to do her bidding, 
 for in time of stress when once the man or woman of 
 a superior race takes charge of things, and makes use 
 of the uncompromising imperative mood, few among 
 the people of a lesser breed stay to ask for reasons or 
 explanations. Cecily's gaze was fixed upon the little 
 crumpled, wizened thing in her arms, and her fore- 
 head was knit in anxious puckers, for the tiny hands 
 were twitching slightly, as though tugged at gently 
 by some unseen string. 'The poor mite is half 
 starved,' she thought. ' If only I can pull it through 
 these terrible convulsions, and can give it a little 
 nourishing food I may be able to save it. Natives 
 are so wonderfully susceptible to treatment, even 
 when they are at the last gasp. O my dear God ! 
 vouchsafe to spare this little one to its poor parents.' 
 
 The hot water in the newly cleaned cooking-pot 
 was ready now, and Cecily, having carefully tested 
 
CECILY 199 
 
 the heat, plunged the little baby into it, her lips and 
 heart never ceasing their prayer for heavenly aid, w^hile 
 her deft hands did all things that human ingenuity 
 could suggest. 
 
 Presently, as the anxious father and aunt wratched 
 it, the child's hands ceased to tw^itch and contract, and 
 as its strength did not seem to be sensibly diminished, 
 Cecily heaved a great sigh of relief. 
 
 ' Open this,' she said to the man, taking a tin of 
 Brand's Essence from the basket of things w^hich she 
 had brought w^ith her, ' Open it thus, and thus.' 
 
 The man obeyed, and Cecily succeeded in pouring 
 a spoonful of the liquid dowrn the child's throat. In 
 the tropics there is no need to melt things ; Nature 
 takes such vsrork off our hands unasked. In a little 
 space the child, further fortified by some weak brandy 
 and vsrater, fell into a sound sleep, and Cecily placed 
 it gently in its hammock, and declared that she w^as 
 now ready to attend to the mother. 
 
 The man had already disappeared into the little 
 room formed by the low partition, and when Cecily 
 entered she saw him sitting on the sleeping-mat with 
 outstretched legs supporting the half sitting, half 
 reclining, form of his sick wife on his breast and in 
 his arms. An old woman — a local monthly nurse — 
 was also in attendance, and two or three other women 
 sat about the floor. A brasier of live embers stood 
 near the sleeping-mat, and the heat given off by it, 
 and the crowd of hot human beings in the narrow 
 space, produced an atmosphere which made Cecily 
 feel faint and sick. But, as usual with her, her 
 thoughts were not of herself. ' If it be bad for me 
 
200 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 what must it be for this poor ailing woman ? ' she said 
 to herself. ' Small wonder if she does not get well in 
 such a place.' 
 
 All the while that Cecily had been fighting for the 
 life of the little one in the adjoining room, she had 
 been conscious of an under-current of lamentation 
 from around the bed on which the sick woman lay. 
 Her entrance was the signal for a fresh outbreak. 
 
 ' Ya Allah ! How very sick she is ! ' cried one of 
 the women. 
 
 ' Alas, but in truth we shall miss her sorely when 
 she is gone from us ! ' whimpered another. 
 
 ' My wife, my woman, my loved one ! ' cried the 
 man, the great beady tears running down his cheeks 
 in good earnest. 'She is dying, as it were, dying, 
 dying ; and in a little space she will be dead ! ' 
 
 ' Peace ! peace ! ' said Cecily gently. She knelt 
 down on the edge of the sleeping-mat and took the 
 sick woman's hand in her own. 
 
 ' Have no fear, Sister,' she said softly. ' Death is 
 yet a long distance removed from thee, have no fear.' 
 She turned to the man, and bade him and the women 
 leave the room, only one of the latter remaining to 
 act as her assistant. A few simple questions, answered 
 by the sick woman in a voice which though weak was 
 certainly not that of one on the threshold of death, 
 soon showed Cecily the extent of the trouble with 
 which she had to contend, and it made her smile to 
 think of the serious view taken by the natives of a 
 sickness which could so speedily and so easily be 
 relieved. If left in the hands of her own people, who 
 had already abandoned hope, it was not improbable 
 
CECILY 201 
 
 that the woman might have died, but even Cecily's 
 slight knovirledge of medicine wras sufficient to ensure 
 instant relief, which would be followed, almost certainly, 
 by a speedy and total recovery. She set about her 
 task quickly, and in half an hour, when she called 
 Mat Sam back to see his wife, the latter was free 
 from pain, was able to take some rice-water gruel 
 with appetite, and was altogether out of any danger 
 of death. The results had been obtained very simply, 
 but to the natives it was little short of a miracle, and 
 Mat Sam looked up wonderingly at this White Woman 
 who had given back the sunshine to his life, and 
 followed her about the room with adoring eyes. 
 Cecily, true to her instincts as an Englishwoman, 
 could not depart content until she had set the house 
 in order. She made Mat Sam cut a window in the 
 wall then and there, and aided by the women, she 
 washed, and folded, and swept, till the little hut 
 looked as neat as a new-made pin. It would be 
 just as dirty and untidy in a day or two, she knew, 
 but for the time it was clean and almost comfortable, 
 and she glanced round it with something like pride, 
 as she stood by the door-way giving final directions 
 as to the further treatment of her two patients. The 
 Malays squatted about her heels, and listened lovingly 
 to her words, and promised faithfully never to roast 
 any sick person over a brasier again without the 
 Mem's permission, for that, Cecily discovered, had 
 been the explanation of the red-hot embers in the 
 sickroom. 
 
 No word of thanks was said, for such is not the 
 custom of the Malays, but she left praising lips, and 
 
202 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 grateful hearts behind her, and as she stepped through 
 the door-way Mat Sam touched the hem of her skirt 
 with loving fingers, for within his dull heart he said, 
 'In the very touch of one so good there must be 
 virtue.' 
 
 Cecily made her way home to the bungalow on 
 the beach where Frank awaited her, her heart singing 
 with content, and the lovely evening lights that fell 
 around her seemed, to those who watched her, like the 
 halo of a Saint. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 
 
 Hide it and cover it, bury it deep, 
 
 Pile stones on the covering sod j 
 Dream tliat 'tis ended, and ever will sleep. 
 
 Forgotten of men, and of God. 
 Let the grass grow high where the Sin lies dead, 
 
 Leave nothing to marlc the place ; 
 Yet, sooner or later, 'twill rear its head 
 
 To stare once more in your face. 
 
 The Secret. 
 
 The glaring day was ended, and the fragrant night- 
 winds were spreading a delicious coolness amid the 
 rustling palm-fronds and the shivering casuarina trees. 
 Far out to sea, on the very rim of the horizon, the 
 glorious Eastern moon was rising from out the heaving 
 waters, red as a sun at evening, huge, wonderful, with 
 little dusky films obscuring its glowing face. Its rays, 
 thrown horizontally across the sea, cleft the black bulk 
 of the shadows with a lane of light, and the endless 
 line of leaping, tumbling wave-crests caught and lost 
 the flecks of radiance as in turn they rose and fell, and 
 rose again. Frank and Cecily seated on the wide 
 verandah of their bungalow watched the moon-rise 
 framed between the straight stems of two cocoanut 
 
204 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 palms, the spreading fronds, shapeless in the semi- 
 darkness, arching over it in graceful broken curves. 
 
 Cecily had returned from her visit to the sick 
 people too late for the walk which she and Frank were 
 accustomed to take together, and as they had been 
 apart all day, they were now comparing notes as to 
 their experiences during the hours of separation. Frank 
 had been telling his wife of an interview which he had 
 had with a deputation of the leading villagers of the 
 Valley praying for the instant destruction, or at the 
 least the banishment, of a reputed witch-wife, whom 
 they accused of harbouring a Familiar Spirit, which, 
 they said, had already wrought much evil to the health 
 of her neighbours. This was the matter which, as 
 Frank had divined, had been exercising the minds of 
 the chiefs for days. Among a superstitious people 
 such petitions always present a difficulty to the intelli- 
 gent White Ruler. He knows that the folk who pray 
 for the banishment of a wizard or a witch are acting 
 in good faith, and go in deadly fear both for their 
 personal safety, and for that of those whom they hold 
 most dear. He knows, too, that the accused, in all 
 probability, believes him or herself to be endowed with 
 supernatural and occult powers ; and he is also aware 
 that no words of his will have strength to disabuse the 
 minds of the people of these preconceived opinions. If 
 he takes no action at all it is not unlikely that the 
 wizard will, in a month or two succumb to some 
 unlikely illness, and then, it may be necessary to hang 
 some popular hero who has sacrificed himself to free the 
 community of a public danger, — which is unpleasant. 
 On the other hand it is not easy to hit upon a line of 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 205 
 
 conduct which, while it satisfies the people, will not 
 be an obvious and unpardonable injustice to the person 
 accused. Frank, who knew his natives thoroughly, 
 and felt very strongly for the people whom the witch- 
 wife had, in all probability, been at some pains to 
 frighten into the belief they held, was a good deal 
 bothered about the matter, and, as his custom now 
 was, he had talked to Cecily at some length about his 
 perplexities. 
 
 ' Oh, that reminds me, Frank,' said Cecily, when 
 the matter had been discussed in all its varying aspects. 
 ' I saw such a curious looking woman today. She 
 might have been a witch, I am sure. She was very 
 tall and graceful, for a Malay, with very clear-cut 
 features, and the most wonderful eyes you ever saw in 
 all your life. She was beautiful even now, and when 
 she was a few years younger she must have been quite 
 a lovely girl. What a pity it is that native women 
 lose their looks so quickly. I do not suppose that this 
 woman could have been more than thirty.' 
 
 ' I never saw any one whose geese had such splendid 
 plumage as yours, Cecily,' laughed Frank. 'Talk of 
 swans ! Why, peafowl are not in it. I know most 
 of the youth and beauty of the Senangan Valley by 
 sight, and they all have mouths like cracks in a mud 
 fence, and noses like little squabs of putty.' 
 
 Cecily laughed. ' But this girl is not a Senangan 
 woman,' she said. ' Mat Sam told me that a boat had 
 just arrived from Pelesu, and that this girl was one of 
 the people who came in her.' 
 
 ' From Pelesu ? ' murmured Frank rather faintly, 
 
 ' Yes, from Pelesu, I know he said so, because I 
 
zo6 ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 remember wondering if you would know any of the 
 people on board the boat.' 
 
 ' I wonder,' said Frank moodily. Were there two 
 such women in Pelesu ? he asked himself. It seemed 
 to the last degree improbable, but even if it were 
 Maimilnah, she would hardly molest him now. She 
 had nothing to complain of. He had treated her 
 liberally, even though he owed her nothing, for had it 
 not been to deliver her from a bondage which she 
 hated that he had committed the great sin and folly of 
 his life ? Still he could not bear the idea of Cecily 
 learning the secret which he had guarded so religiously, 
 but that, too, was hardly likely. He had already paid 
 the price of his sin by losing his chance of the Agent- 
 ship at Pelesu, and the calamity which discovery would 
 mean to him was so appalling, so overwhelming, that 
 though he might picture such a thing happening to 
 another, he could not connect such trouble with him- 
 self. Men are often persuaded thus illogically of their 
 own immunity to the sorrows to which others are 
 exposed, each one of us carrying in his heart of hearts 
 a boundless, instinctive faith in his own star. But for 
 the confidence felt by each man amongst us that he 
 will escape unscathed, no matter what fate may befall 
 his neighbours, it would be almost impossible to induce 
 any given crowd of fighters to go into action. It is the 
 temporary loss of this faith in our own good fortune that 
 causes the fits of masterless fear which we call panic. 
 
 'Although she was so beautiful,' continued Cecily, 
 ' I did not like her face at all. She looked wicked, 
 though perhaps I am misjudging her, poor thing. And 
 her eyes followed one with an expression in them as 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 207 
 
 though she hated all the world. I cannot describe it, 
 and may be it was all fancy ; but it made me feel 
 uncomfortable to know that those magnificent, fierce 
 eyes were turned upon me.' 
 
 Cecily got up, and crossing the verandah to her 
 husband's chair, sat down upon the floor at his feet, 
 caressing his hand with soft, tender fingers. 
 
 ' Frank, dear,' she said softly, looking up into her 
 husband's loving face with anxious questioning eyes. 
 ' Am I growing fanciful ? ' 
 
 ' Fanciful ? ' echoed Frank with crude, masculine 
 lack of comprehension. ' Fanciful ? No, why in the 
 world should you ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, I do not know,' returned the girl. ' I was 
 only wondering.' 
 
 A silence fell upon them. Cecily still sat upon the 
 floor, caressing her husband's hand ; but though they 
 were so near to one another in body, in spirit they 
 were separated by a gulf of unfathomable immensity, 
 of whose existence the girl was wholly unconscious, 
 while the man realised it but dimly. He was still 
 anxiously pondering on the disturbing thoughts which 
 had been evoked by Cecily's chance description of the 
 strange woman whom she had seen that afternoon. It 
 was like the dull throb of an aching tooth, not acute 
 enough to cause him to cry out, but suflicient to rob 
 him completely of all sense of comfort and well-being. 
 Frank had cursed his folly and his wickedness often 
 enough of late, and the days which he had lived with 
 one so pure as his wife had filled him with a passionate 
 loathing of sin in the abstract, which was now enor- 
 mously stimulated by the bare possibility of material 
 
2o8 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 consequences. Cecily, meanwhile, with a tender, 
 happy smile playing about her lips, sat dreaming, as 
 only holy womanhood may do, of the wonders which 
 the Future held hidden in her lap, marvels of whose 
 existence she had recently received a covert hint or 
 two. Presently she spoke again, bowing her head low 
 over the hand she still fondled and petted. 
 
 ' Frank,' she said. ' There was such a poor little 
 mite of a baby at the house I went to this afternoon. 
 A tiny, feeble creature, " with no language but a cry," 
 and the poor, silly people who loved it were letting it 
 die from sheer want of knowledge. It is piteous to 
 think of the loads of avoidable sorrow that the natives 
 have to bear, just because they are ignorant of the 
 simplest things, and put all their maladies down to the 
 account of the Spirits of Evil. It wrung my heart to 
 see the little face all puckered and creased with pain, 
 and I could have cried to think of the poor mother 
 lying there unable to help her own ailing child. I 
 think that we have succeeded in saving both of them. 
 Given a little intelligence, there was very little danger. 
 But I really believe that we shall save them both.' 
 
 ' You mean that you will have saved them, Cecily,' 
 said Frank. ' I wonder if you know how these people 
 love you ? ' 
 
 ' I do not know why they should, but I am getting 
 to love them, poor souls. I cannot help feeling for 
 them, they are so helpless, so childlike. But this 
 afternoon it was different, somehow. Everything is 
 different to me now. The sick mother, the ailing 
 child, they have a meaning that they never had before. 
 Frank, — cannot you — guess ? ' 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 209 
 
 The last word came in a whisper, very soft, scarcely 
 audible. Frank looked down at her startled out of his 
 own self-absortion,with a dawning understanding begin- 
 ning to show itself in his keen, firm face. For a minute 
 or two they sat in silence, the girl with bowed head, 
 petting her husband's hand, which pressed her own 
 fingers with a firmer, warmer grip, while he looked 
 lovingly down upon her trying in vain to win a sight 
 of her sweet face. He had been on the verge of telling 
 her all the story of MaimAnah, for he could not bear 
 the misery of keeping the ugly secret any longer con- 
 cealed from one so true as she, who trusted him with 
 a completeness and an absolute faith that delighted 
 while it pained him. But he thanked God that he 
 had not hastily followed his impulse, for now that he 
 understood what she had been attempting to tell him, 
 he felt that this was not the season for confessions 
 which could not fail to go near to breaking Cecily's 
 heart. Now his duty as well as his inclination told 
 him plainly that he must keep silence, and if the hour 
 of confession was ever to come it must be hereafter 
 when Cecily was strong enough to bear a shock with- 
 out risk. He heaved a sigh of relief as these thoughts 
 raced through his mind in an instant of time, and then 
 his whole soul was flooded with the wonder of that 
 which was about to befall Cecily and himself, with 
 pride, and delight, and fear, and with a vast wave of 
 pity and tenderness for his little wife. 
 
 He stooped and kissed her lovingly. Then putting 
 his hand under her chin, he turned her face gently 
 upwards so that he might see it. Cecily's whole 
 countenance was suffused with blushes, and her sweet 
 
 p 
 
2 10 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 eyes, which looked so bravely and so tenderly into his 
 own, were dewy with unshed tears. There are few 
 things more pathetic in this work-a-day world than 
 the first coming of Motherhood to a woman. To her 
 it is a precious fear, one more great sacrifice for the 
 man she loves. Her heart is filled at once with glad 
 self-surrender, with pride, with an intense fear, with 
 overflowing love for all about her, with an aching 
 tenderness for the little life whose coming she antici- 
 pates, and with an all -pervading sadness which is 
 infinitely sweet and holy. Hats off. Gentlemen ! 
 Here is something too high, and pure, and sacred for 
 our rude masculine understandings. 
 
 Yet a man may see these mysteries dimly, as in a 
 glass darkly, shadowed in the eyes of the woman he 
 loves, and Frank Austin, bending over the upturned 
 face of his wife, felt rather than saw a change in the 
 expression that he knew so well, — a look of happiness 
 which yet was infinitely full of pathos, — which set his 
 heart thumping against his ribs, and made the un- 
 accustomed tears rise to his eyes. 
 
 Cecily and her husband sat long on the verandah, 
 talking in soft whispers with a subdued but heart- 
 felt happiness over their new hopes and fears. Frank 
 had always been Cecily's lover, more so indeed as each 
 day of life together had forged new links of love to 
 bind him and his wife one to the other, than even in 
 the merry time of their engagement. But never had 
 Cecily found him more loving or more tender than he 
 was that evening. Her own heart went out to him 
 with a wave of more intense love than any she had 
 ever hitherto known, for the change which had come 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAS! 211 
 
 upon her seemed in a moment to have smoothed off 
 the hard little corners which are, in a measure, in- 
 separable from early girlhood, and had given her an 
 added capacity for loving, which made her former 
 great devotion to Frank seem faint and feeble in 
 retrospect. Thus it was that this evening a new and 
 delicious sweetness marked their intercourse with one 
 another, and the heart of each was full when at last 
 Frank, with an unaccustomed note of care and anxiety 
 in his voice, bade Cecily go to bed, lest she should 
 overdo herself by staying up to too late an hour. 
 
 He sat on after she had gone away, deep in thoughts 
 which were at once happy, sad, and tender. The 
 pride which throbs through a man at the knowledge 
 that the woman he loves is about to become the 
 mother of his child was, perhaps, the predominate 
 sentiment of which he was conscious, but his feelings 
 were so complex that it was not easy to analyse them. 
 He was aware of something not unlike panic, fear for 
 the safety of the woman he loved, whom he knew that 
 he was powerless to aid or save, a fear made more 
 keen by an instinctive dread that his happiness had 
 been too complete for long duration, that something — 
 he hardly dared say what — would surely come to mar 
 the perfection of his great well-being. No anxiety 
 for one's personal safety can match the terror which 
 is experienced on behalf of some one who is very dear, 
 and through all Frank's new happiness his fears for 
 Cecily, enormously exaggerated by his masculine 
 ignorance of the mysteries of birth, subdued and 
 solemnised his exultation. Of one thing he was now 
 certain. The time had come for a return to Europe. 
 
212 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 His ambitions had faded into nothingness during the 
 past year of married life, and for Cecily's sake they 
 were no longer worth the sacrifice he was making 
 for them. He anticipated that his wife would raise 
 objectiofts, and since he did not wish to worry her 
 with discussions, in which she would think only of 
 him and decline to have any solicitude for what was 
 best for herself, he decided to act at once. He went 
 to the little writing table at one end of the verandah, 
 and sitting down wrote his letter of resignation. 
 
 ' There ! That is done ! ' he said to himself, with 
 a sigh of relief, and something like a note of triumph 
 in his voice. ' It is only fair that I should give up 
 something for Cecily. God knows that she has 
 sacrificed enough for me, poor Angel ! 
 
 By the brand upon my shoulder, by the gall of clinging 
 
 steel, 
 By the welt the whips have left me, by the scars that never 
 
 heal ; 
 By eyes grown old with slaring through the sun-wash on 
 
 the brine, 
 I am paid in full for service — would that service still were 
 
 mine ! 
 
