Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 8, 2025
Ali had suspected him for some time; and as he lay thinking, it seemed to him that he was correct in surmising that though Hamet was sincere enough, perhaps, when he made his first arrangements for the reception of a resident, the act had given such annoyance to several of the neighbouring Malay princes, notably to Rajah Gantang, that in his fear for his personal safety the sultan had repented of the arrangement, or had been coerced by those who might, he knew, in spite of the English being at hand, secretly have him assassinated.
"It seems almost a pity to burn her," said Bob, who was greatly taken by the workmanship of the craft. "No, no!" said Ali angrily, as his eyes wandered suspiciously about amidst the reeds; "burn her, burn her! the decks have been stained with blood, and many a poor, innocent creature has suffered outrage at the owner's hands. Rajah Gantang was a cruel, bloodthirsty pirate.
The losses had been severe, but far less than might have been expected, owing to the devotion of the men, who had struggled on till they could get no farther, and would have perished one and all but for the timely succour brought by the middy, and indirectly by the emissary of Rajah Gantang, who little thought when he took the steamer, by his clever ruse, up the solitary river, that he was leading them where it would be the salvation of the hunting-party, who were doomed to death.
There was danger, then, threatening those whom he had made his friends. Hamet had yielded to the taunts of Rajah Gantang and others, and also given up to his own desire for revenge. The resident had offered him a deadly insult in refusing to listen to the matrimonial proposal, and also in refusing to give up the slaves who had taken refuge with him.
The lotus lake at Bukit Gantang was infinitely more beautiful than under the grayer sky of Friday; a thousand rosy vases were drinking in the sunshine, and ten thousand classic leaves were spreading their blue-green shields below them; all nature smiled and sang.
Fresh news reached the residency the next day from the sultan, who sent word that he had had a very threatening letter from Rajah Gantang, declaring that if he did not break at once with the English, ruin, destruction, and death would be his fate before many months had passed.
Directly after, coming like a revelation, Gray learned what a snake they had had concealed in the grass at the jungle-station; for as he listened, intently watching the while for an opportunity to escape, he heard Dullah's voice, and then those of his men addressing him as rajah. Directly after he heard a voice on one of the large boats asking for Rajah Gantang, which was replied to by Dullah.
They had no special enmity against the occupants of the dinghy in particular, but they were three of the most daring followers of Rajah Gantang, who had assumed the part of fishermen in a sampan, with a rough cast net, so as to hang about the neighbourhood of the "Startler," and pick up information for their chief, who, so far from being, with his two prahus, hors de combat, was merely lying-up in a creek hidden by bamboos and palms, awaiting his time to take deadly vengeance upon the destroyers of his stockade and miners of his income from the passing boats.
Then, as he recovered himself somewhat, he gazed full in the Malay's eyes, to see that the man was looking up at him in the calmest and most unruffled way. "Are you mad?" exclaimed the doctor. "No," said the Malay. "I say what is right. Sultan Hamet joins with Rajah Gantang to kill off all the English the sultan here; the rajah there, with his prahus." "It is impossible!" cried the doctor.
Abdullah, or rather Rajah Gantang, saw the fresh forces arriving, and he shouted to them to come on, stepping back half-a-dozen yards, and then leaping on to one of the wired skylights, kris in hand.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking