Jungle and Stream; Or, The Adventures of Two Boys in Siam
by George Manville Fenn · English · Gutenberg #44680 · 644,502 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Jungle and Stream; Or, The Adventures of Two Boys in Siam
Author: George Manville Fenn
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUNGLE AND STREAM; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF TWO BOYS IN SIAM ***
JUNGLE AND STREAM
OR
THE ADVENTURES OF TWO BOYS IN SIAM
BY
GEO. MANVILLE FENN
AUTHOR OF
"IN HONOUR'S CAUSE," "CORMORANT CRAG"
"FIRST IN THE FIELD," ETC.
DEAN & SON, LTD.
6 LA BELLA SAUVAGE, LUDGATE HILL,
LONDON, E.C.4
MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
CONTENTS
I. SIXTY YEARS AGO
II. THE JUNGLE HUNTER
III. SREE'S PRISONER
IV. FISHING WITH A WORM
V. THE DOCTOR'S POST-MORTEM
VI. MAKING PLANS
VII. THE BRINK OF A VOLCANO
VIII. A PROWL BY WATER
IX. NATURALISTS' TREASURES
X. WHAT HARRY HEARD
XI. THE NAGA'S BITE
XII. SUL THE ELEPHANT
XIII. THEIR FIRST TIGER
XIV. A YOUNG SAVAGE
XV. FOR THE JUNGLE, HO!
XVI. THE HOUSE-BOAT
XVII. JUNGLE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
XVIII. ELEPHANTS AT HOME
XIX. A NIGHT ALARM
XX. A DREARY RETURN
XXI. A HIDING-PLACE
XXII. DARING PLANS
XXIII. THE SPEAR HARVEST
XXIV. THE HELP SEEKER
XXV. A DESPERATE VENTURE
XXVI. FOR LIFE
XXVII. THE POWDER MINE
XXVIII. SAVING THE STORES
XXIX. THE DOCTOR KEPT BUSY
XXX. LIKE A BAD SHILLING
XXXI. COMING HOME TO ROOST
XXXII. IN THE NICK OF TIME
XXXIII. WHAT FOLLOWED
[Illustration: "Then there was a roar like a peal of thunder."]
CHAPTER I
SIXTY YEARS AGO
"Charlie is my darling, my darling, my darling!" was sung in a good,
clear, boyish tenor, and then the singer stopped, to say
impatiently,--
"What nonsense it is! My head seems stuffed full of Scotch
songs,--'Wee bit sangs,' as the doctor calls them. Seems funny that so
many Scotch people should come out here to the East. I suppose it's
because the Irish all go to the West, that they may get as far apart
as they can, so that there may not be a fight. I say, though, I want
my breakfast."
The speaker, to wit Harry Kenyon, sauntered up to the verandah of the
bungalow and looked in at the window of the cool, shaded room, where a
man-servant in white drill jacket and trousers was giving the
finishing touches to the table.
"Breakfast ready, Mike?"
"Yes, sir; coffee's boiled, curry's made."
"Curry again?"
"Yes, Master Harry; curry again. That heathen of a cook don't believe
a meal's complete without curry and rice."
"But I thought we were going to have fried fish this morning."
"So did I, sir. I told him plainly enough; but he won't understand,
and he's curried the lot."
"How tiresome!"
"I should like to curry his hide, Master Harry, but it's
leather-coloured already. Never mind; there's some fresh potted meat."
"Bother potted meat! I'm sick of potted meat. Look here, next time I
bring home any fresh fish you go into the kitchen and cook them
yourself."
"What, me go and meddle there! Look here, Master Harry, I'll go with
you fishing, and wade into that sticky red mud if you want me to; or
I'll go with you shooting or collecting, and get my eyes scratched out
in the jungle, and risk being clawed by tigers, or stung by snakes, or
squeedged flat by an elephant's neat little foot; but I'm not going to
interfere with old Ng's pots and pans. Why, he'd put some poison in my
vittles."
"Nonsense!"