 I shall feel that often enough. I feel it now. But 
 come what may Cecily shall never know that I regret 
 having chucked the Service up, nor that I did it for 
 her sake.' 
 
 He went back to the other end of the verandah, 
 and threw himself down again in his long chair. The 
 boom and sea- sawing bellow of the bull -frogs, the 
 recurring ring of the night-jar's deep note, the iplash 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 213 
 
 of the paddles of a boat putting out to sea for the 
 fishing banks, the creaking of the rigging of twenty 
 sailing crafts lying at their moorings, and the rhythm 
 of the beating waves, blended in a sleepy cadence 
 lulling Frank, as the fragrant air breathed gently 
 round his face, cool but enervating. Two fawn- 
 coloured lizards, skating across the ceiling -cloth in 
 search of flies and insects, came into violent collision, 
 and one of them fell upon the mat-covered floor with 
 a sounding slap, causing Frank to start and look 
 round. As he did so something else fell on the 
 matting near him, a pebble this time, and Frank 
 glanced quickly about him to see whence it could 
 have come. Then out of the semi -darkness on his 
 right came another stone, tossed lightly from the deep 
 shadows. It landed on the mat some feet away from 
 him and rolled slowly to the chair on which he sat. 
 Frank rose up hurriedly, and running to the edge of 
 the verandah, leaned out, peering curiously into the 
 night. For a moment, blinded by the lights in the 
 room, he could see nothing, then out of the blackness, 
 and into the yellow glare of the hanging lamp there 
 came a face, a woman's face that made Frank stagger 
 backwards, clutching at his heart, as though he had 
 received a stunning blow. Then he looked again, 
 hoping, though he knew that the hope was vain, that 
 his senses had played him some strange prank, and as 
 he stood staring stupid and helpless, the woman came 
 slowly up the verandah stairs, and stood still before 
 him watching him half shame-facedly, half defiantly. 
 She was Maimunah. There could be no mistake as 
 to her identity. Frank knew the tall, graceful figure, 
 
214 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 the small, shapely, well-poised head, and the great, 
 luminous, passionate eyes only too well, and as he 
 looked at her he seemed to see again the girl in the 
 green sarong standing signalling to him on the banks 
 of the Pelesu river, while the glad morning song of 
 the birds was sounding in his ears. His nerves were 
 already tightly strung by the emotions of the evening, 
 and the shock of this woman's reappearance at this 
 particular moment, forewarned though to some extent 
 he had been, had power to utterly unman him. The 
 thought of her beneath the same roof as that which 
 sheltered Cecily had in it a repugnance, a horror, that 
 made him feel as though he were desecrating a shrine. 
 His one idea was to be rid of her, to drive her forth 
 from Cecily's home, to which her very presence 
 seemed a pollution. Yet he did not dare to cause a 
 commotion that might awaken his wife. It was not 
 only of himself that he thought. He dreaded the 
 eiiect of the shock of such a scene upon Cecily, the 
 sudden breaking of her world about her ears, and all 
 the crude harshness of an unexpected revelation with- 
 out one atom of comfort or consolation to soften the 
 bitterness. Had he told her the secret of his sin, as 
 he had so nearly done an hour agone, he could, 
 perhaps, have made her see some extenuating circum- 
 stances, some few excuses for the inexcusable. The 
 fact that his confession was voluntary, not forced upon 
 him by the inevitable, that it was his great love for 
 her that urged him to tell her of the sin which he had 
 committed against his God and against his future 
 wife, would in some sense have softened the keenness 
 of her distress, and would have helped to transform 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 215 
 
 her disgust into pity for him, and compassion for the 
 agony of his remorse. But now this was no longer 
 possible. A confession wrung from him by circum- 
 stances on the very eve of unavoidable discovery could 
 bring no balm to Cecily in her grief, and therefore, 
 Frank, who always thought rapidly, checked himself 
 from acting upon his first impulse. Instead he spoke 
 quietly to his unwelcome visitor, though his words 
 came in a harsh, rough voice which sounded strange 
 and unfamiliar in his ears as he uttered them. 
 
 ' What thing is it ? ' he said. He was feeling tragic 
 enough in all conscience, but in real life Englishmen, 
 at any rate, voice their thoughts in common-place 
 words, not in the dramatic or melodramatic language 
 of the trans-pontine stage. Maimunah stood looking 
 at him in silence, a mocking smile playing about her 
 lips, and he repeated his question once more. 
 
 ' What thing is it ? ' 
 
 ' Nothing,' she made answer, with a light rippling 
 laugh. ' Nothing. I have newly arrived from Pelesu. 
 Men said that thou hadst returned from the land of 
 the white folk, and, behold, for once they did not lie. 
 A pdyang was sailing to Kuala Senangan, and I, 
 knowing that thou didst love me, made shift to come 
 hither in it. Now by the clemency of Allah I have 
 arrived in safety.' 
 
 She paused in her speech, her eyes still fixed upon 
 Frank's face, and once more she laughed her soft, 
 musical laugh. The Englishman stood before her 
 helpless and miserable. 
 
 'And so thy so oftspoken intention of spending 
 the remainder of thy days in the chilly land where the 
 
ai6 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 white folk dwell hath come to nought ! ' MaimAnah 
 continued mockingly. 'And, behold thou hast also 
 given me a Honey ! ^ I spied her this afternoon 
 walking through the village, a sick-nurse, so the people 
 tell me, who is prized because she exacts no fee ! A 
 pretty Honey, in truth, for one like myself ! / never 
 consorted with low folk while I lived with thee, for / 
 was ever loth to bring shame upon my man.' 
 
 She laughed again, but this time there was a note 
 of passionate hatred and contempt in the tone which 
 jarred with the rippling music. Frank writhed with 
 impotent fury as he heard this woman speak of his 
 wife, the saint he revered as intensely as he loved her, 
 and he whispered fiercely to Maim^inah, bidding her be 
 silent. Then he walked out of the house, and, at a 
 sign from him, MaimAnah followed obediently at his 
 heels. The moon, now soaring high in the heavens, 
 had emerged from behind the heavy cloud-banks which 
 had obscured its face at the moment of MaimAnah's 
 coming, and as he passed in and out among the lace- 
 like shadows cast by the palm-fronds, Frank had no 
 difficulty in seeing his way. Maimiinah walked 
 behind him, with a flutter of silk skirts, and a gentle 
 rustle that seemed to fret Frank's tense nerves to 
 excruciation. The dwarfed shadows of the man and 
 the woman danced along upon the ground at their 
 sides like some hideous demons rejoicing at Frank's 
 misery. When they had reached a spot some few 
 
 ^ Honey {madu in the vernacular) is a slang term used to denote a 
 woman's co-wife, or the lover of a married woman. An injured husband 
 is called the Old Honey, and the lover Honey the Younger. The same 
 terms are used to describe the original wife of a man, and the woman 
 whom he may subsequently make her co-wife. 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 217 
 
 hundred yards distant from the house, where the palms 
 grew thickly, Frank halted and faced his enemy. 
 
 ' Listen,' he said sharply. ' If thou darest to name 
 my wife again as thou didst a moment since, I will kill 
 thee with^my hands. Dost thou understand ? Now 
 speak and be brief. What wantest thou with me ? ' 
 
 Maimfinah had too much of the traditions of her 
 people to question the probability of a man laying 
 violent hands upon a woman, and she had always 
 hitherto found Frank's bite at least as bad as his bark. 
 She bit her full lips till the blood ran warmly into her 
 mouth, and her face worked with fury ; but, for the 
 moment, she said nothing more about Cecily. It is 
 impossible to say how Frank would have acted had she 
 disregarded his warning. He was beside himself with 
 rage at all the world, hatred of his dead self, disgust at 
 the hideous Phantom of the Past which had risen up 
 to taunt and mock him, and had MaimAnah continued 
 to speak slightingly of the woman he loved he would 
 hardly have been responsible for his actions. 
 
 MaimAnah squatted down on the damp earth at his 
 feet, and would have caressed them but that he drew 
 angrily away from her touch. 
 
 ' Speak ! ' he repeated impatiently. ' Speak and be 
 brief. What wantest thou of me ? ' 
 
 ' Weh ' said Maimdilah pleadingly, using the pet 
 word which among Malays is equivalent to Sweetheart, 
 a word which once Frank had been wont to find very 
 sweet upon her lips. ' Weh, I want so very little. I 
 will say no more bitter things of thy Mem, if such be 
 thy order ; but I love thee, I love thee ! ' 
 
 Her great eyes looked up pleadingly into Frank's 
 
2i8 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 face which showed dead white in the moonlight, and 
 something between a sob and a groan broke from her 
 lips. 'Weh,' she whispered. 'Hast thou forgotten 
 all the ties that bind us twain together ? Others 
 sought me in marriage when I returned to the land of 
 Pelesu, some or so they said for the sweetness of my 
 face, and some for the merry sight of my white dollars, 
 thy gift, Weh. But always in my heart I said, 
 " Perchance he will return. I will be faithful and 
 patient, then when he cometh he will have no cause of 
 ofFence against me." So I waited yearning greatly after 
 thee, Weh, and in the hours of my so long expecting rice 
 would not satisfy, and sleep was without rest, and the 
 water was bitter to my lips by reason of my desire for 
 a sight of thine eyes, and the sound of thy voice. I 
 went to TAan Jan Noris many times seeking word of 
 thee, but he made as though he knew nothing con- 
 cerning thee, but at last word came to Pelesu that 
 thou wast here at Kuala Senangan, and I said within 
 my heart, " He will be glad, he will be glad." Then 
 when I landed from the pdyang that brought me hither, 
 I beheld thy Mem, and my liver within me was 
 crumbled to dust, and the little sinews about my knees 
 were slackened at the sight of her, for I said, " Now, 
 perchance, he will have no need of me." ' A great 
 sob checked her utterance, but she struggled hard with 
 her tears, and in a moment resumed her narrative. 
 Frank sat down upon the trunk of a fallen cocoanut 
 tree and buried his face in his hands. All at once he 
 felt himself to be the meanest as well as the most 
 miserable of men. He had always underrated 
 MaimAnah's affection and devotion to himself, but 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 219 
 
 now he began to realise something of its depth, and 
 the maddening pain of her disappointment at what 
 for a moment, so crazily had this world turned upside 
 down, seemed to him to be his desertion of her. He 
 knew enough of the passionate nature of the woman at 
 his feet to be sure that this disappointment and sorrow 
 would not be borne with patience or resignation, and 
 he shuddered to think what form its manifestations 
 would be likely to take. Would it kill Cecily to find 
 that her sweet confidence in him had been so terribly 
 misplaced ? He asked himself the question with a 
 painful tightening of his heart-strings. He would 
 willingly bear any punishment that might be meted 
 out to him for his ill-doing if only Cecily might be 
 saved from sharing in his pain. He was guilty, it was 
 right and fitting that he should suffer, and come what 
 might he would never complain, be his burden never so 
 heavy. But Cecily, she was innocent of all evil. 
 Why should she suffer for his sin ? And yet he knew 
 only too surely that nothing could befall him without 
 affecting her in at least equal measure. And so 
 thinking he groaned aloud. MaimAnah was still 
 speaking in that wistful, pleading piteous voice which, 
 together with her tearful eyes, seemed altogether at 
 variance with his recollection of her. 
 
 ' Then a great fear fell upon me, and I dared not go 
 to thy house lest thee and thy new Mem should do me 
 dishonour ; so I waited till all was still and the noon 
 of the night was near at hand. Then I did creep up 
 to the edge of thy verandah, and I beheld thee sitting 
 clothed after the manner of the White Men when they 
 make merry and dance and feast, but still thou wast 
 
220 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 my man, and my heart waxed big and warm at the 
 sight of thee. Then when I saw that thou wast filled 
 with pain and anger because of my coming, my liver 
 grew hot — hot as a live ember — in my breast, and I 
 spoke fool's words of thee and of thy Mem. Then 
 thou didst wax angry, threatening me even with death 
 at thy hands. That was thy greeting to me who for 
 so long had nursed the memory of thee in my soul, to 
 me who had come so far and suiFered so much that my 
 eyes might once more behold thee ! J^mbuil O Ma\l 
 How evil is the fate allotted to me ! ' Maimiinah's 
 voice had risen to a wail, and she beat her breast with 
 cruel, pitiless hands. Frank was still silent, and in a 
 minute or two MaimAnah began to speak once more. 
 
 'Weh, I know that I did evil to speak bitterly of 
 thy Mem. She is of the same race as thou art, and 
 may be thou lovest her, my Heart's Heart, even as I 
 love thee. How then shouldst thou brook ill words 
 spoken of her ? But now I seek thy forgiveness. I 
 crave pardon, one thousand, thousand pardons, and 
 thou wilt surely forgive for the sake of old memories, 
 and of the love that is still betwixt us twain, and of 
 the sweet days before she came.' 
 
 She looked up piteously into the face of the man 
 who sat, with elbows on knees, and his hands lying 
 flat, one on either cheek, looking despairingly forth 
 from wide, weary eyes that saw nothing but a vision 
 of the misery that was shattering the dream of happi- 
 ness which so late he' and Cecily had shared together. 
 With one of her rapid, graceful motions MaimAnah 
 threw herself along the ground at Frank's feet, seizing 
 him about the knees before he was aware of her 
 
J PHANTOM OF THE PAST 221 
 
 intention, and with her chin resting almost on his 
 lap looked up into his face with hungry, entreating 
 eyes. 
 
 ' But now, Weh, that I am sad at heart because in 
 my so great folly I have angered thee, and now that 
 thou hast forgiven me, I will be as a handmaiden to 
 this Mem of thine. She is a wife of thine own rank, 
 an istri, while I am but a gtindek^ a wife of lower 
 estate ; therefore it is fitting that she should have of 
 thy best. Let her live in thy palace on the beach, 
 even as I was wont to live in thy big house in that 
 other place of which we twain hold memories. Give 
 me but a hut of four uprights, and as many leaves of 
 thatch for roofing ; and of thy love give me in like 
 proportion. I, who was wont of old to have and to 
 claim the whole of thee, am willing, since so it is 
 decreed by Allah, to take now but a part, a part small 
 as the eye is to the elephant. I who was thy chiefest 
 Wife, thy sole Wife, will now be content to be thy 
 slave, and the slave of this new Mem of thine. Even 
 thus will I do for the sake of thee, and of the love that 
 lieth betwixt us twain.' 
 
 She broke down in a passion of tears, her iVhole 
 body heaving convulsively as she buried her face on 
 Frank's knees. From the point of view of herself and 
 her people, MaimAnah was acting with extraordinary 
 generosity. The idea of co-wifehood has always a 
 great repugnance for the woman of even a Muham- 
 madan population, and the old wife who finds herself 
 slighted for the new not uncommonly makes a world 
 of trouble before she becomes resigned to the inevit- 
 able. To Maimftnah's thinking, she was making 
 
222 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 things extremely easy for Frank, and the proposal 
 for a double menage had, in her eyes, — the eyes of a 
 Muhammadan woman, — no element of immorality. 
 Frank had given her a co-wife, and the memory of 
 this fact made her writhe, and filled her passionate 
 heart with hatred against her rival, and a wild tumult 
 of jealousy. It was only by sheer strength of will 
 that she had suppressed any further expression of her 
 feelings, when she saw that she was injuring her 
 cause by giving way to them ; and now, as she wept 
 bitterly at Frank's feet, she felt that she had acted 
 handsomely, and had done all, and more than all, that 
 a man could expect or hope for from a woman in her 
 position. Therefore she looked forward confidently 
 to Frank's eager acceptance of her proposals, and her 
 tears were now only caused by self-pity, because she 
 had been forced by circumstances to sacrifice her pride 
 for the sake of her great love. 
 
 Frank, on his part, had listened to her words, 
 stupidly, mechanically. He had not attempted to 
 withdraw himself from the clasp of her hands about 
 his knees, because it seemed to him to be cruel to 
 further and needlessly increase her misery by rough 
 treatment ; and he had not interrupted her because 
 in dealing with natives it had become habitual with 
 him to let them have their say out before he spoke. 
 Any premature speech on his part would only mean 
 an endless prolongation of the interview. The full 
 meaning of her words was not borne in upon his 
 deadened intelligence until some seconds after MaimA- 
 nah had ceased speaking. Then he disengaged her 
 hands, as gently as he could, and holding them firmly 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 223 
 
 between his own began to speak, slowly, huskily, and 
 with a strange monotony of intonation. 
 
 ' Listen Chik (Little One),' he said, using mechanic- 
 ally the pet name which he had been accustomed to 
 call her by during all the years of their familiar inter- 
 course. ' Listen, Little One, and try to understand. 
 I believed that thou wast well content and pleased in 
 Pelesu, that, perchance thou wast married, and that 
 we twain were parted for ever. Then I sailed back 
 to the Land of the White Folk, and presently I took 
 to myself a wife of mine own people, and to her 1 
 vowed before the altar of our God, as is the fashion of 
 our folk, that no co-wife should she have during all 
 the days of her life, nor should she be put away in 
 divorce while life lasted. Therefore, Little One, I 
 cannot do that which thou askest, for a vow made 
 before the altar of God may not be lightly broken.' 
 
 MaimAnah looked up at him with eyes wide with 
 despair. 'Swear to me that this thing is as thou 
 sayest ! ' she cried. 
 
 ' I swear it in the name of Allah ! ' replied Frank 
 promptly. 'Also, if that be not enough, I ask God 
 to blight me utterly, head and heart, and body and 
 soul, if that which I say to thee is not true talk.' 
 
 In common with other Malays of the lower class 
 Maimflnah had a superstitious horror of the evils of a 
 physical nature that might be expected to ensue upon 
 the breaking of a solemn vow, and Frank, who had an 
 unrivalled understanding of Malay character, had used 
 his knowledge to good purpose in this instance. She 
 made no further request that Frank should suffer her 
 to be a second wife to him, and she drew a little 
 
224 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 away from him, and remained buried in deep thought. 
 Presently she looked up at him and asked a question, 
 
 ' And the said vow holds so long as the woman thy 
 wife hath life in her ? ' 
 
 Frank nodded. 
 
 ' And if she die ? Is the vow then dispensed 
 with ? And is it then permitted that thou shouldst 
 marry again ? ' 
 
 'It is permitted,' said Frank. 'But if she die I 
 too should be as one dead. For I love her.' 
 
 MaimAnah drew in her breath sharply, as though 
 she were in physical pain. Then she leaped lightly 
 to her feet, and turned upon Frank a face drawn with 
 agony, and working with a fierce tumult of emotions. 
 Even in the pale moonlight it looked strangely pallid, 
 and had the light been stronger Frank would have 
 seen that her skin had turned to that ashen-grey hue 
 which, when noted on the face of a brown man or 
 woman, is infinitely more horrible to the eye than any 
 tint to which white folk can blanch. Her arms hung 
 down straight at her sides, her hands opened and 
 clenched again unceasingly, her whole erect, lithe 
 figure shook and quivered with the intensity of her 
 emotion, the apple in her throat jerked and throbbed, 
 like a living thing seeking to escape from capture, and 
 she fought fiercely for breath, and with the speech 
 which could not make itself articulate. She rocked 
 and swayed like a wind-shaken tree, and for more than 
 a minute Frank watched her struggles, fearful lest the 
 giant strength of her passion should kill her as she 
 stood before him. Then, at last, came speech to her 
 rescue — the safety-valve that saved the machine from 
 
A PHANTOM OF THE PAST 225 
 
 the explosion that otherwise would have shattered it to 
 fragments— and a torrent of tripping, stumbling, 
 curses and imprecations, words foul and filthy, and 
 terrible to listen to broke out on the stillness of the 
 clean night air. Awful, unthinkable things were said 
 in that moment of helpless, masterless pain and fury ; 
 things such as can only be dragged up from the depths 
 of an oriental soul in times of strong emotion to 
 affright the hearer by giving him a glimpse of the 
 nature of the unspoken thoughts which must have 
 lain concealed in the speaker's heart to render such 
 words a possibility ; and all these nameless things 
 were levelled at Cecily, Frank's pure, high-souled 
 wife. He started to his feet, his one thought an 
 overwhelming desire to stop the mouth of this horrible, 
 human devil, and as he did so, MaimAnah deftly eluded 
 his grasp, and plunged into the shadow of the palms 
 and fruit-trees behind her. Frank followed for a few 
 paces, scarcely conscious of what he did. Then he 
 halted. He could hear the patter of Maimianah's 
 light feet, as she fled fearing pursuit, and the memory 
 came back to him of another occasion upon which he 
 had run after this girl through the darkness of a Malay 
 compound. That had been the beginning of all his 
 troubles, now this was the end. He breathed a heart- 
 felt 'Thank God!' It had been terrible while it 
 lasted this interview with Maim^nah, but all things 
 had an ending, and when all was said and done, he had 
 got out of his difficulties far more easily than he could 
 have hoped. MaimAnah's superstitious dread of break- 
 ing a vow, or of aiding and abetting another to do so, 
 was his best safeguard and guarantee of peace for the 
 
 9 
 
226 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 future. And Cecily need never know. He walked 
 homeward slowly through the balmy night air, with 
 the soft land-wind, which was just beginning to stir in 
 the trees around him, blowing softly on his cheeks, 
 and his heart was uplifted yet chastened by the great 
 wave of relief and thankfulness that God had not 
 allowed the worst to happen, and had treated him, as 
 he readily owned, far better than he had deserved. 
 
 Cecily was sleeping deeply when he entered the 
 bed-room, her sweet face made pure exceedingly by 
 the calm of her peaceful slumbers. Her ruddy curls 
 fell round her face upon the white pillow, and one 
 slender arm was thrown carelessly above her head. 
 The long sheet rose and fell with the regularity of her 
 even breathing. Frank threw himself upon his knees 
 at the bed-side, and prayed as he had never prayed 
 before. His heart went up in a cry to Heaven that 
 was a strange blending of thankfulness, of purpose of 
 amendment, of remorse and contrition, and of an all- 
 satisfying sense of the most intense relief. As he 
 gazed at the still, fair figure of his sleeping wife he 
 felt unutterably humbled by the sense of his own un- 
 worthiness of the companionship through life of one so 
 pure and holy, and his eyes were wet with unaccus- 
 tomed moisture when at last he rose from his knees. 
 That night, at any rate, his prayer could not call 
 forth the contempt of Heaven, for his heart was 
 humbled even to the dust, and contrite even unto 
 tears. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 
 
 Ah Love ! Could You and I with Him conspire 
 To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
 Would we not shatter it to bits, and then 
 Remould it nearer to the Heart's Desire ? 
 
 Omar Khayyam. 
 
 Duty, which to the Government servant of some years' 
 standing is stronger than inclination or any personal 
 considerations, stronger even than love or longing, 
 had called Frank Austin away to the upper reaches of 
 the Senangan river, and now, after nearly a fort- 
 night's absence, he was returning to the bungalow on 
 the beach which held all that was most sacred and 
 most dear to him on earth. Kuala Senangan was set 
 very far aside from the beaten track, and all com- 
 munication with the world beyond was slow and 
 difficult. Frank had despatched his letter of resigna- 
 tion on the morning after his final interview with 
 Maimunah, and he anticipated that he would find the 
 answer awaiting him among the pile of correspondence 
 that must have accumulated during his absence. He 
 had said no word to Cecily upon the subject, thinking 
 that his retirement might trouble her if she were left 
 alone to ponder over it, but he knew that in her heart 
 of hearts she would rejoice when she learned that the 
 
228 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 matter was already settled, and he swore to himself 
 that she should never have a suspicion that he had 
 made a sacrifice for her sake by quitting the Service 
 which he loved. He thought of this, with the glow 
 of satisfaction which comes with the doing of some 
 deed, painful in itself, but calculated to bring joy to 
 the heart of one well loved ; and then came the 
 memory of the sweet, glad face which he pictured 
 waiting eagerly to greet him at the threshold of his 
 home, and as he neared the mouth of the river, his 
 heart ran on ahead, happily anticipating the joy of the 
 meeting with Cecily. 
 
 Through the long tunnel formed by the palm-leaf 
 walls and awning of his house-boat, and between the 
 labouring shoulders of the men at the paddles, Frank, 
 as he leaned forward, could see the thin, white line of 
 breakers, spanning the mouth of the Senangan, heaving 
 and tossing as the restless sea met the smooth waters 
 of the river. A gentle breeze, setting towards the 
 shore, made a little stir among the palm-fronds and 
 the clustering green things on either bank, and about 
 the portals of the mouth ; in the intense heat of the 
 afternoon, sea and river, and sky all took on the same 
 aching, glaringly white hue, save on the farthest slope 
 of the horizon where a few fluffy, snowy clouds, like 
 flecks of cotton-wool, showed distinctly against the 
 fainter tint of the heavens. Above the very centre of 
 the river's mouth a solitary kite hung poised, with 
 extended wings, almost motionless. No other sign of 
 life was visible to Frank, and all the world about him 
 seemed to be lulled into the calm, and sleepy peace of 
 its siesta. 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 229 
 
 The paddlers broke into a chorus of jubilant but 
 discordant yells, as they saw themselves nearing their 
 destination, and presently the boat grounded on the 
 sandy shore, within a few hundred yards of the 
 bungalow. Frank was on land almost before the 
 grinding of the bow upon the gravel had ceased, and 
 he ran, rather than walked, towards his home, with a 
 great gladness and content in his heart. 
 
 As he neared the bungalow he saw with surprise 
 that Cecily was not on the verandah to welcome him, 
 and he experienced a keen sense of disappointment 
 when he realised that she might perhaps have been 
 called away on one of her errands of mercy. The 
 explanation was reasonable enough, but somehow it 
 failed to satisfy Frank. The gladness had died out of 
 his eyes, and he slackened his pace, as though fearing 
 to meet the news of some misfortune which might be 
 accountable for Cecily's absence. Like all men who 
 have lived much in solitude, Frank was very liable to 
 sudden fits of depression, and the reaction, caused by 
 the dashing of his high spirits of a moment since, 
 now filled him with vague but fearful presentiments 
 of evil. Instinctively his thoughts flew to Maimunah. 
 She had, he believed, left the Senangan valley im- 
 mediately after her nocturnal interview with him. 
 At any rate he had heard no more of her, though he 
 had tried to make covert inquiries concerning her 
 from the Malays about him. Now, he asked himself, 
 had he been mistaken ? Had Maimunah stayed on at 
 Kuala Senangan unknown to him, and had she sought 
 out Cecily and told her all her tale ? The bare thought 
 made him feel sick, actually and physically sick, but his 
 
230 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 common- sense came to his rescue. What possible 
 object could MaimAnah serve by taking such a course ? 
 From all he knew of natives in general, and of this 
 native woman in particular, he felt convinced that no 
 idea of revenge could inspire such action, for, to the 
 native mind, Cecily, secure in the possession of her 
 husband in the present, would care not at all for the 
 fact that he had bestowed his attentions elsewhere in 
 the past. Other motive there could be none ; so 
 Frank, albeit still somewhat disturbed at his wife's 
 absence, stifled his fears, and pressed on towards the 
 house. 
 
 As he ran up the stairs leading from the ground to 
 the bungalow, he trod upon, and nearly fell over a 
 Malay who was sitting on the floor at the extreme 
 edge of the verandah. The Malay shot out a vile 
 phrase, as is the custom of his people when startled, 
 and then began slowly to word an apology for his 
 unintentional rudeness. Frank, who had also been 
 startled by^ the unexpected collision, turned angrily 
 upon the man, and cut short his slow speech by asking 
 him roughly what he wanted, and what he was doing 
 there. 
 
 'As it were, Tuan,' said Mat Sam, for it was he, 
 'As it were, Tuan, I, thy servant, have come hither 
 seeking aid, as it were, the woman, my wife, sorely 
 needing the charms that the Mem hath power to, as 
 it were, administer and, as it were, control. Then, as 
 it were, came a proud and arrogant Chinaman, the 
 same that the folk name "Boy," and he, as it were, 
 gave me rude words, bidding me begone, and he also, 
 as it were, gave me the knowledge that the Mem, as 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 231 
 
 it were, was like unto die, being stricked down by a 
 a grievous ailment. Wherefore, as it were, I, thy 
 servant ' 
 
 Frank did not wait to hear the end of Mat Sam's 
 laboured speech. With face drawn with anxiety, and 
 blanched under the yellow tan, he made his way into 
 the dark, cool recesses of the bungalow, and a moment 
 later had thrown himself upon his knees at the side of 
 Cecily's bed. 
 
 The doors and windows of the room were closed 
 against the pitiless sun-glare, and the pretty, fresh- 
 looking muslin curtains had been drawn closely before 
 them, but none the less the penetrating Eastern day- 
 light was strong enough to make all things distinctly 
 visible even to Frank, whose eyes were still dimmed 
 by the blazing whiteness of the sky and water with- 
 out the bungalow. Some of Cecily's dainty garments 
 hung in soft folds from a tall clothes-stand near the 
 head of the bed ; the dressing-table was littered with 
 a hundred little feminine knicknacks ; a scent of 
 violets, her favourite perfume was in the air ; and 
 the indefinable, but unmistakable tokens of a sweet 
 womanly presence pervaded the whole place. Cecily's 
 ayah, awakened by Frank's entrance, reared a sleepy 
 head from the floor at the foot of the bed, where she 
 had been slumbering peacefully with true oriental in- 
 difference to the sufferings of her mistress, and she 
 began to speak volubly, in strident tones, as soon as 
 she recognised the intruder. Frank saw and heard 
 mechanically, unconsciously, but it was only later that 
 the memory of the sick-room came back, with every 
 detail accurately painted on his mind's eye, and 
 
232 ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 then the sense of the ayah's words, which had been 
 meaningless at the time, forced themselves upon his 
 notice. 
 
 'The Mem is dying. Naught can avail her. 
 The Spirits of Evil will have their way. Shall I go 
 buy a shroud in the bazaar ? ' 
 
 He waved the woman aside, impatiently, uncom- 
 prehendingly, with a fierce anger against her and all 
 the world gnawing at his heart. He could see nothing 
 save the face of his sick wife ; could hear nothing save 
 her feeble moans ; could feel nothing save an agony 
 of pain and apprehension, that numbed his faculties 
 like an anaesthetic. 
 
 Cecily was lying on her back, with her ruddy hair 
 tossed about her pillow in disorder. Her eyes stared 
 helplessly at the top of her looped-up mosquito-net ; 
 her cheeks were dead white, save for a burning patch 
 of hectic colour in their deep hollows ; and her whole 
 face was cavernous, and fallen-in, so that her temples 
 stood out in great bosses, outlined with a cruel dis- 
 tinctness. It was most pitiful to see the wildly roving 
 eyes, without any rational expression save an eager 
 longing as of one striving vainly to escape from 
 torment ; the ceaselessly rolling head ; the dry skin 
 parched and burned with fever. Most pitiful to see 
 even to one inured to the sight of suffering and 
 distress, one without personal interest in Cecily's 
 welfare ; but to her husband, kneeling at her bed- 
 side, gazing at her with eyes wide with despair, all 
 the sorrow and the misery which the human heart 
 can endure and yet survive seemed of a sudden to 
 have overwhelmed him. For Frank's love for Cecily 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 233 
 
 was the one great passion of his life, strong, and deep, 
 and pure, and unselfish as only a whole-souled love 
 can be. The long and dreary years which he had 
 passed in almost complete isolation among a people 
 of an alien race, had only helped to make the brilliant 
 contrast of the happiness which he had known since 
 Cecily came to share his exile more wonderful and 
 more delightful. Unlike most men whose days are 
 spent in Europe, Frank had not wasted the force of 
 his power to love upon half a dozen ' summer pilots 
 of an empty heart unto the shores of Nothing,' and 
 his connection with Maimflnah had had in it no 
 element of affection. The attraction which had 
 drawn him to the native girl had been entirely one 
 of the senses, as different from the sentiment with 
 which Cecily inspired him as Hell from Heaven. All 
 his soul was bound up in the love which he had given 
 to the girl who now lay seemingly dying before his 
 eyes, and his world was shattered and in fragments as 
 he knelt there numbed by the keenness of his pain. 
 Cecily looked so frail, so ethereal, and withal so pure 
 and so holy, that each instant the conviction was 
 borne in upon his mind that it was inevitable that he 
 should lose her. She was so fitted for the flight. 
 How could he hope to keep her, no matter how sore 
 his need ; how dared he pray that she might be 
 detained a little longer on this gross, rude Earth since 
 her saintliness entitled her to a shorter term of banish- 
 ment from the Heaven that was waiting to receive 
 her ? In that moment of utter despondency and 
 gloom Frank gave way to his uncontrollable grief, 
 and losing for the moment all thought of saving his 
 
234 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 wife by timely remedies, he buried his face in the 
 white sheet of the bed and moaned aloud. 
 
 The sound of his lamentation seemed to partially 
 arouse Cecily from the trance in which since his 
 coming she had been sunk, and presently a laugh, soft 
 and rippling, but very feeble and joyless, broke upon 
 the silence of the room. 
 
 ' Ha, ha, ha ! ' laughed Cecily in tones strangely 
 unlike those to which Frank was accustomed from 
 her lips, a faint heart-rending sound, infinitely pathetic 
 despite its rippling cadence, and withal so tired, so 
 utterly tired and weary. ' Ha, ha, ha ! Look, Frank ! 
 Aren't they funny ? How they dance ! They go 
 round . . . round, and round . . . and up and . . . 
 down too. Isn't it clever of them ? . . . Oh, it is 
 my turn to sing ... to sing the solo. . . . I've lost 
 my voice, you poor little people . . . but I'll try 
 . . . I'll try.' 
 
 She raised her voice in a faint echo of a song 
 which Frank had often heard upon her lips, and as 
 the feeble notes quavered out his heart went near to 
 breaking. 
 
 ' Cueillir la violette, 
 Girofle, girofla : 
 Cueillir la violette, 
 
 L'amour m'y compt'ra. 
 
 There ! I've sung my part. . . . Why don't any of 
 them sing the chorus ? How stupid I am ! Of 
 course they are Malays . . . they don't understand 
 . . . and now that I'm ill I can't make them under- 
 stand . . . not even when I beg them to understand 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 235 
 
 ever so . . . not when I pray them to go and call 
 Frank. . . . But isn't it clever of them to dance so ? 
 Little naked babies like that . . . with poor twitching 
 faces. ... I wish they wouldn't go round so . . . 
 and keep on going round and round. . . . They do 
 make me so giddy. . . . No, Frank, don't stop them. 
 . . . They are so very small . . . and they live such 
 miserable squalid lives ... in their huts among the 
 cocoanuts. . . . Oh now the trees are going round 
 too ! . . . Frank, you might stop them. . . . O, 
 Frank, why will you let them all dance like that, it 
 . . . it . . . it's killing me. . . . I'm sorry, dear, 
 ... I didn't mean to make a fuss. ... I know you 
 must have some good reason . . . but it does make 
 my head ache so. O, Frank, why have you left me 
 all alone. . . . How could you have the heart to leave 
 me?' 
 
 ' My darling, I am here. Don't you know me ? ' 
 cried her husband miserably, pressing her thin weak 
 little hand, gazing despairingly into her sightless eyes, 
 vainly hoping to see therein some traces of recogni- 
 tion. 
 
 ' Who's that ? ' screamed Cecily, starting upright 
 into a sitting position, which she was too weak to 
 maintain for more than a moment, and glancing round 
 the room with shrinking, frightened looks. 
 
 ' It is I, dearest. Don't you know me ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, it's that terrible woman with the strange eyes. 
 . . . O, Frank, don't let her come near me ! Please, 
 Frank, please send her away ! ' 
 
 ' I have sent her away, Darling. Don't be afraid, 
 I am here quite close to you.' 
 
236 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' No, see, she is still there. . . . She's a witch. 
 . . . Listen ! ' 
 
 Her voice which had sunk to a tense whisper was 
 once more raised in song, and still it was the words 
 of the same old meaningless French ronde that sounded 
 through the room : 
 
 ' Si le diabl' t'y rencontre ? 
 Girofle, girofla : 
 Si le diabl' t'y rencontre ? 
 L'amour m'y compt'ra. 
 
 Je lui ferai les comes, 
 Girofle, girofla : 
 Je lui ferai les comes, 
 L'amour m'y compt'ra.' 
 
 Her voice ceased for a moment, and then once more 
 began its weary, complaining monologue. 
 
 ' Why won't Frank come back to me ? . . . What 
 have I done ? . . . What have I done ? . . . I who 
 love him so very dearly. . . . Why has he left me ? 
 . . . Just now too . . . when I am . . . not well. 
 . . . And all these dancing babies will leap about all 
 over the bed . . . and the palm-trees are waving their 
 arms . . . like souls in torment. . . . Am I one of 
 them ? . . . Of course I am. . . . That's why I 
 cannot keep still. . . . O dear, O dear, I am so un- 
 comfortable. . . . Why won't Frank come and help 
 to keep my branches still. If he loved me as I love 
 him ... he wouldn't leave me all alone like this 
 . . . when I am . . . not well. . . . Do go and call 
 him somebody. . . . I've been begging you to call 
 him for ages. . . . Why can none of you understand 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 237 
 
 what I say ? . . . Do go, please, I can't go myself. 
 . . . Oh, will no one do what I ask of them ? . . . 
 I would help them so readily if they were ill. . . . 
 Will no one call him ? . . . No one, no one . . .' 
 
 Her feeble speech died down into a wailing cry 
 that wrung Frank's heart-strings afresh. It was too 
 cruel that this impassable barrier of delirium should 
 rise up at such a time to divide him hopelessly from 
 his dying wife, and to rob her, in her sufferings, of 
 even such poor comfort as the knowledge of his 
 presence might afford her. The first numbing shock 
 of his calamity had passed, leaving him very miserable, 
 but with his practical common-sense asserting itself 
 strongly. He felt heartily ashamed that he should in 
 the first agony of his grief have allowed his selfish 
 sorrow to completely overwhelm him, and blind him 
 to the necessity for prompt action. He rose to his 
 feet, and walked quickly but noiselessly to the door of 
 the room. The ayah was lying across the threshold, 
 sleeping placidly, but she awoke, and answered to his 
 call. 
 
 ' Try to tell me, even from the beginning, of what 
 fashion has been this sickness of the Mem,' said Frank 
 as quietly and as camly as he was able. He could do 
 nothing to relieve his wife until he knew more of the 
 nature of her disease. 
 
 ' I know not the fashion of this illness,' replied the 
 ayah vaguely. ' It is a fever.' 
 
 Natives call every kind of sickness under the sun by 
 that all-embracing term, so the answer to his question 
 aided Frank but little. 
 
 ' In what manner did this illness begin ? ' he asked. 
 
238 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' Allah alone knoweth ! ' ejaculated the woman 
 piously. She was rolling a quid of betel nut as she 
 spoke, and she seemed to be far more interested in it 
 than in the subject-matter of the conversation. Frank 
 knew that this was only the native way, but, none the 
 less, he had much ado to keep his temper : nor could 
 he have done so had he not been aware that his only 
 hope of learning anything lay in not flurrying the 
 woman. 
 
 ' No matter,' he said. ' Try to tell me what thou 
 knowest concerning the Mem's sickness.' 
 
 ' Perchance the Mem is the victim of a Familiar 
 Spirit,' suggested the ayah. 'For we of Singapore 
 know that there be many Magicians among the folk 
 of the Senangan valley. Ah, the T^an would not 
 believe when the people came praying him to banish 
 Pawang Akob the Wizard, and now ' 
 
 ' Peace, woman ! ' cried Frank, beside himself with 
 misery. ' Tell me what thou knowest concerning the 
 beginning of this sickness of the Mem, and waste 
 not many words the while. Speak, and that quickly.' 
 
 Then slowly and with difficulty, by dint of much 
 patient questioning, and by making the most of the 
 involved and aimless answers which the woman gave 
 amid her tears, — for she was weeping copiously before 
 Frank had half- finished his inquiries, — the story of 
 Cecily's illness, as it was known to her attendant, was 
 at length made clear to her anxious husband. Cecily 
 had been ailing for days, suffering from the most 
 agonising nausea, which had prevented her persistently 
 from retaining any food which she had with difficulty 
 persuaded herself to swallow. This morning she had 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 239 
 
 been attacked with fever, and then had sunk into the 
 trance-like condition in which Frank had first found 
 her. With the exception of the outburst of dehrium, 
 of which Frank had been witness, she had not wandered 
 in her mind, and all these days, her husband learned 
 with a passion of pity and tenderness, Cecily had 
 begged and entreated those about her to go in search 
 of him, and bring him back to her. 
 
