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"This time it looks like our turn," and quick as a flash Jeremiah caught Hortense with one paw and Andy with the other, while Grater jumped on Malay Kris and they tied all three of them with the cords which had been holding Grater. "You forgot," said Jeremiah, "that the trap door from the chute outside was open, so I got here ahead of you and untied Grater.
There were Moro chiefs, looking world-wearied and indifferent, followed by their attendant slaves; there were thrifty Moros willing to sell one anything from a kris or a barong to the very clothes on their backs; there were handsome young Moro blades, who stared shyly at the strange white faces and chatted volubly the while in their soft Malay tongue; there were Philippine market women in camisa and panuela, some of them carrying large, flat baskets of vegetables or fruits on their heads, the green of ripe oranges and bananas making an effective splash of colour above their dusky hair; there were a few, a very few, Moro women, as I have said before, and they wrapped themselves more closely in their sarongs as we approached, smiling at us broadly with the utmost friendliness, their blackened teeth behind red, betel-stained lips reminding one irresistibly of watermelon seeds in the fruit.
"In that case," said Malay Kris, "I'll join you in a friendly game." Down he leaped as agile as a cat, a trim, slim fellow with bright eyes. "And now for Alligator," said Hortense. "He's asleep, as usual." She shook him roughly, and Alligator spoke in a hoarse voice like a rusty saw. "Who's tickling me?" "His voice needs oiling," said Owl. "A fat pig is what I need," said Alligator.
The kris is the Malay's national weapon that everyone wears. Why, Nat, it is not so very long since every English gentleman wore a sword, and we were not considered savages." We had rather a long and tiresome voyage, for the prahu, though light and large, did not prove a very good sea-boat.
He said he'd use it for a divining rod when he wanted to find a little spring. "Mr. Kringle, I am commissioned by the fellows to ask you a question," announced Tad, after the meal had been in progress for a time. "Ask it," smiled the guide. "We thought we'd like to call you Santa Claus, seeing you've brought us so much cheer. Then again, it's your name you know. Kris Kringle is Santa Claus."
He will not put up with such cruel wrongs, but will be revenged on mankind and die like a hero. He grasps his kris-handle, and the next moment draws out the weapon and stabs a man to the heart. He runs on, with bloody kris in his hand, stabbing at everyone he meets. "Amok! Amok!" then resounds through the streets. Spears, krisses, knives and guns are brought out against him.
"My, but you do look just like a pictur of Kris Kringle!" laughed Phoebe. "Don't he, Rebecca?" Rebecca came to the kitchen door wiping a dish with slow circular movements of her towel. "I don't guess you'll freeze very much with all that on," she remarked. "Thet shows you don't know what seventy or eighty below zero means," said a muffled voice from within the fur cap.
Their jackets, in the gayest of colours, fitted them not wisely for so hot a climate, but too well; their long, lank hair, done up in a knot at the back of the head, was usually surmounted by a resplendent turban, whose colours shrieked and stuck out their tongues at each other, being on even worse terms with the rest of the costume; and in their belts would be stuck a barong or kris, often both, and a square or semicircular box of brass, sometimes inlaid with copper, sometimes handsomely carved, and sometimes plain.
A ruby-hilted kris cut across the manager's wrist as he strove to arrest the splendid rout. Still the miraculous cornucopia deluged the ground, with its pattering, ringing, bumping, crinkling, rolling, fluttering produce until, like the final tableau of some spectacular ballet, it ended with a golden rain that masked the details of the heap beneath a glittering veil of yellow sand.
"I'm longing to see the bright, round one with prickly sides. I've a guess as to who it is." Highboy shivered again. "Don't mention them in my hearing please!" he begged. "You never can tell when Jeremiah is snooping about, and he's a telltale." "Well, we needn't be afraid of Jeremiah," Hortense said. "Malay Kris will make the other one run, too, I expect." She looked out of the window.
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