"He would, sir, sure as I stand here. He looks wonderful gentle and
smiling, with that Chinese face of his; but I know he can bite."
"Poor old Ng; he's as harmless as his name. N. G.--Ng."
"Name? I don't call that a name, Master Harry. Fag end of a pig's
grunt; that's about what that is."
"Here, I want my breakfast. Isn't father nearly dressed?"
"No, sir; he hasn't begun to shave yet, and he won't be down for
another quarter of an hour."
"Call me when he comes," said the lad, and he went off down the garden
again, towards the river which flowed swiftly at the bottom, where the
bamboo landing-stage had been made, with its high-peaked attap, or
palm-leaf roof. It was all bamboo. Big canes were driven into the mud
for supports, others for pillars and beams, and the floor was of
smaller ones, split and laid close together, and then bound in their
places with long lengths of the rotan cane which grew so plentifully
in the jungle, running up the great forest trees, and after reaching
the top, going on growing till it swung down by the yard, and waited
till the wind blew it into the next tree, where it held on by its
thorns, and went on growing to any length.
The garden was beautiful in its wildness, the trees having been left
for shade; and John Kenyon, the East India merchant, who had settled
far up one of the rivers of Siam ten years before, after the death of
his wife, had found out from long experience that he who tries to make
an English garden in a tropical country has worry for crops, while he
who encourages the native growths makes his home a place of beauty.
So Harry Kenyon sauntered down, keeping out of the hot rays of the
early morning sun--hot enough, though it was only six, for people rise
early in the East--and made his way to the bamboo platform beneath
which the river, here about a hundred yards wide, looked like a stream
whose waters had been transformed into a decoction of coffee and
chicory, with the milk left out, or, as Harry once said, muddy soup.
The creepers, crowded with many-coloured blossoms, hung down from the
trees and ran over the roof, forming, with the dry palm-leaves,
nesting and hiding places for plenty of natural history objects from
the neighbouring jungle. Birds nested there, and rats and snakes came
birds'-nesting, while lizards of various kinds, from the little active
fly-catchers to the great shrieking tokay, found that roof an
admirable resting-place.
There were sundry rustlings overhead as Harry stepped on to the
slippery, squeaking, yielding bamboos; but use is second nature, and
ten years in such company, without reckoning the inhabitants of the
jungle, had made the boy so familiar with many of these things that he
looked upon them with a calm contempt.
As a matter of course he would have swarmed up a tree fast enough at
the sight of a tiger or elephant in either of the forest tracks, or,
to use Mike's expression, have made himself scarce if he had
encountered a cobra, or seen one of the great boas swaying to and fro
from the gigantic limb of a tree. Even at the moment of stepping upon
the covered-in summerhouse-like landing-stage, with its fishing-rods
laid up overhead in the bamboo rafters, he shrank a little, and then
angrily bared his teeth as he stood gazing down at the water a dozen
yards away.
"You beast!" he hissed. "Oh, if you'd only stay there while I fetched
a gun! Oh, yes, it's all very well to wink one eye at me; I'd make you
wink both."
It seemed odd that the lad should address himself like that to a piece
of rugged, gnarled tree-trunk floating slowly down the flashing river;
but, as aforesaid, Harry Kenyon had been up the country in Siam ever
since he was quite a little fellow, and had been accustomed to have
the wild creatures of the forest for pets and companions. Where boys
at home had had cats or dogs, Harry had more than once petted a tiger
cub; lizards had been as common with him as white mice with English
lads. Then he had kept squirrels, snakes, monkeys, and birds to any
extent. Moreover, he had once contrived to keep alive, until it became
wild instead of tame a hideous-looking creature which lived in a
fenced-in patch of sand with half a sugar hogshead sunk level with the
ground, provided with a central heap formed of an old tree-root, and
filled up with water. This creature strangely resembled the efts or
newts so common in some ponds, but magnified many times, so that there
was no cause for surprise that the boy should speak as he did to the
tree-trunk, for his experienced eyes had seen at a glance that this
was no half-rotten stem torn out from the bank by the flooded river.