 ' But what could one do ? ' said ■ the ayah, with a 
 shrug of her shoulders. ' The THan was very far up 
 river, among the trickling streams, while we were 
 here, by the breaking waves. We had no ability to 
 follow after thee ; and so I told the Mem, saying 
 unceasingly " One may not, one may not," though still 
 she bade us be gone in search of thee, T&an.^ 
 
 ' And what have ye all done to combat this illness ? ' 
 asked Frank. 
 
 ' Done ? ' asked the woman vaguely. ' What 
 stratagem or resource could be ours ? This sickness is 
 sent by the Shetans and the Spirits of Evil, and though 
 I repeated charms many and cunning, the said sickness 
 would by no means leave her. Also the Mem made use 
 of such of the White Men's medicines as seemed to her 
 to be good, though, alas, they have availed her not at all.' 
 
 Frank turned back to his wife's room, after fetching 
 a book of Family Medicine from the study, and as he 
 put his hand upon the handle of the door the ayah 
 called him softly. 
 
 ' Tuan^ she said, ' Shall I order some one to go 
 buy a shroud ? ' 
 
 Frank turned upon her a face white and drawn 
 with pain. 
 
240 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' Peace, devil ! ' he whispered furiously, and then 
 turned and left her. 
 
 Cecily was lying very still when he entered her 
 bed-room, and that terrible unfamiliar voice had ceased 
 its meaningless babble. Frank seated himself upon the 
 edge of the bed, and began to examine the book which 
 he held upon his knee. He had no skill in diagnosis 
 other than such as is shared by most men whose days 
 have been spent in the unfrequented portions of the 
 earth, and he had at once jumped at the conclusion 
 that Cecily was suffering from dysentery, that well- 
 known disease of the tropics presenting many of the 
 symptoms described by the ayah. An examination of 
 Cecily's little thin fingers had shown him in a moment 
 that his wife was not a prey to Cholera, though her 
 exhausted condition was not unlike the collapse stage 
 of that dreaded malady. Frank managed to administer 
 some of the few simple remedies at his disposal to his 
 wife, and also poured a little milk and brandy down 
 her throat, but violent fits of vomiting followed all his 
 attempts, and he was forced at last to desist, though he 
 fancied that a small portion of the neat spirits which 
 he gave her as a last resource had not been rejected 
 until at any rate some of it had been absorbed. He 
 went out of the room after this and bade six of his 
 boatmen set sail at once for Singapore bearing with 
 them a letter to one of Frank's friends begging that a 
 Doctor might be sent to Kuala Senangan as quickly as 
 might be. It was with something like despair gripping 
 his heart that Frank realised that under no circum- 
 stances could this summons for aid be answered in less 
 than a week. 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 241 
 
 Once more he turned back towards the bed-room, 
 but he was arrested by a voice 'speaking to him from 
 the corner of the verandah near the head of the steps. 
 It was Mat Sam, who was still squatting on the floor 
 where Frank had stumbled over him half an hour 
 earlier. 
 
 ' What news is there of the Mem, TAan! ? he asked 
 with eager interest. 
 
 ' God alone knoweth,' replied Frank drearily. ' The 
 Mem is very ill.' 
 
 ' T-dan^ cried Mat Sam, the great beady tears 
 welling up in his stupid, bovine eyes. ' Have no fear, 
 Tuan. I, thy servant, have, as it were, made certain 
 vows to the Shrine of Habib Nur, vows, as it were, 
 anent the sacrifice of my so great and valuable buffalo 
 bull, if, as it were, the Mem may be speedily restored, 
 as it were, to health. The bull is a matchless bull, 
 as it were, and Habib Nur, who is a wise Saint, will, 
 as it were, surely desire to possess him. Therefore, 
 Tuan^ have no fear.' 
 
 He paused in his words of well meant encourage- 
 ment, and then added almost under his breath, but 
 not so low but that Frank could hear him. 
 
 ' She gave me back my ^ife and my little one once 
 when the Spirits of 111 had gripped them. Allah, in 
 His goodness, will not suffer her to be taken from us j 
 else, as it were, we should be like unto little chicks 
 that lack the mother -hen. When the Mem came 
 amongst us we, as it were, saw a new Sun in the 
 heavens ; Allah will not suffer us to be left in darkness 
 after once he hath shown to us the Light.' 
 
 Mat Sam was thinking aloud, rather than talking 
 
 R 
 
242 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 to the White Man who stood before him, and his 
 grief was almost wholly selfish. But he had not 
 hesitated to sacrifice his most prized possession, his 
 buffalo bull, for the sake of the woman who had come 
 like an Angel to bring happiness into his home at an 
 hour when the darkness of despair brooded over it ; 
 and though Malays make little talk about their grati- 
 tude for what may be done for them, Mat Sam from 
 his heart was grateful. The words of this uncouth 
 fellow were the first signs of sympathy which had 
 come to Frank in his agony, and the apple rose 
 rebelliously in his throat, as silently he turned once 
 more to the room where his wife lay dying. 
 
 His attempts to combat the disease which was 
 robbing him of his Love had been so Httle successful, 
 and had heightened rather than lessened Cecily's dis- 
 comfort so considerably that Frank had not the heart 
 to persist further with them. Instead he threw him- 
 self upon his knees at the bedside, and burying his 
 face in the sheet, prayed as he had never prayed before 
 in all his life. His petition to his God was not 
 expressed in articulate words, but his heart poured out 
 entreaties, lamentations, prayers, that he, not Cecily, 
 might be called upon to suffer, if indeed suffering was 
 required of them ; cries for mercy, pity, aid ; pleas 
 that he could not live without his wife were she to 
 be taken from him. Unconsciously his thoughts 
 flowed in the same channel as those of Mat Sam 
 without. His loss would be doubly bitter because he 
 had learned to know Cecily's worth. Having looked 
 upon the Light, how could he endure the darkness of 
 life without his Love .? Was it merely to punish and 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 243 
 
 torture him that Cecily had been lent to him for so 
 short a space ? At one moment he implored and 
 entreated his Creator ; at another, mad with the agony 
 of his grief, he arraigned and accused Him ; but no 
 sign was given to him that Heaven heard or heeded 
 either his upbraidings or his prayers. 
 
 And so the weary hours of the afternoon wore 
 themselves away ; and Frank continued to kneel at 
 the side of the bed, praying as madly and as in- 
 coherently as ever, and only rising up now and then 
 to try to administer fresh doses of neat brandy to his 
 still unconscious wife. 
 
 The short period of calm and coolness that comes 
 in the Peninsula before the twilight, brought back to 
 Cecily her first moments of consciousness. The 
 tender mellow light of that quiet hour was stealing 
 gently into the little room, and Frank rose from his 
 knees to throw the windows wide and admit the pure, 
 fresh air. A pair of little pied robins, perched on a 
 bough of a casuarina tree close at hand, piped shrilly, 
 and their cheerful note was the first sound that seemed 
 to reach the sick girl's numbed consciousness. 
 
 ' Oh, my darling, I am so glad that you have come 
 at last ! ' she said, in a voice terribly spent and feeble, 
 as she caught sight of Frank standing at the window, 
 and this was the first intimation he received that, for 
 a space, his wife had been given back to him. A 
 wild flood of hope surged up in his heart, and the 
 keenness of his emotion left him choking and trembling. 
 He stepped back across the room, taking almost 
 exaggerated precautions to prevent noise, and leaning 
 over her he kissed her fondly. 
 
244 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 'You must not tire yourself by trying to talk, 
 Sweetheart,' he said. 'I have been back here for 
 hours ; but you have been — asleep. I will pull the 
 curtains about the bed, so that the mosquitoes shall not 
 trouble you, and then I will lie down by your side, so 
 I shall be here if you want me.' 
 
 ' Yes do,' said Cecily. ' And let me hold your 
 hand. Oh, I have wanted you so. Frank, I have 
 been so ill ;- — and I'm so tired — oh so tired.' 
 
 ' Could you take any milk, Cecily ? ' Frank asked 
 her, holding a cup to her lips with the clumsy mascu- 
 line tenderness, that has ever some slight roughness 
 in it no matter how great the love and care which 
 prompts it ; but Cecily turned her head away. 
 
 ' I couldn't, Frank. Don't make me,' she whispered 
 pleadingly, and with a sigh her husband desisted, though 
 this inability to take food in one so spent and weak 
 seemed to him to be a symptom of terrible portent. 
 
 So the short tropic gloaming came and went ; the 
 last trace of light and colour died out of the sky as 
 Frank lay watching it through the wide door-windows ; 
 and the night, full of all the quiet half-heard noises, 
 so famiUar in Frank's ears, mingling with the whisper- 
 ing rush of the waves, now and again swelling to a 
 base roar, crept over the land and found this loving 
 wife and husband alone in the darkness. 
 
 Frank was too utterly miserable to sleep, and his 
 sad thoughts kept him sorry company through the 
 long watches of that fearful night. Though he never 
 actually lost consciousness, yet at times he seemed to 
 dream, reviewing in his mind long -passed incidents, 
 the memory of which had not recurred to him for 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 24S 
 
 months or years, forgetting for a tiny space his present 
 surroundings, but always returning sharply, and with 
 a fresh pang of pain, to a realisation of his great trouble. 
 The cracked gong at the Police Station sounded the 
 slow hours one by one, and Frank counted them all, 
 and as he roused himself to give medicine or stimulants 
 to Cecily, he told himself that this night would have 
 no ending. 
 
 Cecily, spent and exhausted by pain and suffering, 
 slept or seemed to sleep, save when now and again she 
 was seized with a fresh paroxysm of vomiting, and 
 Frank tended her with all the gentleness and such 
 little skill as he could command. 
 
 At last the Eastern sky began to be tinged with 
 a feint wash of yellowish grey, and sullenly, dully, the 
 daylight crept up out of the sea, though the sun 
 remained hidden behind lowering masses of heavy 
 cloud. The cool rush of the dawn-wind swept through 
 the room and shook the mosquito curtains draped 
 about the bed, and Frank, who remembered to have 
 heard that the soul often went out on the first breaths 
 of the morning breeze, breathed a deep sigh of relief 
 when he saw that Cecily still lived. She was terribly 
 weak, however, and her voice now sounded so faintly 
 that it was with difficulty that Frank, bending tenderly 
 over her, could catch the meaning of her halting 
 speech. Her sweet eyes were weak and inflamed, and 
 she whispered to him to close the windows, for she 
 could not bear the light. He did as she asked him, 
 and then came back once more to the bedside. Cecily 
 was again trying to speak, and he stooped low to listen 
 to her words. 
 
246 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' Breakfast,' she said. 
 
 Frank held a cup of the new milk which had just 
 been brought to him to Cecily's lips, for throughout 
 the night she had been racked with thirst, but she 
 turned away her head, and again whispered the one 
 word ' Breakfast.' 
 
 'Do you mean that you could take something 
 solid ? ' asked Frank eagerly. 
 
 Cecily shook her head with a weary feeble motion. 
 
 'No,' she whispered. 'You — must — have — some 
 —food.' 
 
 Frank had neither eaten nor drunk since the noon 
 of the previous day, but until his wife spoke of it he 
 had not been conscious of the fact that he had fasted 
 for so long, and even now the very thought of food 
 seemed to choke him. Nevertheless, to please Cecily, 
 who in her own necessity had had such loving thought 
 for him, he went out of the room obediently, as though 
 to procure a meal. But he could not swallow any- 
 thing more substantial than a whisky and soda, though 
 he took a cold bath before returning to Cecily, and 
 when he re-entered the room he looked somewhat 
 fresher and less worn, in spite of the stubble of un- 
 shorn beard on his face. He had only taken thought 
 of himself in order to relieve his wife's anxiety, and he 
 bitterly grudged every moment which was not passed 
 at her bedside. 
 
 Cecily told him that she was not now in any pain, 
 and in proof she tried to smile at him, but Frank was 
 forced to turn his head away. The glimpse of this 
 ghost-like flicker of her old merry self wrung his 
 heart-strings as nothing else had yet done. 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 247 
 
 Ever since he returned to find her in such suffer- 
 ing, Frank had racked his brains to deduce from what 
 he saw the nature of the disease which had seized upon 
 his wife, and as the slow hours of the night came and 
 went he had become more and more confirmed in a 
 conviction that it was cholera. It was certainly not 
 dysentery, as he had at first imagined ; and the cramps 
 which had afflicted Cecily at intervals during the night 
 and several of the other symptoms attending her illness 
 were familiar to him who, in his time, had served in a 
 district where the ' Chilly Death,' as the Malays name 
 the cholera, had been raging. He was the more con- 
 vinced that his diagnosis was the correct one, because 
 in the state of utter exhaustion and freedom from pain 
 which had now fallen upon Cecily he recognised the 
 period of collapse, and he realised with intense relief 
 that he was at last on sure ground, and knew as well as 
 most doctors how to treat his patient. Also with a 
 throb of exultation he remembered that he had passed 
 the previous night by Cecily's side, holding her hand 
 and tending her constantly, and that so far as there 
 can be any measure of certainty in such things, he was 
 sure to have incurred the infection. If then Cecily 
 was to die, it was at least probable that he too might 
 shortly follow her. 
 
 For an hour he laboured to keep Cecily's strength 
 from failing by all the means approved by medical men 
 for the treatment of patients in the collapse stage of 
 cholera, but his efforts were uniformly unsuccessful. 
 At length, seeing that he only increased rather than 
 diminished his wife's sufferings, he desisted from his 
 attempts to save her, and throwing himself upon his 
 
248 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 knees beside the bed, waited in utter misery for the 
 end which he now realised, with the full despair of 
 certainty, could not be long delayed. 
 
 Cecily, who was now fully conscious of her danger, 
 whispered to him to read some prayers, and he obeyed, 
 speaking the solemn words of comfort and petition in 
 a voice broken with emotion. When he had finished 
 he laid the book aside, and creeping nearer to the 
 woman he loved, he kissed her tenderly, and half kneel- 
 ing, half lying on the bed, he gazed into her eyes in 
 mute agony, holding the little wasted hands tenderly 
 between his own. 
 
 'Try not — to — grieve — my darling,' Cecily mur- 
 mured more than once. ' It is — so hard to have to 
 leave — you.' 
 
 Frank could say nothing in answer. Great ex- 
 tremes of emotion deprive voluble human beings of 
 the power of their facile speech, and Frank's agony 
 and misery were too complete for words to express or 
 relieve them. 
 
 Cecily did not speak again. The morning crept 
 away, as the long, sad night had done ; the sunshine 
 streamed into the room in spite of closed windows and 
 drawn curtains ; a buffalo gave its squeaking low in a 
 neighbouring kampong at regular intervals ; and the 
 plash and whisper of the waves upon the shore filled 
 the air with the cool rushing sound of water in motion. 
 The sun climbed up and up the vault of the sky, the 
 shadows growing shorter and shorter, until at length 
 they were reduced to dwarfed black patches around the 
 feet of the objects casting them, and still Frank leaned 
 above the bed on which lay his dying wife. For the 
 
THE DIMMING OF THE SUNSHINE 249 
 
 last two hours she had lain very still, and the fitful rise 
 and fall of her breast alone showed him that the life 
 was not quite gone from her. Presently even this 
 sign failed him, and wild with a new terror of loneliness, 
 Frank seized a small hand-mirror from off the dressing- 
 table and held it to Cecily's parted Hps. A moment 
 later it fell clattering to the floor, its surface undimmed 
 by even the faintest breath. 
 
 Frank cast himself down upon his knees, and seiz- 
 ing the hands of his dead wife covered them again and 
 again with passionate kisses, while his lips called upon 
 her who could no longer hear him, madly praying her 
 to return to him. In that moment of supreme agony 
 the man's brain succumbed to the strain which for 
 hours had been put upon it, and he sank upon the floor 
 as dead to all consciousness as the still form upon the 
 bed. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 WATERS OF MARA 
 
 Now the days are all gone over 
 
 Of our singing, love by lover, 
 
 Days of summer-coloured seas 
 
 Blown adrift through beam and breeze. 
 
 Now hath Hope, outraced in running. 
 Given the torch up of his cunning. 
 And the palm he thought to wear 
 Even to his own strong child — Despair. 
 
 Pastiche. 
 
 For nearly an hour Frank lay unconscious upon the 
 matted floor of the bed-room, crushed and beaten down 
 by the weight of his grief and misery. Nature is a 
 tender mother watching lovingly over all of us, and 
 when she sees that pain of mind and body are wring- 
 ing us with a refinement of anguish which passes the 
 bounds of our endurance, she steps in and throws her 
 mantle of oblivion over us, hiding us for a space from 
 life and all its overwhelming ills. 
 
 The servants talking together in awed whispers in 
 the little quarters behind the bungalow had not dared 
 to penetrate into the room where their master watched 
 beside his dying wife. They knew nothing of Cecily's 
 
WATERS OF MARJ 251 
 
 death, and so Frank lay untended, as still, and almost 
 as lifeless, as the dead girl upon the bed. The sun 
 crept a little higher j the heat-haze danced more and 
 more restlessly above the sand -spit near the river- 
 mouth ; and all the w^orld was hushed for its afternoon 
 sleep. 
 
 Presently Frank began very slow^ly to return to 
 consciousness. He breathed deeply, stirred with an 
 uneasy motion as though in pain, raised an arm and 
 let it fall back limply to the floor, groaned, and last of 
 all opened his eyes. But his brain did not recover its 
 power quite so speedily as did his body, and he lay 
 inert for many minutes without any knowledge of 
 where he was or what had befallen him, and too spent 
 and exhausted to have any great desire to ascertain. 
 He was feeling sick and ill, and his energy seemed to 
 have utterly evaporated, so he abandoned himself un- 
 resistingly to the dreamy, peaceful stupor w^hich had 
 fallen upon him. His eyes, heavy and unseeing, 
 wandered round the room, looking at all the familiar 
 things about him without recognition or apprehension. 
 He tried feebly and without concentrated effort to 
 recall some place or thing of which his present position 
 reminded him. Surely he had been there before ? 
 And something terrible had happened to him there. 
 What was it ? His wandering eyes fell upon some 
 of Cecily's clothes hanging suspended from the tall 
 clothes-horse in the corner motionless in the still, hot 
 air. He fixed his gaze upon them, and slowly, slowly 
 memory began to awake in him. What was this 
 brooding shadow which hung over him like a pall ? 
 Cecily was dead ? Who said that ? He tried to 
 
2S2 ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 shout the words, and started up into a half-sitting 
 position as he did so, only to sink back again, inert 
 and barely conscious. But this time the oblivion was 
 of short duration. The chord of memory had been 
 struck, and though at first the idea of death in connec- 
 tion with Cecily had been meaningless to him, the full 
 measure of his loss began now to beat itself into his 
 brain with a persistency and force which there was no 
 withstanding. 
 
 Cecily was dead. Dead, dead, dead. It seemed to 
 din itself into his ears like some oft repeated tune ; and 
 then in an instant the whole meaning and extent of 
 his grief and of his loss burst upon him like a flood of 
 released water on the destruction of a dam. A groan 
 escaped him, and painfully and with difficulty he 
 dragged himself on to his knees, supporting himself by 
 his elbows resting on the bed, and looked upon the 
 face of his dead wife. Cecily lay with her limbs and 
 features composed in death, her face waxy pale, her 
 eyes still open, gazing bravely into the spirit world. 
 All the sweetness and the purity which had been hers 
 in life seemed only to be deepened, intensified, and 
 etherealised as she lay still in death. Her ruddy curls 
 were tumbled over the pillows, or clung in tiny tendrils 
 about her face. That peace that passeth all under- 
 standing had come to soothe her pain. 
 