He had recognised the two horny prominences over the eyes, and their
furtive, ugly gleam, so that he was not at all surprised when one end
of the trunk moved slowly, in a wavy fashion, and the object began to
part the water.
"Yes, I thought you'd soon go," said Harry. "Stop a minute, though."
He stepped gently back into the garden and snatched up a piece of
stone about as big as two fists, from a heap of rockwork, stole back
to the bamboo floor till he could just see over the edge, keeping his
movements hidden, and launched out the heavy piece of spar with so
good an aim that, after curving through the air just above the surface
of the water, it fell with a dull thud right in the centre of the
trunk.
The effect was instantaneous. A long muzzle with gaping jaws rose out
of the water for a moment, there was a tremendous wallowing which made
the water foam, and then a great serrated tail rose several feet above
the surface, quivered in a wavy way, delivered a sounding slap on the
top of the water, and disappeared.
"I thought that would make you wag your tail, old gentleman. What a
whopper! Nearly twenty feet long, and as thick as thick. Pull a man
in? Why, it would pull in a young elephant. Oh, how I do hate crocs!"
The boy stood watching the surface for some minutes, but there was no
sign of the huge reptile reappearing.
"Gone down," muttered the boy. "Suppose, though, he has swum
underneath here, and is waiting to dash out and grab me by the legs.
Ugh!" he added, with a shudder, "it does seem such a horrible death,
only I suppose the poor people these creatures catch don't feel any
more when once they're under the water. Wonder whether they do.
Shouldn't like to try."
His thoughts made him peer down through an opening between the warped
bamboos, at where the river glided beneath his feet; but all was
perfectly quiet there, and he glanced up at the fishing-rods.
"Be no use to try now," he said; "the brute would scare every fish
away, and I've got no bait, and--oh, I say, how badly I do want my
breakfast! Is father going to lie in bed all day?"
Evidently not, for the minute after a cheery voice cried, "Now, Harry,
lad, breakfast!"
CHAPTER II
THE JUNGLE HUNTER
Harry Kenyon did not run up the slope to the house, which was erected
upon an elevation to raise it beyond the flood when the river burst
its bounds, as it made a point of doing once or twice a year during
the heavy rains. People out in sunny Siam do not run much, but make a
point of moving deliberately as the natives do, for the simple reason
that it takes a very short time to get into a violent perspiration,
but a very long time to get cool; besides which, overheating means the
risk of chills, and chills mean fever.
He walked gently up to meet the tall, thin, rather stern-featured,
grizzly-haired man in white flannel and straw hat with puggaree, who
had come out to meet him, and who saluted him heartily.
"Lovely morning, my boy, but quite warm enough already. How sweet the
blossoms smell!"
"Yes, father," said Harry, whose brain was full of the great reptile;
"but I've just seen such a monster."
"Crocodile?"
"Yes; quite twenty feet long."
"With discount twenty-five per cent., Hal?" said the father, laughing.
"No, father, really."
"One's eyes magnify when they look at savage creatures, especially at
snakes."
"Oh yes, I know, father," said the lad impatiently; "but this was the
biggest I've seen."
"Then it must have been twenty-four feet long, Hal, for I've shown you
one of twenty-two."
"I didn't measure him, father; he wouldn't wait," said the boy,
laughing; "but he was a monster."
"You threw something at it, I suppose?"
"Yes, a big piece out of the rockery--and hit him on the back. It
sounded like hitting a leather trunk."
"Humph!" said Mr. Kenyon. "Boys are boys all the world round, it
seems. Here have you been in Siam almost ever since you were born, and
you act just in the same way as an English boy at home."
"Act! How did I act?"
"Began throwing stones. Bit of human nature, I suppose, learnt
originally of the monkeys. So you hit the brute?"
"Yes, father, and he went off with a rush!"
"Looking for its breakfast, I suppose. Let's go and get ours."
Harry Kenyon required no second invitation, for the pangs of hunger,
forgotten in the excitement, returned with full force, and in a few
minutes father and son were seated at table in the well-furnished
half-Eastern, half-English-looking home, enjoying a well-cooked
breakfast, served on delicate china from the neighbouring country, and
with glistening silver tea and coffee pot well worn with long
polishing, for they were portions of a set of old family plate which
had been sent out to the fairly wealthy merchant trading with England
from the East.
"Hullo!" said Mr. Kenyon; "why, you are not eating any of your fish!"
"No, father. Ng has spoiled them."
"Spoiled? Nonsense; the curry is delicious."
"But I don't want to be always eating curry, father. I told him to fry
them."
"Better leave him to do things his own way, my boy, and have some.
They are very good. The Chinese are a wonderfully conservative people.
They begin life running in the groove their fathers ran in before
them, and go on following it up to the end of their days, and then
leave the groove to their sons. Did you catch all these?"
"No; Phra caught more than I did. He is more patient than I am."
"A great deal, and with his studies too."
"Yes, father; I say, the fish are better than I thought."
"I was talking about the Prince being more patient over his studies
than you are, Hal," said Mr. Kenyon drily.
"Yes, father," said the lad, reddening.
Mike just then brought in a dish of hot bread-cakes, and no more was
said until he had left the room, when Mr. Kenyon continued:--
"Take it altogether, Hal, you are not such a bad sort of boy, and I
like the way in which you devote yourself to the collecting for the
museum; but I do wonder at an English lad calmly letting one of these
Siamese boys leave him behind."
"Oh, but he's the son of a king," said Harry, smiling.
"Tchah! What of that? Suppose he is a prince by birth, like a score
more of them, that is no reason why he should beat you."
"He can't, father," said Harry sturdily.
"Well, he seems to."
"If I liked to try hard, I could leave him all behind nowhere."
"Then, why don't you try hard, sir?"
"It's so hot, father."
"And you are so lazy, sir."
"Yes, father. I'll have a little more curry, please."
"I wish I could have your classics and mathematics curried, sir, so as
to make you want more of them," said Mr. Kenyon, helping his son to
more of the savoury dish. "Yes, Mike?"
"Old Sree is here, sir, with two bearers and a big basket."
"Oh!" cried Harry, jumping up; "what has he got now?"
"Sit down and finish your breakfast, Hal," said his father sternly.
"Don't be such a young savage, even if you are obliged to live out
here in these uncivilized parts."
The lad sat down promptly, but felt annoyed, and anxious to know what
the old hunter employed by his father to collect specimens had
brought.
"What has he in the big basket, Mike?" asked Mr. Kenyon.
"Don't know, sir; he wouldn't tell me. Said the Sahibs must know
first."
"Then he must have got something good, I know," said Harry excitedly.
"I expect it's a coo-ah."
"One o' them big, speckled peacocks with no colour in 'em, Master
Harry?" said Mike respectfully. "No, it isn't one o' them; the
basket's too small."
"What is it, then?"
"Don't know, sir; but I think it's one o' those funny little bears,
like fat monkeys."
"May I send on for Phra, father?"
"Yes, if you like; but perhaps they will not let him come."
"Oh, I think they will; and I promised always to send on to him when
anything good was brought in."
"Very well," said his father quietly; "send."
"Run, Mike," said the boy excitedly, and the man made a grimace at
him. "Well, then, walk fast, and ask to see him. They'll let you pass.
Then tell him we've got a big specimen brought in, and ask him, with
my compliments, if he'd like to come on and see it."
"Yes, sir;" and the man hurried out, while Mr. Kenyon, who had just
helped himself to a fresh cup of coffee, leaned back in his chair and
smiled.
"What are you laughing at, father?" said the boy, with his bronzed
face reddening again. "Did I make some stupid blunder?"
"Well, I hardly like to call it a blunder, Hal, because it was done
knowingly. I was smiling at the impudence of you, an ordinary British
merchant's son, coolly sending a message to a palace and telling a
king's son to come on here."