 Frank leaned over her, gazing at her with all his 
 soul leaping out at her from his hungry eyes, and who 
 shall say what depths of anguish were fathomed by 
 him in those intense moments of his grief? But 
 gradually his thoughts began to order themselves into 
 some sort of sequence, and each newly awakened 
 
WATERS OF MARA 253 
 
 memory of the dead girl made his loss more heavy and 
 more bitter. She had brought such a wealth of sun- 
 shine into his life ; such an air of purity ; such an 
 all-pervading sense of holiness and womanly goodness, 
 for her very presence had power to make those who 
 knew her better and stronger, though she spake no 
 word of exhortation or rebuke. He himself, who had 
 been cast into life head-over-heels at an early age, who 
 had never known a good influence until he met this 
 girl, had revered and wondered at her almost as much 
 as he had loved her. A good woman, than which there 
 is nothing higher or more pure among all God's 
 creatures, had come to him in the person of his wife 
 as a revelation of something nobler and better than 
 anything of which he had experience, or of which he 
 had even dreamed. And she had stooped to him ; to 
 him, who was all unworthy of her, and stooping she 
 had loved him, and had been happy. For her life with 
 him had been happy, he told himself, with something 
 like exultation in his heart, and he, he had not known 
 the meaning of happiness until he met her. All the 
 days that they had passed together she had been to 
 him a perpetual delight. She had always seen the 
 bright and humorous side of everything that befell 
 them. Nothing had seemed to her a hardship, no 
 discomfort had ever appealed to her as anything but a 
 joke to be laughed at merrily ; her very acts of mercy 
 and kindness to those about her had been done with a 
 light-hearted gaiety which seemed to belittle her 
 trouble, and to deprecate the gratitude she inspired in 
 those she aided. And then how far beyond his deserts 
 she had loved him ! It had often made Frank feel 
 
254 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 unspeakably humbled to know that one so immensely 
 his superior yet loved and looked up to him as Cecily 
 had ever done, for like all good women she thought 
 herself as great a sinner as might be. The knowledge 
 of his wife's love and admiration had made Frank 
 heartily ashamed of himself, often and often, but it had 
 also stimulated him to try to make himself a little more 
 nearly accord with Cecily's idea of him, and so while 
 he lived with her he had become a better man than he 
 would ever have been but for her kind influence. All 
 these memories surged up in his heart, filling it to 
 overflowing with an aching love, causing the sense of 
 his irreparable loss to weigh more and more heavily 
 upon him. Then came the recollection of the ever- 
 ready sympathy for which he had never looked to 
 Cecily in vain. During the few bright months of his 
 married life he had come to lean upon her in a manner 
 of the extent of which he had been only dimly con- 
 scious until now his support was suddenly taken from 
 him. How could he ever face the long and dreary days 
 of lonely life which he saw stretching away before him 
 in an endless, melancholy vista ? He bowed his head 
 in the pillows, and groaned aloud at the bare thought 
 of the unutterable solitude that must be his until he 
 died, for his grief was too fresh for any faith in the 
 healing influence of time to visit him with comfort. 
 But his aching, burning eyes were dry, dry and arid as 
 a sand-bank beneath a tropical sun, for his pain and 
 sorrow were too fierce and too hard for any softening 
 influence of tears. 
 
 But presently he pulled himself together. It was 
 of himself only that he was thinking, and there were 
 
WATERS OF MJRJ zSS 
 
 yet some small duties due by him to his dead wife. 
 For her he could feel no grief. His faith in an after- 
 life was strong and firm, and he could not doubt that 
 Cecily was the gainer by his loss. Did she know of 
 all the deeds with which his bachelor life had been 
 filled, deeds which he had kept sedulously hidden from 
 her sight ? The idea made him draw in his breath 
 sharply as though he suffered pain ; but again he 
 checked himself with an effbrt. His first duty was to 
 Cecily, and even if she did know, what could it matter ? 
 She was beyond the reach of earthly grief, and she 
 would view his ill-doing in the past with a wider 
 knowledge than that of earth, knowing the whole 
 truth, and judging with more than human mercy. 
 
 He stood up, and then very gently he set about his 
 self-appointed task of laying Cecily's body out for 
 burial. He felt sure that she would have wished that 
 he alone should touch her to do these last offices of 
 love and reverence. He choked oddly as he selected 
 the white night-dress in which to clothe her for her 
 burial, and he had to halt many times before his sad 
 work was accomplished, for he was faint with want of 
 food, though he felt no hunger, and his grief seemed 
 to make him giddy. But still he shed no tear, and 
 lovingly though clumsily he did all that remained to 
 be done. Finally he closed her eyes, for somewhat to 
 his surprise her body was still soft and flexible, and he 
 crossed her hands, the hands which had done a thousand 
 kindnesses during Cecily's short lifetime, gently upon 
 her breast, and then stooped to kiss them. Next he 
 kneeled down once more by the bed, and tried to pray, 
 but his mind would only run in one groove, and 
 
256 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 he could think of nothing save only the overwhelm- 
 ing sorrow^ and misery vi^hich w^as his for ever. He 
 recalled with a species of wonder and horror at himself 
 that he had once or twice sat reading a book that 
 interested him when he was aware that Cecily would 
 have preferred to talk. What would he not have given 
 to be able to live again through one of those wasted 
 hours ? Once or twice he had spoken an impatient 
 word or two to the girl who now lay so still before 
 him. Not so very much to reproach himself with, 
 but the recollection added one more pang to his pain. 
 How could he ever have been unkind to her, even for 
 a moment ? He hated himself for it, exaggerating the 
 importance of the merest trifles, as we are all wont to 
 do when, in great grief, we review our conduct to one 
 dearly loved whom death has taken from us for ever. 
 It is the sorrow's crown of sorrow, the more keen 
 because we are impotent to change aught of that for 
 which we mourn, and the helplessness and the hope- 
 lessness of our grief makes the burden well-nigh greater 
 than we can bear. The afternoon hours went slowly 
 by, and found Frank still kneeling beside the bed, 
 utterly worn out by watching, fasting, and emotion, so 
 that his heavy eyes closed in merciful sleep while he 
 still pondered over his sorrow, and strove to pray in 
 words which conveyed no meaning to his tired brain. 
 
 Frank had not been aware that he had slept until 
 he was suddenly awakened into a wide-eyed alertness 
 by the sense of some other presence in the room. He 
 stumbled up on to his feet, staring round him, but for 
 the moment seeing nothing, for his eyes were still 
 
WATERS OF MARA 257 
 
 heavy with sleep, and the fainter light of the afternoon, 
 it was now past four o'clock, struggled with difficulty 
 through the closed windows and drawn curtains. No 
 change had taken place in anything in the room since 
 Frank fell asleep, except that the door leading into the 
 bath-room was standing wide, and the farther door 
 communicating with the outer air was ajar, showing a 
 straight line of white light along its whole length, 
 between the edge and the jamb. This, by its bright- 
 ness, was the first thing to attract Frank's attention, 
 this and the indefinable sense of some other presence 
 in the room which had awakened him. As he stood 
 looking around him, a figure, which had hitherto been 
 hidden in the deep shadows near the head of the bath- 
 room stairs, stepped forward, intercepting the light 
 that forced its way through the half-closed doorway. 
 It was the figure of a woman, tall, and slim, and grace- 
 ful, lightly poised upon its feet, with the sunlight, 
 in which the motes danced restlessly, streaming into 
 the dark room, making a nimbus about it. It was 
 MaimAnah, clothed in a sarong of brilliant blue, with 
 scarves of the same colour folded above her breasts, as 
 he had first seen her that day long ago on the banks of 
 the Pelesu river ; MaimAnah with the sunlight playing 
 about and around her, streaming over her and intensi- 
 fying the colours of her garments ; Maimilnah gazing 
 upon him out of her great eyes, with a strange new 
 look upon her face. Frank stood staring at her like 
 one who sees a ghost, and indeed for the moment he 
 was not sure whether this apparition of the woman for 
 whom he had sinned, in the room where his wife lay 
 dead, was not a ghastly trick which his overwrought 
 
2S8 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 brain was playing upon him. He was not left long in 
 doubt, for Maimflnah was the first to speak. 
 
 ' Wehj it is I,' she said, and then stood still before 
 him, devouring him with her eyes, in which a look of 
 entreaty fought with a rising light of hope and expect- 
 ation. Frank reeled back and sank down in a sitting 
 posture upon the bed. 
 
 ' What seekest thou ? ' he asked. The presence of 
 this woman in this place at such a time had something 
 horrible and revolting to him in it, but he was so 
 utterly weak and exhausted both physically and men- 
 tally that he lacked all strength to resist or eject her. 
 
 ' I seek thee, Weh, as I have ever sought thee, and 
 only thee, since those so along ago days in Karu,' said 
 MaimAnah slowly. ' And behold the Fates are more 
 strong than thou art, Weh ; the barrier of the vow we 
 feared to break is destroyed and consumed like a frail 
 fence when the great fires of the burning jungle leap 
 into the crop-land.' 
 
 ' Peace ! ' cried Frank. It was agony to him to 
 hear this woman's voice sounding in the still room, 
 where his wife lay dead. ' Peace ! I cannot speak 
 with thee now. If thou desirest money I will give it 
 to thee. If thou hast aught to say to me I will hear 
 thee with patience, but not now, not now. Begone, 
 and leave me with my dead.' 
 
 He turned from her, bending above his wife's body, 
 caressing her cold hands with loving touch, and 
 praying her in his heart to forgive him if indeed she 
 knew the sin which he had done in the days before he 
 had seen and loved her. This sudden intrusion of 
 MaimAnah into the room in which he watched beside 
 
WATERS OF MARA 259 
 
 Cecily sleeping her last long sleep, had brought back 
 the memory of the one incident in all his life of which 
 in the presence of his wife he had always felt most 
 bitterly ashamed. It revived the old pain to a fresh 
 keenness j and added a new humiliation and poignancy 
 to his sorrow for his sin. As he leaned above Cecily, 
 stroking and caressing her hands and face, he kept up, 
 under his breath, a whispered monologue intended for 
 her unhearing ear, words of love and devotion for her, 
 half-inarticulate excuses ^nd cries for forgiveness for 
 himself. The events of the last twenty-four hours 
 had for the time shattered him terribly, and he no 
 longer seemed to have the firm hold over his mind 
 which was usual with him. Even as he turned from 
 MaimAnah he forgot her presence, as though she had 
 indeed been the phantom of his brain that he had 
 deemed her when first he saw her standing before 
 him. 
 
 But Maim^ah had not obeyed him when he bade 
 her leave him alone with his dead, and she still stood 
 on the spot whence she had spoken to him, watching 
 his every movement with jealous narrowness. She had 
 suffered much because of this man, for in her own 
 fierce, half animal, wholly passionate fashion she loved 
 him with an intensity that subdued every other feeling 
 in her, and at times nearly drove her wild with longing 
 to have him for her own, as she had had him in the days 
 before this White Woman came between them. To see 
 him now turn from her, living to caress the lifeless 
 hand of her rival lying cold and dead, was to her an 
 agony so keen that her limbs trembled and shook, and 
 she drove her finger-nails into the little pallid palms of 
 
26o ^ SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 her hand with a force that nearly broke the skin. 
 Her emotion was too violent for expression in words, 
 and for a while she rocked and swayed, and seemed to 
 writhe in her fury, turning her distorted face from 
 Frank to the still form by his side, raising her slim, 
 bare arms again and again above her head, like some 
 grim prophetess calling down a curse upon the living 
 and the dead. And all the time Frank, entirely 
 unconscious of her presence near him, continued to 
 soothe and fondle the hands of his dead, and to whisper 
 his almost meaningless words of love and regret into 
 her deaf ears. 
 
 It was a cry from MaimAnah, a cry of pain like 
 that of some dumb creature in torment, that at last 
 recalled Frank to a knowledge of her presence in the 
 room ; but he took no more notice of it than he might 
 have done had she spoken some word in reverent tones 
 such as befitted the place. He did not even avert his 
 gaze from the face of his love, but he raised a finger to 
 his Hps, saying, ' Hush ! Hush ! ' very softly, and 
 without turning towards MaimAnah he bade her be- 
 gone, waving her from him with a backward movement 
 of his left hand. 
 
 MaimAnah stared at him in horror. Was this the 
 madness, she asked herself, or had that other woman 
 utterly bewitched him, laying upon him a charm that 
 even death had no power to snap ? He had been in 
 her thoughts day and night, day and night, ever since 
 she knew of his return to the East from that inacces- 
 sible land where the White Men dwelt in cold and dark- 
 ness, and was it possible that he could forget her very 
 existence so completely that even when she was by his 
 
WATERS OF MARA 261 
 
 side he remained unaware of it, and turned persistently 
 from her to the dead woman she hated with so mad a 
 jealousy. Verily her Fate was accursed of Allah ; but 
 he should hear her, yea, and see her too. He had held 
 her precious in the past, and in the future that was to 
 be their own he should love her again ; but he must 
 turn to her in the present too ; she could not stand by 
 calmly and wait, content, as she had once been, to take 
 only what he could spare for her after he had lavished 
 his best on his white wife. This rivalry with the dead 
 was something which she could not bear. She might 
 have supported the agony of knowing that he had 
 another wife, had she not been at hand to see his 
 wooing of her, but this infatuation which made him 
 prefer the dead to the living she could not sufFer to 
 pass in silence now that her eyes had beheld it. It 
 flashed through her mind that she might be defeating 
 her own most cherished ends by giving way to the 
 masterless rage which was devouring her, but her 
 nature was too impulsive, too passionate, and too un- 
 governable for any considerations of expediency to 
 weigh long with her, when her anger and her jealousy 
 were fairly aroused. 
 
 She strode forward from the head of the bath-room 
 steps, where she had hitherto remained standing, 
 taking up a position at the side of the bed opposite to 
 that on which Frank had his seat, but he took no 
 notice of her approach, and continued to fondle Cecily's 
 little hands, and to keep up his ceaseless babble of 
 whispered words. Once more Maimiinah, her face 
 twitching and working with the strength of her fury, 
 threw her hands above her head, with a splendid 
 
262 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 gesture of anger and despair, and again she uttered 
 that strange, inhuman cry. 
 
 Frank started violently, suddenly awakened from 
 the trance-like abstraction into which his dulled brain 
 had sunk, and looked up at her with a far-away 
 expression in his heavy eyes, as though he scarcely saw 
 her, or seeing failed to recognise her. He was not 
 mad, but he was worn out mind and body, and it was 
 only by a superhuman eiFort that he was able to con- 
 centrate his attention upon anything except Cecily 
 lying dead at his side. His faculties came up to the 
 surface of his mind, like the form of a diver rising 
 slowly through the dim waters of a stagnant pool, and 
 even then they were numbed and deadened, so that a 
 conscious effort was needed before he could put any of 
 them to their accustomed use. He sat gazing stupidly 
 at Maiml!\nah, while he gathered his shattered thoughts 
 together, and fought for the mastery with his rebellious 
 mind. Then he said, very slowly as though he were 
 spelling out the words, 'What seekest thou with 
 me?' 
 
 Maimflnah threw her arms above her head once 
 more, again uttering that inarticulate cry of pain. 
 Then her words broke from her, tripping and stum- 
 bling one over the other, driven forth headlong by the 
 fury of her emotion. 
 
 ' There is no God but God ! ' she cried. ' What 
 thing is this ? I come to thee, a woman to the man 
 she loveth, and I find thee here deaf to my words, 
 blind to the sight of my face, mad by reason of the 
 spell which this dead woman hath wrought upon thee! 
 Are my spells then of no avail ? Those spells that I 
 
WATERS OF MAR J 263 
 
 wrought with so great cunning while thou didst lie 
 pillowed on my breast that day on board the little 
 canting boat, when together we sped from out the 
 mouth of the Pelesu River ? Allah-hu! Is my heart 
 within me to be powdered to dust ? Am I to be 
 burned with fire, like unto the fires of Jehannam ? 
 Am I to stand by in patience to watch thee, my man 
 of mine, wooing this dead thing, while I, thy wife, am 
 here living and loving at thy side ? Ahi ! AM ! 
 Ahi! Amhut! Ma'' P Her anger strangled her 
 speech, and she stood before Frank shaking with fury, 
 and struggling with the emotion that choked her 
 utterance. He looked up at her with his heavy eyes, 
 his brow knit with the effort to collect his thoughts 
 sufficiently to follow the meaning of her torrent of 
 words. ' Hush ! Hush ! ' he said again and again 
 mechanically, in a half whisper. Surely, he thought 
 vaguely, this clamour must break upon the peace of his 
 sleeping wife. 
 
 ' Hush, forsooth ! ' cried MaimAnah, beside herself 
 with mingled pain and fury. Again she raised her 
 arms above her head, and brought them down in that 
 wild, sweeping gesture so eloquent of her passion. 
 Then she threw her head back with a quick, fierce 
 jerk, and broke forth once more into her cry against 
 Frank, and his dead wife, and against the Fate she 
 cursed. 
 
 '■ Alang-kah chelaka nasih aku! How accursed is 
 my Fate ! ' she cried. Then turning upon Frank she 
 began to speak to him more quietly and connectedly 
 than she had hitherto done. 'Weh, leave now this 
 dead woman and come forth with me. Thou art 
 
264 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 spent with watching, and surely thou hast not touched 
 food. Come let me tend thee, as of old I was wont 
 to do. Behold she is dead. What profits it then to 
 spend thy soul in mourning for what the Fates have 
 wrought ? Will thy care and suffering bring back 
 any little spark of Hfe to her ? Will the chafing of 
 her cold hands bring warmth to them ? Come, let 
 me tend thee, and in my love thou shalt forget her, 
 who, for a space, filled the place that of right was 
 mine own.' 
 
 She paused to look at him, eagerly watching to see 
 what effect her words were having upon him. She 
 had spoken gently and slowly, almost as she might 
 have done to a child, but it is doubtful whether Frank 
 heard aught of what she said. He had turned from 
 her once more to fondle and caress the hands of his 
 wife, and his lips were again busy pattering words of 
 love to her. The sight made MaimAnah's fury boil 
 over again, but the torrent of her angry words was 
 little more to him than the persistent buzzing of a 
 fly might have been at a time when he desired to be 
 still. His mind was wandering off unmanageably into 
 old memories in which Cecily had a part ; trivial 
 jokes they had shared together, little quips and sayings 
 of hers, hardly noted at the time, snatches of songs 
 which she had been wont to sing, nay, the very colours 
 and forms of the frocks that she had worn came back 
 to his recollection claiming all his attention, and 
 MaimAnah's words reached him only as the cadence 
 of the wind without reaches those who sit in a closed 
 room above the sound of their own speech, — some- 
 thing half-heard, apart, irrelevant. Now his memory 
 
WATERS OF MJRA 265 
 
 flew back with him to the day when he had told 
 Cecily of his love for her, and his eyes were dewy 
 with the joy that had then been his, for indeed the 
 past seemed to him, at that moment, to be nearer, 
 more real, than the miserable present, which none the 
 less, was ever with him, underlying all his other stray- 
 ing thoughts and fancies. 
 
 Presently his attention was suddenly fixed by some- 
 thing that MaimAnah was saying, and he strove in agony 
 to understand. But for a time the effort was in vain. 
 Then he raised his face to hers and said hoarsely. 
 
 ' Say that again ! ' 
 
 ' And will not once suffice ? ' returned Maimflnah, 
 mockingly. 'Wilt thou send for the Eyes of the 
 Government (Police), and bid them bear me to the 
 jail behind the big fence, and thereafter hang me by 
 the neck, after the fashion of thy so merciful people, 
 that all the world may learn in what manner the 
 woman thy wife came by her death ? ' 
 
 ' I do not understand,' murmured Frank feebly. 
 ' What sayest thou ? Speak that I may try to under- 
 stand thy words.' 
 
 ' Hast thou then forgotten the speech of the Malay 
 folk, that of old was ever so ready on thy tongue ? ' 
 cried Maimlinah. ' Listen then, and may Iblis blast 
 thee, and thy dead wife ! ' 
 
 She moved a little nearer to the side of the bed 
 opposite to that on which Frank now crouched with 
 a new-born fear in his eyes, and spoke slowly and 
 clearly, choosing her words carefully, and taking an 
 evident and cruel pleasure in the effect which they 
 produced upon her listener. 
 
266 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 ' When I came hither from Pelesu I was like unto 
 one burned by the fever, because of my so great 
 longing for the sight of thy face. Each morning as 
 the sun came to life rising from the sea, I said within 
 my heart, " One more night is gone," and when at 
 even the sun died, I said again, " Behold another day 
 is dead that divides me from my Love." When the 
 boat, after many days, dropped anchor at Kuala 
 Senangan, I was like unto a wild thing caged, until 
 the men in the boat made shift to put me ashore, for 
 I said, " He will be glad when his eyes behold me, for 
 he hath longed and hungered for me even as I have 
 done for him." Then, as I passed through the villages 
 of these so foolish people of Senangan, I beheld the 
 woman thy wife, and the folk I questioned said only 
 that she was named "Mem," and that her husband 
 was the Great TAan, but in my heart I knew that 
 she was thy wife, and from my soul I hated her. 
 Even now as she lieth there I hate her, hate her, hate 
 her J Allah alone knoweth the measure of my burning 
 hatred ! ' 
 
 She broke ofF to spit ostentatiously upon the floor, 
 after the manner of her people when some unclean 
 thing is at hand ; but Frank, who was trying vainly 
 to recall the terrible words which had at last aroused 
 him to fix his attention upon Maimflnah, had no 
 power to perceive or resent the insult. 
 
 ' In that hour my heart was crushed to dust, but 
 I said, " I will be patient and long-enduring. I will 
 wait until the night hath fallen, and then I will seek 
 speech with my Love, entreating him to return to 
 me, and if his heart prove hard, and he will by no 
 
WATERS OF MARA 267 
 
 means consent to put away this new wife, then will 
 I be meek and patient. I, even I, will consent to 
 accept a co-wife, if such be his will, though I eat my 
 heart out with envy and jealousy." No man may 
 say that I was not patient. No man may say that I 
 did not deal with this dead woman here more kindly 
 than is the wont of discarded wives ; for though the 
 ntkah was ne'er read over us, I was a wife to thee, and 
 thou wast husband unto me.' 
 
 She paused again, and this time tears of self-pity 
 were rising to her eyes. She recognised with pride 
 that her conduct had been magnanimous beyond all 
 precedent, and the bitterness of her humiliation had 
 been all the keener, because, as it proved, it had been 
 unavailing. 
 
 ' All this I did by reason of my so great love for 
 thee, Weh,' she resumed in a voice softer than any 
 she had yet used. ' And, as thou knowest, I sought 
 thee out at night-time, when all the house was still, 
 so that no shame should be put upon thee because of 
 me. Then thou didst tell me of thy vow to this 
 white wife of thine, and I was Hke unto a fish in the 
 stakes that seeth no way of escape. How dared I 
 help thee break the vow ? What could it profit us, 
 for death to one or both of us would surely follow, 
 and our love could only last while life was in us, 
 since thou art not of the Faith, Weh, and thou and 
 thine are fuel for hell-fire even from the beginning. 
 Then my heart burned with anger against thee and 
 thine, and against Allah, and against Fate, and I cried 
 to God to blight the woman thy wife, but He heeded 
 not my prayer. For days I watched her, myself 
 
268 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 hidden from view, to see if in answer to my cry to 
 Heaven she would droop and fade, but naught 
 happened, and I could no longer wait because of the 
 aching love and desire for thee that was in my heart. 
 Therefore when thou hadst taken thy departure for 
 the upper country, I too followed in thy track so far 
 as the village of PAlau Ibul, where dwelleth the old 
 artisan, TAkang Ninggal, the fashioner of weapons. 
 What did I seek with him ? What is it that we 
 Malayan folk use that our knife-blades may show the 
 cunning watering, and that the silver tracery may 
 stand out bright and prominent ? Hast thou then 
 forgotten the lore of the weapon-bearers that of old 
 thou wast so clever to learn .? ' 
 
 ' Warang ! White arsenic ! ' 
 
 Frank was not conscious that he had spoken the 
 words, but they were those for which his tired brain 
 had been groping while he tried to Hsten to 
 MaimAnah's speech ; those were the words which 
 had recalled him from the stupor into which he had 
 been sunk, when first his attention had been seized 
 by the sound of them upon MaimAnah's lips. But 
 what had they to do with him or with Cecily ? 
 They were like pieces of a child's puzzle that he 
 knew must somehow fit together, but for the life or 
 him he could not learn the secret that would make 
 them a coherent whole. MaimAnah was speaking 
 again, and painfully and mechanically Frank set him- 
 self to listen to her words. 
 
 'Tflkang Ninggal had fear of thy Law, and he 
 denied that he had still any store of arsenic left to 
 him, having given all up to the Eyes of the Govern- 
 
WJTERS OF MARA 269 
 
 ment when they came to him bidding him surrender 
 it as is the order. But, Weh, thou hast given to me 
 the key that unlocketh all doors, and the clink-a-clunk 
 of the white dollars made merry music in the old 
 TAkang's ears ; so at length he delivered to me a 
 pinch or two of the medicine which I sought. Then 
 came I back to this same village of Kuala Senangan, 
 seeking a means of putting this so dearly bought 
 arsenic into some portion of the food that thy people 
 served daily to thy wife. For a long time no fitting 
 opportunity came to me, and my eyes waxed hot and 
 sore with the watching, but I knew that my hour 
 would surely come. Then after many days a fishing 
 boat was wrecked on the sand-bar at the river's mouth, 
 and all thy people ran forth from the little cook-house 
 behind thy dwelling to see the sight, and I entered 
 in, no one being at hand, and made shift to put my 
 medicine into the white flour from which the bread 
 is made. Thinkest thou now that it was the Chilly 
 Death that hath robbed the life from out thy wife's 
 body ? No, no, no ! It is I, I, I ! And if I have 
 lost my Love, my Revenge I have won, and no man 
 may take it from me ! Look upon her, and looking 
 behold my handiwork ! And may Iblis and all his 
 devils blight her soul even as I have destroyed her 
 body ! ' 
 
 The wild tumult of her words, throbbing and 
 rushing with her excitement, her hatred, and her 
 triumph, passed over Frank, nor was it until she 
 ceased to speak, and a great silence fell upon the 
 room, that the full meaning of her terrible speech was 
 borne in upon him. Then with a sharp cry of pain 
 
270 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 he staggered to his feet, reeling back against the bed- 
 post, and clutching convulsively at his throat. He 
 understood at last. Cecily had been murdered. Her 
 sw^eet, pure Hfe had been cut off by this fiend w^hom 
 he himself had raised. Never for a single instant 
 did it occur to him to doubt Maimunah's w^ords. 
 All the symptoms that had baffled him, every detail 
 connected with Cecily's death, the memory of v/hich 
 came rushing back into his mind, served only to 
 confirm the truth of all Maimunah said. The only 
 w^onder to him vi^as that he had not seen from the 
 beginning that his wrife had been poisoned, and by 
 Maimunah. Novir it seemed so obvious, so certain. 
 Was it conceivable that after coming so far to find 
 him, MaimAnah would consent to allow herself to 
 be put off so easily ? Surely he ought to have 
 anticipated her action, and have taken steps to 
 protect Cecily from the danger to which he, and 
 he alone, had exposed her. Yes, though it was 
 Maimflnah's hand that had administered the poison, 
 he knew himself for the murderer of his wife as 
 surely as though he had himself been guilty of the 
 actual deed which had caused her death. His brain 
 reeled with the agony of the thought, and it seemed 
 to him as though, if the strain continued, he must 
 lose his reason. A clammy sweat had broken out 
 upon his brow, and his face twitched and worked 
 in a manner which he was wholly unable to control. 
 Maimflnah stood opposite to him, watching him 
 across the body of the woman she had killed. 
 
 'Yea,' she cried. 'It is true. Look upon her, 
 and looking behold my handiwork ! And I am 
 
WATERS OF MARA 271 
 
 glad, glad, glad in my heart because I have slain 
 her ! ' 
 
 Then she raised her right hand high above her 
 head and smote the dead body of her enemy brutally, 
 with all her force. With an inarticulate cry of rage 
 and pain Frank leaped towards her, his one desire to 
 kill her where she stood, and as he leaped the memory 
 came to him that somewhere in the dim past he had 
 seen all this happen before, the still and awful body 
 lying at his feet, Maimflnah cruelly spurning it, while 
 he looked on in horror, himself the slayer of the dead. 
 The scene flashed before him, like something seen 
 from out the darkness in the lighted interior of a 
 railway carriage as a train whirls by ; then he made 
 a futile grab at MaimAnah, who evaded him easily, 
 and fled quickly down the bath-room steps and out 
 into the fresh air beyond, while he, missing his 
 footing, fell limply to the floor, with his head buried 
 in his arms. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 ALONE 
 
 I used to sit and look at my life 
 A3 it rippled and ran till, right before, 
 
 A great stone stopped it : oil, the strife 
 Of waves at the stone some devil threw 
 
 In my life's midcurrent, thwarting God ! 
 
 Robert Browning. 
 
 He had fallen to the floor from sheer weakness and 
 exhaustion, even his mad passion of rage against 
 Maimunah being powerless to stimulate or revive 
 his failing strength. He had defied Nature during 
 the long hours that he had spent in miserable vigil 
 by Cecily's bedside ; he was wrecked body and mind ; 
 and lying there he realised, with something resembling 
 that agony of impotence which men experience when 
 a night-mare holds them hand and foot, his utter 
 inability even to wreak vengeance on his enemy, to 
 pursue her, and tear the life from out her body as he 
 so fiercely longed to do. He was horribly sick and 
 faint, spent mentally and physically, and for many 
 minutes he lay where he had fallen, fully conscious 
 of his misery, but incapable of action, or even of 
 connected thought. 
 
ALONE 273 
 
 He surely now had sounded the lowest depths of 
 human suffering. He had been nearly distraught 
 with grief and pain at the loss of his dearly loved wife, 
 even while he had believed that God had taken her 
 from him, — as He so often takes our purest and our 
 best, — working with Nature as His sole agent ; but. 
 now that Frank knew Cecily to have been basely 
 murdered, and that he, her husband, had had no small 
 share in the responsibility of her death, his brain fairly 
 gave way under the intensity of the torture. 
 
 Presently, painfully and with difficulty, he raised 
 himself from the floor, and with tottering, uncertain 
 steps, and body bowed like that of an old man, he 
 crept slowly out of the room, on to the verandah 
 without. As he went he kept his eyes carefully 
 averted from the bed upon which the body of Cecily 
 lay, for he dared not look upon her whom in life he 
 had held so dear. Old tales of corpses bleeding afresh 
 when their murderers drew nigh to them, came to his 
 mind, and he was filled with a horrible certainty, 
 which he yet vaguely realised was a delusion, that 
 were he to turn his eyes towards the bed, he would 
 see there red blood-stains, proclaiming aloud to all the 
 world that he was the slayer of his wife. 
 
 And Cecily's was not the only life that had been 
 sacrificed as the price of his sin ! The thought 
 suddenly flashed upon him, adding yet another pang 
 to his agony, yet a fresh load of fearful guilt to his 
 tortured conscience. Ever since his return to his 
 home, Frank had been too full of Cecily, of sympathy 
 with her sufferings, of all that losing her must mean 
 to him, to spare a thought, even for an instant, to the 
 
 T 
 
274 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 child that was to have been born to them. Now the 
 memory of the little abortive life came to him in the 
 supreme hour of his misery, only to deepen his gloom, 
 and to make him doubly a murderer. 
 
 He crept to the end of the verandah, and leaned 
 heavily upon the balustrade. The long shadows were 
 streaming out towards the sea, flecked by Httle points 
 of light, where the sunshine forced its way through 
 the branches of the palm fronds. The western sky 
 was bright with the slanting rays that smote it from 
 the opposite quarter of the heavens, and flocks of 
 snow-white clouds were climbing up along the sky- 
 line from out the under world. The sea was intensely 
 blue, and the long, low waves of the in-coming tide 
 rose and broke slowly, flashing and glinting as the 
 sunlight caught them. An air of exceeding peace, 
 such as comes over our world when the coolness of 
 the sun-set hour succeeds the glare and heat of the 
 pitiless Malayan day, hallowed all the earth. The 
 cicadas and the great noisy earthworms screamed and 
 whirred from the trees and from the grass, their music 
 making, as it were, a background of sound upon which 
 all the other songs of the evening seemed to be over- 
 layed. A speckled night-jar, looking black in the 
 fading light, flapped after a swarm of flies, and then 
 settled, an ugly, shapeless patch of darkness, on the 
 ground, almost at Frank's feet. Two little pied robins, 
 making arrangements for the night in a casuarina tree 
 not three yards away from him, perched first upon a 
 bough, and then fluttered to the ground, where they 
 hopped and pecked about on tiny springy legs, with 
 cocked tails, and an insistent musical piping. It was 
 
ALONE 27; 
 
 alone among these quiet surroundings that Frank 
 Austin passed this dark hour of his Hfe. 
 
 He observed everything with unusual minuteness ; 
 the lights and shadovirs, the sky, the earth, the sea, the 
 clumsy, fluttering night-jar, and the black and w^hite 
 markings of the pair of miniature magpies, with the 
 comical swagger and importance of their gait. Nay, 
 even the contorted boughs of the wind - thrashed 
 casuarina trees, the convolutions of their trunks, the 
 silver lichen on their bark, and their myriad needles 
 and spines were all seen and observed by him more 
 accurately than ever before. His mind was strained 
 to such a pitch of tension, that all his perceptions 
 seemed to have become abnormally keen and acute. 
 He thought that above the rushing whisper of the 
 waves upon the shore, and the tender note of the bird 
 and insect life about him, he could distinctly hear the 
 pulse and hum of the sap in the arteries of the trees, 
 could distinguish the beat of the tiny gossamer wings 
 as the flies flew past him, could perceive even the 
 crumbling sound made by the dry sand, as it detached 
 itself and fell in little crisped dribblets from the edge 
 of a neighbouring pit. And yet, though his eyesight 
 and his hearing were both so abnormally sensitive to 
 outward impressions, never for the fraction of a second 
 did his mind wander trom the thought of his misery. 
 The material things about him seemed to him to be 
 in a manner connected with the trouble in his mind, 
 intimately connected with it, sharing with an intensity 
 equal to his own, in unutterable loathing for the man 
 who had slain his wife. 
 
 And listen ! All Nature had tongues tonight with 
 
276 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 which to speak her thoughts ! All the inanimate 
 things about him were saying something, over and over 
 and over again, — some word. What was it ? He 
 held his breath and strained his ears in an agonised eiFort 
 to catch this whisper of the world ; and yet, though 
 he listened with such painful intentness, he was filled 
 with a quaking terror of what he dreaded to hear. 
 Surely he had passed through a similar period of sus- 
 pense not an hour ago, — had heard a word spoken, a 
 word of terrible meaning, which filled him with dread, 
 vague, formless, and yet failed to convey any clear 
 idea to his enfeebled brain. Yes, he knew. The 
 word had been wdrang — white arsenic — and it was 
 Maimunah who had uttered it. But this was different. 
 Listen ! Yes, all created things were speaking to him 
 in a language which, at last, he could understand j 
 one word — ' Murderer ! ' ' Murderer ! ' whispered the 
 falling sand, the humming sap, the clouds of flying 
 insects ; ' Murderer ! ' cried the sea, splashing on the 
 beach, and the shore took up the word, shouting it 
 to the listening sky, which caught the cry and sent 
 it booming back to earth again, till all the world rang 
 with the insistent din and clamour. Frank cowering 
 on the verandah heard it all, and listened spell-bound, 
 till the merciful night crept up over the land, and 
 darkness came to hush the tumult. Even then, he 
 could hear the waves keeping up an incessant murmur- 
 ing whisper, and he seemed to know the meaning of 
 its complaining tones, and fell a-wondering, with a 
 keen access of self-pity, why upon this night of all 
 others in which he most stood in need of rest and 
 quiet, all Nature should be banded together against 
 
ALONE 277 
 
 him, to break upon his peace. He had so much upon 
 which it was necessary that he should think deeply, 
 calmly, dispassionately, and for thought he must have 
 quiet, absolute, unbroken quiet. 
 
 A Chinese servant came in bearing a lamp in his 
 hand, and at the approach of the light it seemed to 
 Frank that all the inanimate things within sight broke 
 out once more in their terrible chorus. He rose up 
 tottering from the chair into which he had sunk 
 exhausted a moment before, and furiously he bade the 
 frightened servant be gone, and take his accursed light 
 with him. Had he too heard the clamour of the 
 universe, Frank asked himself. The Chinese fled pre- 
 cipitately, to bring the news to the other servants, in 
 the lines behind the bungalow, that the Mem was dead, 
 and that the Tuan was drinking himself to death in 
 the darkness, after the manner of the White Men ; but 
 in this he did Frank injustice, for neither food nor drink 
 had passed his lips since early that morning. His eyes 
 were bloodshot with grief and long watching, his face 
 was drawn, and lined and aged, by the extremity of 
 his emotions, his back was bowed, and he tottered in 
 his walk, and stuttered out his words like one in the 
 grip'of intoxication. But the intensity of his emotions 
 which the last two days had held for him, acting upon 
 a body weakened by fasting and sleeplessness, had 
 exercised a power far greater than that of alcohol. 
 It had beaten him to the dust, crushing him mentally 
 and physically ; had taken from him the control he 
 was wont to maintain over his thoughts, his impres- 
 sions, over the very movements of his limbs, and the 
 articulation of his speech ; but on the other hand, it 
 
278 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 brought to him an abnormal acuteness of feeling, a 
 fevered, strained, unnatural fulness of sensation, and 
 that at a moment when his every recollection of all 
 that had befallen him in the past, all that he was 
 enduring in the present, was but an added agony, — 
 one turn more of the rack upon which his naked soul 
 lay stretched for the torture. And ever upon his 
 weary brain, which seemed to ring with a thousand 
 tense vibrations, was beaten in and in the groping 
 knowledge that he had some duty to perform, some 
 duty that must not be delayed. He must think, think, 
 think ; must review his position dispassionately, calmly ; 
 but how could he ever compass this amid the tumult 
 and contempt of all created things ? 
 
 He threw himself down once more in a chair, 
 burying his face in his hands, and set himself resolutely 
 to his task, fighting with his straying thoughts, fiercely, 
 perseveringly, unsuccessfully, as a man might strive 
 with a monster against which his puny strength availed 
 not at all. Do what he would to concentrate his 
 thoughts upon the present and upon the immediate 
 future, scenes in his past life, futile, insignificant, 
 irrelevant, forced themselves upon the retina of his 
 mind's eye, giving him no rest. 
 
 One moment, in a sort of flash of recollection, he 
 saw himself as he had been in those days of long ago 
 when he had first set foot in the Peninsula, full of 
 high hopes and boundless ambition, blessed with a 
 feverish energy, a limitless curiosity concerning his 
 new surroundings, a large heart overflowing with 
 sympathy for the brown folk about him, and cursed 
 by that innate weakness of character that had been 
 
JLONE 279 
 
 his ruin. The bloated face of old Applebury, as he 
 lay sleeping, flushed with good living, and puffing in 
 his slumber, rose up out of the darkness, and Frank 
 saw the contempt with which he had himself been 
 wont to regard his first official chief. Yet even Apple- 
 bury had surely a cleaner record than that which he 
 could show. Then his thoughts ran on again, and he 
 saw himself lounging about among the natives in the 
 villages around the station, learning with such eager- 
 ness the things that had brought him so little good. 
 Presently the face of Gregson rose up to taunt him, 
 the strong face of one who had passed unscathed 
 through the furnace, in which lesser souls were so 
 woefully scorched and seared. ' There are many other 
 forms of study in which your individual chances of 
 salvation run far less risk. That's all ! ' . . . ' Go 
 to the Devil in your own way, but remember that I 
 warned you that His Satanic Majesty is probably lying 
 in wait for you at the end of that road ! ' . . . 'It 
 takes a pretty strong man to study native life thoroughly 
 without getting his own ethics and morality a trifle 
 jumbled ! ' — fragments of Gregson's kindly warning 
 came to Frank's recollection, so harshly and distinctly 
 that the words seemed to be said aloud by some one 
 standing at his elbow. He turned sharply round half 
 expecting to see Gregson at his side, and as though 
 in truth he saw him, he spoke aloud : 
 
 ' You were right, old man. You were right. But 
 it has landed me farther than the Devil. The Devil 
 and the . . . How does it go ? The Devil and the 
 . . . The Devil and the — Deep Sea ! The Deep 
 Sea — a sea of blood. And it whispers, whispers, 
 
28o 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 whispers, ever that one word. Ah, my God, my 
 God ! Why hast Thou forsaken me ? ' Frank buried 
 his face in his hands once more, and groaned aloud. 
 'Gregson isn't there,' he said. 'I am alone, alone, 
 alone. . . . No one is near me . . . and there in 
 the shadow . . . look ! . . . Cecily ! . . . O my 
 God ! . . . Pale, pale as death . . . and see the blood 
 . . . and the blood-guiltiness is mine ! . . . There 
 is nothing . . . nothing ... I know that there can 
 be nothing there ... if only I could believe it ! ' 
 
 Then he started to his feet with a scream. 'My 
 God ! ' he cried, pressing his hands to his head. ' God 
 help me ! I am going mad ! ' 
 
 The servants at the back of the bungalow, frightened 
 by Frank's cry, ran in hastily to see what ailed their 
 master ; but Frank was not conscious of their presence. 
 The fear that had overpowered him had but given to 
 him a moment's strength. Then he had tottered back 
 to the chair, had sunk down into it again, with his face 
 hidden in his hands, and again his thoughts ran off 
 upon their weary way, carrying him along with them, 
 though he still fought desperately to control them. 
 The servants withdrew as noiselessly as they had come. 
 
 He was playing at pitch-and-toss. In the darkness 
 he could see the white faces of the coins whirling up 
 and up, then plunging downwards to the floor with a 
 clash and a clang that set the whole world echoing 
 their discordant din. They always fell with the faces 
 uppermost. And what were the impressions on the 
 coins ? Faces he knew ! The white faces of a 
 murdered wife, and of a child that had never seen 
 the light ! And the clash of the falling coins beat 
 
ALONE 281 
 
 into his heart and brain. Fool, to play for such a 
 stake — the life of his wife and child ! Then, in- 
 consequently, the memory of a Malay gambler, whom 
 he had known, came to him, a wretch who when all 
 that he possessed had been staked and lost on the 
 gambling-mats, had pledged his wife on the turn of a 
 dice-box. And he had lost ! What a brute the man 
 had seemed to him at the time ; and yet, and yet, 
 — he, Frank Austin, he who had had such high 
 ideals in that distant past before he knew the East, 
 had he not done the like, without even the provocation 
 of despair, and had he not also lost his all ? Again he 
 moaned aloud, rocking his body to and fro, as though 
 in physical pain. A moment during which he was 
 half stunned into unconsciousness followed j and then 
 his torturing memory ran forward once more, showing 
 him yet other pictures of his dead self. Now he was 
 sitting on the edge of a raft — waiting for some one who 
 never came. Was it Cecily ? No it could not be 
 she — she was dead, killed by the husband who had 
 loved her ; and her little, little child . . . dead too, 
 and by the same hand that had slain its mother. . . . 
 It was for MaimAnah that he was waiting . . . wait- 
 ing to kill her. Ah, there she was ! How her great 
 eyes gleamed, with what a fierce, savage light ; how 
 the sunshine streamed over her, deepening the colour 
 of the grass at her feet, past which the river ran and 
 rippled ! He must get at her, get at her — to kill her 
 with his hands. Arrgh ! What was that that she 
 was pursuing so relentlessly, some one who ran de- 
 sperately with starting eye-balls, and out-stretched 
 neck . . . Cecily ! . . . See she was spurning the 
 
282 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 corpse, and one bent and old, himself, raved and 
 mourned above it ! He must get at her ... he 
 could not stand by and see his dear one tortured by 
 that fiend ! . . . He must seize her, strangle her, 
 tear the life from out of her body, now at last that she 
 was close at hand . . . within his reach. 
 
 He leaped to his feet, raving and gibbering horribly. 
 For a moment he really believed that Maim^inah was 
 close to him, standing there hidden from sight among 
 the black shadows of the verandah, and his desire to kill 
 her gave him strength. Uttering wild, inarticulate 
 sounds of pain and fury, he rushed forward, with un- 
 seeing eyes, headlong into the darkness, and came into 
 violent collision with one of the heavy timber posts 
 on which the roof of the bungalow was supported. 
 Half stunned, he reeled back into his chair, his face a 
 shapeless mass of cuts and bruises, and his mouth filled 
 with blood. 
 
 The violence and the pain of the unexpected blow 
 had helped to sober him, as nothing less brutal could 
 have done, and when the sudden dizziness of the 
 shock had passed away, he found himself able, for the 
 first time since MaimAnah had left him, to think as he 
 had so vainly striven. to do, connectedly, coherently, dis- 
 passionately. By the light cast by that vivid memory, 
 which the intensity of his mental sufferings seemed to 
 have strengthened and stimulated to so abnormal a 
 degree, he saw the whole of his past life lying spread 
 before him, clear, accurate, comprehensible, as though 
 it were something figured on an open map. He 
 seemed to be able to see it as a whole, each part in the 
 relation which it bore to the rest, each detail as it had 
 
ALONE 283 
 
 affected that which came after, and fitted on to all 
 that had gone before. In this moment of unusual 
 insight, he could trace, like a black line running across 
 a chart, the little lack of strength in his character, the 
 tiny innate weakness and want of self-control which, 
 from such small beginnings, had wrecked his whole 
 life. From sheer force of habit, even at this moment, 
 the proverbial simile of the Malays rose to his mind, — 
 this flaw in his character had been the drop of indigo 
 that had discoloured a gallon of milk. 
 
 He remembered, as clearly as though it were but 
 yesterday, his conversation with Gregson. He saw 
 now, that, even at the time, he had been aware that 
 his friend spoke the truth when he hinted his doubt as 
 to whether Frank possessed the strength of character 
 necessary for the task of studying native life ; and how 
 the very weakness, that he strove to hide even from 
 himself, had made it impossible for him to resist the 
 temptation to pursue his inquiries into the ways and 
 thoughts of the brown folk about him, though all the 
 while he had been instinctively aware of the danger 
 lurking in such amusements for one of his disposition. 
 Later it had been the same defect in his character, the 
 same lack of self-control and of the power to deny 
 himself something that he felt would be better with- 
 held, that had led him to watch for the coming of the 
 girl in green from his raft on the Pelesu river. Fate, 
 from whom he had sought counsel, had decided against 
 the folly of thus dallying with temptation, and he had 
 deliberately set her warning at defiance, telling himself, 
 though even then he had known in his heart of hearts 
 that it was false, that he was strong enough to resist 
 
284 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 any desire, such as the sight of a native woman could 
 Icindle within him. 
 
 Then MaimAnah had come into his life, standing 
 framed between the sunshine above, and the green 
 grass and the rippling river at her feet. He saw now 
 how from the very outset he had been defeated ; how 
 he had unhesitatingly obeyed his impulse to return 
 her signals, while the first glimpse of her beauty 
 blinded and swayed him. This had shocked and 
 shaken him at the time ; but should he not have seen 
 with certainty that this was nothing but his real 
 character showing itself unmistakably, and, knowing 
 the weakness, thus clearly revealed to him, have 
 shunned all further trials of strength ? 
 
 But Fate, whom he had flouted, had proved too 
 much for him. Ah, God ! better a thousand times 
 had he perished by the kris of Pendekar Aris, than 
 have saved himself and Maimflnah ! He ground his 
 teeth at the thought that it was his hand that had 
 rescued the woman he hated from certain death, only to 
 enable her to rob the life from those whom he held most 
 dear. Clearly across his mind's vision came the tense 
 face of Maimiinah as he had seen it in a flash, as she 
 ran up the street of Karu, straining every muscle in 
 her agonised eflFort to escape, and he threw his hand 
 out into the shadows as though to strike a blow at 
 some invisible thing. 
 
 Then had not the woman's character, in all its 
 hideous savagery, been revealed to him while she 
 stood over the body of the Pendekar, with vile words 
 upon her lips, cruelly spurning the lifeless form lying 
 stark and shattered in the dust ? But he had shut his 
 
ALONE 285 
 
 eyes to what he saw, because, forsooth, she had found 
 soft things to whisper in his ears, and he had been in- 
 toxicated by a woman's flattery and admiration ! 
 
 But he had made a fight of it, he said almost 
 defiantly to his own heart. When MaimAnah, gentle 
 and pleading, with a piteous tale of ill-usage to tell to 
 him, had visited his raft, he had resisted that tempta- 
 tion, he had sent her away, and he had believed — 
 before God he had believed — that the incident was 
 closed. But even as he pursued this thought, seeking 
 such poor comfort as it might be able to afibrd him, 
 his inexorable conscience gave him the lie. Had he 
 not, at the best, been an unwilling victor ? Had he 
 not, at the bottom of his heart, wished for some further 
 excuse to dally yet a little longer with a temptation 
 that he found passing sweet ? And when that tempta- 
 tion had come to him, had he then made even a 
 pretence at resistance ? True ! All true ! 
 
 Then his mind flashed on rapidly over the years 
 that had followed upon his sin. How little worth had 
 been that for which he had sacrificed his all ! And 
 again his innate weakness of moral purpose had 
 brought about his undoing. It was because he feared 
 to encounter the passionate resentment of this woman 
 that he had led her to believe that he was returning to 
 Europe never again to revisit the East. If he had 
 definitely cast her ofi^, without any such pretext, she 
 might not again have come into his life, but he had 
 lacked the strength necessary for such a course of 
 action. Then when she had reappeared, he had failed 
 to nerve himself for the possibility of discovery. He 
 had played upon the woman's superstitious fear of 
 
286 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 breaking a vow, secure in the knowledge that in that 
 lay his best chance of personal immunity. It had 
 never occurred to him as a possibility that MaimAnah 
 would dream of injuring Cecily ; but none the less, 
 his conduct at this crisis of his life had led to his wife's 
 death as surely as though the poison that had killed 
 her had been administered with his own hand ! He 
 was the murderer of the one woman whom he had loved, 
 and the slayer of their unborn child. He was guilty 
 of blood, the blood of his nearest and dearest. 
 
 The quiet night winds blew softly through the 
 verandah, making the curtains flap and rustle, while 
 the casuarina trees without shuddered as though 
 stricken with fear. The rhythmical plash of the waves 
 cried ' Hush ! Hush ! ' to the listening world ; and a 
 couple of large fishing-boats lolled out of the river's 
 mouth, under their straining sails, with a faint creak- 
 ing of rattan cordage ; high up in the heavens the 
 great banks of cloud hung motionless, for the wind 
 was only whispering in the ears of the drowsy earth, 
 and in the awful hush of Nature's silent noises Frank's 
 poor, disordered brain thought out the sentence that 
 his crime deserved. 
 
 Even as a boy at school, when sore beset by some 
 of the miniature troubles of childhood, suicide had 
 always occurred to him as a possibility. The morbid 
 fits of depression, to which he had long been subject, 
 had often directed his thoughts towards the same means 
 of escape from anxiety and sorrow. He had even, at 
 times, gone so far as to take up his pistol, wondering at 
 the change which a touch of the trigger would effect. 
 But his religious belief, which throughout all these years 
 
ALONE 287 
 
 of exile had remained unshaken, had always served to 
 restrain him. He had never doubted but that self- 
 inflicted death must carry with it the punishment of 
 eternal damnation. He doubted it less than ever now. 
 The short months of his married life with Cecily had 
 helped to strengthen the faith that was in him. The 
 truths of the Christian religion, as he understood them, 
 were things which did not admit of explanation or denial, 
 and the doctrine of eternal punishment was part of the 
 creed which he had learned. It had often seemed to him 
 that no divine justice could require such payment for 
 the sins of erring man. Now, in the agony of his 
 misery, in the intensity of his loathing for the man he 
 knew himself to be, no sentence seemed too severe. 
 Yes, he understood. Pain and torment such as he 
 was now enduring prolonged through endless ages ! 
 Endless ! If he might bale the sea with a cup, and win 
 his freedom when at last no drop of water remained 
 where it had been, his punishment would no longer be 
 eternal ; but if he slew himself his torture would endure 
 for ever. He believed it with a firmness of conviction 
 that amounted to certain knowledge ; but again he 
 told himself that this was no more than he deserved. 
 
 Where had he heard that it was a coward's deed to 
 take the life that God had given ? How little people 
 knew ! He was about to inflict upon himself the 
 greatest punishment that the mind of man could 
 conceive ; and he was cutting himself off for ever 
 from all hopes of being reunited to Cecily ! Could 
 any act of penitence be more heroic than this ? 
 Before God he was no coward fleeing from a trouble 
 that he dared not face. To his disordered brain. 
 
288 'SINCE THE BEGINNING' 
 
 tortured and wrenched out of its accustomed sanity, 
 it seemed that he was acting with nothing more than 
 cruel, relentless justice — the justice of God. But 
 might he not look once more on the dear face of her 
 whom he would never see again ? Had he done so, it 
 is possible that the influence which Cecily had exer- 
 cised over him in life would have reasserted itself 
 again, now that she lay still in death, and so might 
 have saved him from the crime that his anguish-wrung 
 mind had contorted into something akin to virtue j but 
 he swore that he would deny himself even the last small 
 comfort of gazing on the face of the woman whom he had 
 loved. There should be justice, but no unmerited mercy. 
 He stood up, and walked with firm steps across the 
 verandah into his sitting-room. He took down a 
 pistol from the holster, in which it hung against the 
 wall ; loaded it deliberately and with care j cocked it, 
 and pressed it to his forehead. 
 
 The quiet night wore on, but there was a frightened 
 passing to and fro of hurrying feet about the little 
 bungalow upon the beach ; and far out upon the sand- 
 spit, near the river's mouth, a woman lay in a shape- 
 less heap, tearing her hair and beating her breast 
 mercilessly, and crying ^Ahi! Ahi ! AM!' to the 
 unpitying stars, because the man she loved has passed 
 for ever from out her life, leaving her days desolate. 
 
 THE E>fD 
 
 Printed hy R. & R. Clark, L:mitid, Edinburgh 
 
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 By W. p. REEVES 
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 New Zealand, and other Poems 
 
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 9 
 
By KATHARINE TYNAN (Mrs. Hinkson) 
 
 The Wind in the Trees 
 
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 ■^^ -^^ -^^ 
 
 6nglt0l) portraits 
 
 A SERIES OF LITHOGRAPHED DRAWINGS 
 
 BY 
 
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 The following Portraits are included in this Collection, 
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 Lord Charles Beresford, M.P. 
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 Professor A. Legros 
 
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 Miss Ellen Terry 
 
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 Folio. In Buckram Cover specially designed by 
 
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 10 
 
By The Rev. A. G. B. ATKINSON, M.A. 
 
 St. Botolph, Aldgate 
 
 The Story of a City Parish, compiled from the Record 
 
 Books and other Ancient Documents. With a 
 
 Supplementary Chapter by the Vicar 
 
 Crown 8.V0. Cloth. 5 s. net. [Ready. 
 
 '^^ -^^ -^^ 
 By temple SCOTT 
 
 A Bibliography of Omar Khayyam 
 
 With Prefatory Note by Edward Clodd, Ex-President of 
 the Omar Khayyam Club. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo. Buckram. 53. net. 
 Edited by W. T. STEAD 
 
 Letters from Julia 
 
 Or, Light from, the Borderland: a Series of Messages 
 
 as to the Life beyond the Grave received by 
 
 Automatic Writing from one 
 
 who has gone before 
 
 i6mo. Cloth. 2s. 
 
 \Second Edition ready. 
 
By CARVETH read, M.A. 
 
 Logic : Deductive and Inductive ' 
 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 By EMMA BROOK 
 
 A Tabulation of the Factory Laws of 
 European Countries 
 
 In so far as they Relate to the Hours of Labour 
 
 and Special Legislation for Women, 
 
 Young Persons, and Children 
 
 Demy'Svo. Half Cloth. 2S. 6d. net. 
 
 H.R.H. The Prince of Wales 
 
 An Account of his Career, including his Birth, 
 
 Education, Travels, Marriage, and Home 
 
 Life and Philanthropic, Social, 
 
 and Political Work 
 
 With one hundred Portraits and other Illustrations. 
 
 ** It is pleasant to be reminded of these things in the interesting manner in which 
 the writer reminds us of them, and to study the numerous and well-selected illnstra- 
 tions which reach back to the infancy of the Prince. On the whole the execution of 
 the book is to be commended. ... It is easy to see that the anonymous author is 
 very well informed, and has had access to other sources of information than the books 
 mentioned in the preface." — The Times, 
 
 " The author shows throughout the skill which one expects of an accomplished 
 writer. The book is brightly written ; it b interesting from beginning to end, and it 
 contains an amount of information about His Royal Highness which is quite surpris- 
 ing in so small a compass. Few things are more difficult than to write a biography 
 of a distinguished living person which shall be at once truthful, adequate, unim- 
 peachable in the article of good taste, and yet not dull. Every reader of this life of 
 the Prince of Wales will admit that this difficulty has been faced and successfully 
 overcome." — Literature. 
 
 Royal 8vo. Cloth. Gilt Extra. los. 6d. {Ready, 
 
 12 
 
Spring, 1898^ 
 
 ALLEN, GRANT. 
 
 Linnet : a Romance. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 The Evolution of the Idea of God : an Inquiry 
 into the Origins of Religions. Demy 8vo. Buck- 
 ram, 20s. net. [Second Edition. 
 
 Grant Allen's Historical Guides : 
 
 Paris. [Ready. 
 
 Florence. „ 
 
 Cities of Belgium. ,, 
 
 Venice. [In preparation. 
 
 Rome. „ 
 
 Cities of Northern Italy. „ 
 
 Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. each, net. 
 
 *' Good work in the way of shomng students the right manner ol approaching the 
 history of a great city. . . . These useliil little volumes." — Times. 
 
 "Those who travel for the sake of culture will be well catered for in Mr. Grant 
 Allen's new scries of historical guides. . . . There are few more satisfactory books 
 for a student who wishes to dig out the Paris of the past from the immense super- 
 incumbent mass of coffee-houses, kiosks, fashionable hotels, and other temples of 
 civilisation, beneath which it is now submerged. Florence is more easily dug up, as 
 you have only to go into the picture galleries, or into the churches or museums, 
 whither Mr. Allen's guide accordingly conducts you, and tells you what to look at 
 if you want to understand the art treasures of the city. The books, in a word, 
 explain rather than describe. Such books are wanted nowadays. . . . The more 
 sober-minded amon^ tourists wili^ be grateful to him for the skill with which the new 
 series promises to mmister to their needs." — Scotsman. 
 
 " Mr. Grant Allen, as a traveller of thirty-five years' experience in foreign lands, 
 is well qualified to command success in the task he has set himself, and nothing in 
 the two volumes under notice is more striking than die strong sense conveyed of his 
 powers of observation and the facility with which he describes the objects of art and 
 the architectural glories which he has met and lingered over. ... It would^ be a 
 pity indeed wer^ his assiduous researches and the fruits of bis immense experience, 
 now so happily exemplified, to pass unnoticed either by ' globe trotters ' or by 
 students of art and history who have perforce to stay at home.' — Daily Telegraph, 
 
 " No traveller going to Florence with any idea of understanding its art treasures, 
 can afford to dispense with Mr. Grant Allen's guide. He is so saturated with in* 
 formation gained by close observation and close study. He is so candid, so sincere, . 
 so fearless, so interesting, and his little book is so portable and so pretty." — Queen. 
 
 " Not only admirable, but also, to the intelligent tourist, indispensable. . . . Mr. 
 Allen has the artistic temperament. . . . With his origins, his traditions, his art 
 niticisms, he goes to the heart of the matter, is outspoken concerning those things he 
 despises, and earnest when describing those in which his soul deughts. . . . 7%e 
 hooks are genuinely interesting to the ordinary reader^ wketlier he have travelled 
 or noti and unlike the ordinary guide-book may be read with advantage both before 
 and e^er the immediate occasion qf their use. ' — Birfningham Gazette 
 
 13 
 
(©rant JRicfiarDis's IPufiUcationg 
 
 An African Millionaire : Episodes in the Life of 
 the Illustrious Colonel Clay, With over Sixty Illus- 
 trations by Gordon Browne. Crown 8vo, Cloth. 
 6 s. \Ftfth Edition, 
 
 " It is not often that the short stoiy of this class can be made as attractive and 
 as exciting as are many of the Colonel's episodes. Let us be thankful for these, and 
 hasten to commend 'An African Millionaire' to the notice of all travellers. We can 
 imagine no book of the season more suitable for an afternoon in a hammock or a 
 lazy day in the woods. And the capital illustrations help an excellent dozen of stories 
 on their way."— Z?«i^ Chronicle. 
 
 " For resourcefulness, for sardonic humour, for a sense of the comedy of the situa- 
 tion, and for pluck to carry it through, it would be difficult to find a more entert^n- 
 ing scoundrel than Colonel CXzyJ"— Daily News. 
 
 ' ' This book is a good example of Mr. Grant Allen's talents. _ It is only a collectitm 
 of tales describing how a very rich man is again and again victimised by the same 
 adventurer, but it has not only plenty of dramatic incident, but of shrewd and wise 
 reflection, such as is seldom found in the modem novel." — Mr. James Fayn in the 
 Illustrated London News, 
 
 ALMA TADEMA, LAURENCE. 
 
 Realms of Unknown Kings : Poems. Fcap. 8vo. 
 Paper Wrapper, as. net. Buckram. 3s. net. 
 
 ANSTEY, F. 
 
 Paleface and Redskin, and other Stories for 
 Boys and Girls. With Illustrations by Gordon 
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 ATKINSON, A. G. B., M.A. 
 
 St. Botolph, Aldgate : The Story of a City Parish, 
 compiled from the Record Books and other Ancient 
 Documents. With a Supplementary Chapter by 
 the Vicar. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 53. net. 
 
 BELL, R. S. WARREN. 
 {See Henrietta Volumes.) 
 
 BINYON, LAURENCE. 
 
 Porphyrion and other Poems. Crown 8vo. 
 Cloth, ss. net. 
 
 BRETON, FREDERIC. 
 
 True Heart : a Novel. Crown Svo. Cloth. 6s. 
 14 
 
(5rant Klicftatlis^ia! IPuiilicationg 
 
 BROOK, EMMA. 
 
 A Tabulation of the Factory Laws of Euro- 
 pean Countries, in so far as they relate to the 
 Hours of Labour and Special Legislation for Women, 
 Young Persons, and Children. Demy 8vo. Half 
 Cloth, 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 BURGIN, G. B. 
 
 The Cattle Man : a Novel. 
 " Old Man's" Marriage : A Novel. (A Sequel to 
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 " Mr. Burgin's best qualities come to the front in ' " Old Man's" Marriage.' . . . 
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 romance that belongs to them as well . . . the story is fresh and full of charm." — 
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 "Mr. Burgin's humour is both shrewd and kindly, and his book should prove as 
 welcome as a breath of fresh air to the weary readers of realistic fiction." — Daily 
 Telegraph. 
 
 "*01d Man's' Marriage is told with such humour, high spirit, simplicity, and 
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 KsRNAHAN in the Star. 
 
 " It would be difficult to speak too highly of the delicate pathos and humour of 
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 CLIFFORD, HUGH (British Resident at Pahang). 
 
 Studies in Brown Humanity: Being Scrawls and 
 
 Smudges in Sepia, White, and Yellow. Crown 8vo. 
 
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 In Court and Kampong : Being Tales and Sketches 
 
 of Native Life in the "Malay Peninsula. Large 
 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 7s. 6d. 
 
 '* Mr. Clifford undoubtedly possesses the gift of graphic description in a high 
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 The whole book is alive with drama and passion ; but, as we have said, its greatest 
 charm lies in the fact that it paints in strikingly minute detail a state of things which, 
 whether for good or ill, is rapidly vanishing from the face of the earth." — Speaker. 
 
 "These tales Mr. Clifford tells with a force and life-likeness such as is only to be 
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 of the were-tiger, man by day and man-eater by night. . . . Every one of these tales 
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 a picture of strange, distorted civilisation which, under me influence of British 
 residents and officials, will soon pass away or hide itself jealously from the gaze of 
 Western eyes."— Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 15 
 
©rant ffilicfjatog's pufiUcationsi 
 
 CLODD, EDWARD. 
 
 Pioneers of Evolution from Thales to Huxley, 
 
 with an intermediate chapter on the Causes of Arrest 
 of the Movement. With portraits in photogravure 
 of Charles Darwin, Professor Huxley, Mr. A. R. 
 Wallace, and Mr. Herbert Spencer. Crown 8vo. 
 Linen. 5s. net. [Second Edition. 
 
 "We are always glad to meet Mr. Edward Clodd. He is never dull ; he is always 
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 interest intensifies as Mr. Clodd attempts to show the i>art really played in the growth 
 of the doctrine of evolution by men like Wallace, Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer. Mr. 
 Clodd clears away prevalent misconceptions as to the work of these modem pioneers. 
 Especially does he. give to Mr, Spencer the credit which is his due, but which is often 
 mistakenly awarded to Darwin. Mr. Clodd does not seek in the least to lower Darwin 
 from the lofty pedestal which he rightly occupies ; he only seeks to show precisely why 
 he deserves to occupy such a position. We commend the book to those who want to 
 know what evolution really means ; but they should be warned beforehand that they 
 have to tackle strong meat," — Times. 
 
 " There is no better book on the subject for a general reader, and while its matter 
 is largely familiar to professed students of science, and indeed to most men who are 
 well read, no one could go through the book without being both refreshed and newly 
 instructed by its masterly survey of the growth of the most powerful idea of modern 
 t\m&'a."—-Scoistnan. 
 
 CONSTABLE, F. C. 
 
 Aunt Judith's Island: a Comedy of Kith and 
 Kin. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 DANTE. 
 
 {See Lee-Hamilton.) 
 
 DIXON, H. SYDENHAM (" Vigilant " of the Sportsman). 
 From Gladiateur to Persimmon : Turf History 
 for Thirty Years. With portraits. Demy 8vo. 
 
 DUMPY BOOKS FOR CHILDREN. 
 
 Edited by E. V. Lucas, and with End-papers designed 
 by Mrs. Farmiloe. i8mo. Cloth, is. 6d. each. 
 
 1. The Flamp, the Ameliorator, and the 
 Schoolboy's Apprentice : Three Stories. By 
 Edward Verrall Lucas. 
 
 2. Mrs. Turner's Cautionary Stories. 
 
 EGERTON, GEORGE. 
 
 The Wheel of God : a Novel. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 
 6s. 
 
 i6 
 
©rant Jaicftartis's IPufilications 
 
 ETHICS OF THE SURFACE SERIES. 
 
 z. The Rudeness of the Honourable Mr. 
 Leatherhead. 
 
 2. A Homburg Story. 
 
 3. Cui Bono? 
 
 By Gordon Seymour. i6mo. Buckram. 2s. each. 
 
 "The stories are remarkable for their originality, their careful characterisation, 
 their genuine thoughtfulness, and the sincerity of their purpose. They certainly 
 open up a fresh field of thought on the problems set by the philosopher of the super- 
 ficial, iproblems whichi though they seem to lie on the surface, strike their roots deep 
 down into human life ; ^d they make us think for ourselves (though perhaps some- 
 wtuit gropingly), which is more than can be said for the general run of modem 
 novels." — Pall Mall Gaeeiie. 
 
 ** An able and well-written little bit of fiction. . . . Amongst the short descriptive 
 portions of the book there are some excellent examples of graceful prose, and if the 
 dialogues occasionally resolve themselves into disquisitions on life and society too 
 elaborate for the reader who is chiefly concerned to get the story, they will re^ay the 
 reader who can appreciate the analysis of delicate shades of thought and feeling." — 
 Aberdeen Free Press. . 
 
 FLEMING, GEORGE. 
 
 Little Stories about Women. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 " All novel readers must welcome the decision which has caused these stories, many 
 of which are gemst to appear in volume form. . . . Story is hardly the name to em- 
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 the school and none of its vagueness." — Morning Post. 
 
 " It is impossible to read 'Little Stories about Women ' without a feeling of blank 
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 ing public. ... It is difficult to imagine anythmg better in its way— and its way is 
 thoroughly modem and up to date — than the first of the collection, ' By Accident.' 
 It is very short, very terse, but the whole story is suggested with admirable art. 
 There is nothing unfinished about it, and the grip with which the carriage accident 
 which opens it is presented never relaxes." — World. 
 
 GILCHRIST, R. MURRAY. {See Sylvan Series.) 
 
 HENRIETTA VOLUMES, THE. 
 
 The Cub in Love : in Twelve Twinges ; with Six 
 additional Stories. By R. S. Warren Bell. With 
 Cover by Maurice Greiffenhagen. Tauchnitz size. 
 IS. 6d. {Copies also obtainable in Cloth, 2s,) 
 
 "Light and amusing withal is Mr. Warren Bell's sketch of a very young man 
 suffering from the bitter-sweet of an unrequited affection. . . . The Cub seems to be 
 a near relation of Dolly (of the ' Doll^ Dialogues '}• and the sprightliness of his 
 dialogue makes him worthy of the kinsmp." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 "The book makes excellent reading for travelling or a holiday, or, indeed, for 
 any occasion on which amusement is the thing desired. If the subsequent volumes 
 of the Henrietta series are up to this standard, there need be no question of their 
 success. " — Scotsman. 
 
 "This is one of the most brightly written books we have read for some time. , , . 
 We cannot conceive a more enjoyable book for a couple of hours' reading at the s^tl- 
 siAc."— Belfast Evening Telegraph. 
 
 17 
 
<3xmt EicfjatDs's IpufiUcations 
 
 HOUSMAN, LAURENCE. 
 
 Spikenard : a Book of Devotional Love Poems. 
 With Cover designed by the Author. Small 4to. 
 Boards. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 H.R.H. The Prince of Wales: an Account of His 
 Career, including his Birth, Education, Travels, 
 Marriage, and Home Life and Philanthropic, Social, 
 and Political Work. Royal 8vo. Cloth. los. 6d. 
 With one hundred Portraits and other Illustrations. 
 
 HUGO, VICTOR. 
 
 Hernani: a Drama, translated into English Verse, 
 with an Introduction by R. Farquharson Sharp. 
 Small 4to. Boards. 3s. 6d. net. 
 
 LEAF, WALTER, LL.D. 
 
 Versions from Hafiz : an Essay in Persian Metre. 
 Small 4to. Linen. 53. net. (Also Ten Copies 
 on Japanese Vellum, nutnbered and signed by the 
 Author, 2 IS. net.) 
 
 LEAKE, MRS. PERCY. 
 
 The Ethics of Browning's Poems. With Intro- 
 duction by the Bishop of Winchester. Fcap. 8vo. 
 Cloth. 2S. 6d. 
 
 LEE, VERNON. 
 
 Limbo and other Essays. With Frontispiece. 
 Fcap. 8vo. Buckram. 5s. net. 
 
 " The brilliant and versatile writer who adopts the pseudonym of Vernon Lee 
 affords a dainty feast to her readers in this charming little volume." — Titnes. 
 
 " For charm, that Melicate .'md capncious foster-child of leisure,' Vernon Lee's 
 latest work, small as it is, is the equal of anything that she has yet produced." — 
 Morttit^ Post, 
 
 " This little volume might be called a manual of the cultivated soul adventuring 
 among masterpieces of art and natural beauties. It brings to the enjoyment of these 
 a power of association which traverses seas and years, and refreshes the mind with 
 images summoned f^om the recesses of memory. They are pitched in a pleasant 
 conversational way, frankly, even daringly, personal, and are strewn with vivid 
 descriptions of Italian scenes and places." — Manch^ter Guardian. 
 
 " ' Limbo and other Essays ' is ainonp;st the most welcome of recent books. . . . 
 Few essayists see so many beautiful thmgs as Vernon Lee, and fewer still, having 
 seen them, say so many beautiful things about them," — Mr. RlCHAim le Galliehnb 
 in the Star. 
 
 LEE-HAMILTON, EUGENE. 
 
 The Inferno of Dante translated with Plain 
 Notes. Fcap. Svo. Half Parchment. 5s. net. 
 18 
 
C5tant iRic!)atlis'0 IPutJttcations 
 
 LE GALLIENNE, RICHARD. 
 
 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam : a Paraphrase from 
 several Literal Translations. From the press of 
 Messrs. T. and A, Constable of Edinburgh. Long 
 Fcap. 8vo. Parchment. 5 s. Also a very limited 
 Edition on Japanese Vellum, numbered and signed 
 by the Author, 15 s. net. [Ail sold, 
 
 LEIGHTON, MARIE CONNOR and ROBERT. 
 
 Convict 99 : a Novel With Eight full-page Illustra- 
 tions by Stanley L. Wood. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. 
 
 LOWNDES, FREDERIC SAWREY. 
 
 Bishops of the Day : a Biographical Dictionary of 
 the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of 
 England, and of all Churches in Communion there- 
 with throughout the World. Fcap. 8vo. Cloth. 5 s. 
 
 "While the assembly of nearly 200 Bishops of the Anglican Communion at the 
 Lambeth Conference makes the publication of the volume at the present time 
 especially opportune, Mr. Lowndes's work is likely to command a more permanent 
 interest. It gives a full and lucid sketch of the career of each Bishop, without any 
 suggestion ofpartisan bias on the part of the author." — Times. 
 
 Few works of reference could be more acceptable to Churchmen of the present 
 time. . . . Plenty of dates of the right sort, as well as matters of more human 
 interest. " — Guardian. 
 
 " The work is thoroughly up to date, as one may see from the Episcopal events of 
 1896 and 1897 here recorded. It abounds in personal inddents and anecdotes not to 
 be found elsewhere, and evidently derived from original and accredited sources. . , . 
 Much valuable information on Church matters generally incidental to Episcopal 
 administration. "—Morning Post. 
 
 "Mr. Lowndes has spared no pains to make his compendium as perfect as 
 
 Eossible. . . . This book^ is, as far as we can know, the first of the kind that has 
 een published, and supplies, in good time, a want that would have soon become 
 urgent. " — Standard. 
 
 °' Valuable for reference on account of much of the information contained in the 
 neatly got-up volume being supplied by the prelates themselves." — World, 
 
 " The book should be bought and read at once. There is no Chiirchman whom it 
 will not interest, and it contains a sufficiency of blank spaces to admit of MS. addi- 
 tions, which may record the inevitable changes brought about by death or by 
 translation. Mr, Lowndes deserves our very cordial thanks for "a piece of work 
 which few would have undertaken, and none could have achieved more perfectly." — 
 Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 
 
 LUCAS, EDWARD VERRALL. 
 
 A Book of Verses for Children. With Cover, 
 Title-page, and End-papers designed in colours by 
 F. D. Bedford. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 \Third Edition, 
 
 {See also Dumpy Books for Children.) 
 
 19 
 
0rant iaicf)arDs's IPuftUcations 
 
 MACFALL, HALDANE. 
 
 The Wooings of Jezebel Pettyfer: a Novel. 
 Crown 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 MAETERLINCK, MAURICE. 
 
 Aglavaine and Selysette : a Drama in Five Acts. 
 Translated by Alfred Sutro. With Introduction by 
 J. W. Mackail, and Title-page designed by W, H. 
 Margetson. Globe 8 vo. Half Buckram, 2s.6d.net. 
 
 "To read the play is to have one's sense of heauty quickened and enlarged, to be 
 touched by the inward and spiritual grace of things. . . . Mr. Sutro is the most 
 conscientious, and at the same time the most ambitious, of translators ; not content 
 with reproducing the author's thought, he strives after the same effect of language — 
 the plaintive note, the dying cadence, the Maeterlincked sweetness lone drawn out. 
 And more often than not he succeeds, — whidi is saying a good deal mien one con- 
 siders the enormous difficulties of the task."— -Mr. A. B. Walklby in the SpeaJeer, 
 
 "The book is a treasury of beautiful things. No one now writing loves beauty as 
 M. Maeterlinck does. Sheer, essential beauty has no such lover. He will have 
 nothing else." — Academy. 
 
 " Mr. Alfred Sutro's careful and delicate translation of M. Maurice Maeterlinck's 
 new play gives readers of English every opportunity of appreciating a work which, 
 so to speak, is at the tip of the century. . . . The book, as a whole, is perhaps the 
 best yet published by which an English-speaking stranger to M. Maeterlinck could 
 make his acquaintance." — Scotsman. 
 
 MERRICK, LEONARD. 
 
 The Actor -Manager: a Novel. Crown 8vo. 
 
 Cloth. 6s. 
 One Man's View : a Novel. Cr. 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. 
 
 "A novel over which we could at a pinch fancy ourselves sitting up till the small 
 hours. . . . The characters are realised, the emotion is felt and communicated." — 
 Daily Chronicle. 
 
 "An uncommonly well-written story. . . . The men in the_ book are excellent, and 
 the hero ... is an admirable portrait." — Standard. 
 
 " Mr. Leonard Merrick's work is exceptionally good : his style is literary, be has 
 insight into character, and he can touch on delicate matters without being coarse or 
 unpleasantly suggestive. * One Man's View ' is keenly interesting. . . . 'One Man's 
 View ' is one of those rare books in which, without a superfluous touch, each character 
 stands out clear and individually. It holds the reader's attention from first to last."— 
 Gua7-dian, 
 
 MEYNELL* ALICE. 
 
 The Flower of the Mind : a Choice among the 
 best Poems. With Cover designed by Laurence 
 Housman. Crown 8vo. Buckram. 6 s. 
 
 " Parti^ collections of English poems, decided by a common subject or bojnded 
 by the dates and periods of literary history, are made rnore^ than once in every year, 
 and the makers are safe from the reproach of proposing their OMm personal taste as a 
 guide for the reading of others. But a general Anthology gathered from the whole 
 of English literature— liie whole from Chaucer to Wordsworth — ^by a gatherer intent 
 upon nothing except the quality of poetry, is a more rare attempt." — Extract from 
 Introdttction. 
 
 20 
 
©rant iaic|)artis's Put>lication0 
 
 MORROW, W. C. 
 
 The Ape, the Idiot, and other People. Crown 
 8vo. Cloth. 6s. 
 
 OMAN, DR. J. CAMPBELL. 
 
 Where Three Creeds Meet : a Tale of Indian 
 Life. Crown 8vo. Cloth. 3s. 6d. 
 
 READ.CARVETH, M.A. 
 
 Logic : Deductive and Inductive. Crown 8vo. 
 Cloth. 6s. 
 
 REEVES, W. P. 
 
 New Zealand, and other Poems. Fcap. 8vo. 
 Paper Wrapper. 2s. net. 
 
 ROTHENSTEIN, WILL. 
 
 English Portraits : a Series of Lithographed 
 Drawings. With an Introduction by the Artist, and 
 Short Texts by various hands. Folio. In Buckram 
 Cover designed by the Artist 353. net. Or in 
 Twelve Parts, 2 s. 6d. each, net. (See p. 10.) 
 
 "The portraits, which are of a large portfolio size, are vivid likenesses, and their 
 appearance is a gratifying indication of the revival of lithography in fine art." — 
 Aberdeen Free Press, 
 
 " The introductory^ examples fulfil to the full the promises made in the publisher's 
 announcements, and it is certain that the series will be keenly appreciated by art 
 lovers." — Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 SCOTT, TEMPLE. 
 
 A Bibliography of Omar Khayyam. With a 
 Prefatory Note by Edward Clodd. Fcap. 8vo. 
 Buckram. 55. net. 
 
 SCHWARTZE, HELMUTH. 
 
 The Laughter of Jove : a Novel. Cr. 8vo. CI. 6s. 
 
 SEYMOUR, GORDON. 
 
 (See Ethics of the Surface Series.) 
 
 SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD. 
 
 Plays : Pleasant and Unpleasant. 
 
 I. Unpleasant. II. Pleasant. 
 
 With special Introduction, Prefaces to each Play, and 
 a portrait of the Author in photogravure. Fcap. 
 8vo. Cloth, 5s. each. 
 (See also Politics in 1896.) - ' 
 21 
 
©rant lRicf)a«i0's Pu6Ucation0 
 
 SHIEL, M. P. 
 
 The Yellow Danger: a Novel. Crown 8vo. 
 Cloth. 6s. 
 
 SHORE, ARABELLA and LOUISA. 
 
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