"Palace! Why, it's only a palm-tree house, not much better than this,
father; not a bit like a palace we see in books. And as to his being a
king's son, and a prince, well, he's only a boy like myself."
"Of the royal blood, Hal."
"He can't help that, father, and I'm sure he likes to come here and
read English and Latin with me, and then go out collecting. He said
the King liked it too."
"Oh yes, he likes it, or he would not let his son come."
"Phra said his father wanted him to talk English as well as we do."
"And very wise of him too, my boy. This country will have more and
more dealing with England as the time goes on."
Harry sat watching his father impatiently, longing the while to get
out into the verandah, where he expected that the old hunter would be.
"You are not eating, my boy," said Mr. Kenyon; "go on with your
breakfast."
"I've done, thank you, father."
"Nonsense. You always have two cups of coffee. Get on with the meal.
It is better to make a good breakfast than to wait till the middle of
the day, when it is so hot."
Harry began again unwillingly, and his father remarked upon it.
"You want to get out there, but you told me you did not wish to see
what the man has brought till your friend came."
"Yes, I said so, father; but I should like Sree to tell me."
"Finish your breakfast, and you will have plenty of time."
Harry went on, and after the first few mouthfuls his healthy young
appetite prevailed, and he concluded a hearty meal.
"There, you can go now," said his father. "Call me when the Prince
comes."
Harry Kenyon hurried out into the broad verandah, and then along two
sides of the square bungalow so as to reach the back, where sat a
little, wrinkled-faced, square-shaped, yellow-skinned man, with his
face and head shaved along the sides as high as the tips of his ears,
leaving a short, stubbly tuft of grizzled hair extended backward from
the man's low forehead to the nape of his neck, looking for all the
world like the hair out of a blacking-brush stretched over the top of
his head.
His dress was as scanty as that of his two muscular young companions,
consisting as it did of a cotton plaid sarong or scarf of once bright
colours, but now dull in hue from long usage, and a good deal torn and
tattered by forcing a way through the jungle. This was doubled
lengthwise and drawn round the loins, and then tightened at the waist
by giving the edge of the sarong a peculiar twist and tuck in, thus
forming a waist-belt in which in each case was stuck a dagger-like
kris, with pistol-shaped handle and wooden sheath to hold the wavy
blade, and a parang or heavy sword used in travelling to hack a way
through the jungle and form a path by chopping through tangled rotan
or tufts of bamboo, or lawyer cane.
The three men were squatted on their heels, with their mouths
distended and lips scarlet, chewing away at pieces of betel-nut
previously rolled in a pepper-leaf, which had first been smeared with
what looked like so much white paste, but which was in fact lime, made
by burning the white coral, abundant along some portion of the shores,
and rising inland to quite mountainous height.
As soon as Harry came in sight, all rose up, smiling, and the elder
man wanted to exhibit the prize contained within the great square
basket standing on the bamboo flooring, while two stout bamboos, each
about eight feet long, were stood up against the house, a couple of
loops on either side of the basket showing where the bamboo poles had
been thrust through so that the basket could hang dependent from the
two men's shoulders.
"What have you got, Sree?" asked Harry, in English, which from long
service with Mr. Kenyon, and mixing with other colonists, Sree spoke
plainly enough to make himself understood.
"Big thing, Sahib. Very heavy."
"Bear?"
The man made a sign, and his two followers grinned with enjoyment, and
seated themselves on the basket, which squeaked loudly.
"What did you do that for?" cried Harry.
"The young Sahib must wait till the old Sahib comes, and then he see."
"Old Sahib, indeed!" cried Harry; "why, my father isn't half so old as
you."
"The young Sahib wait."
"Of course I can wait," said Harry pettishly, "and I was going to
wait. I only asked you what it was."
The man smiled, and shook his head mysteriously, and just then Mike
thrust his head out of the door.
"Ah, got back, Mike!" cried Harry. "What did the Prince say?"
"Come on almost directly, sir; but I had no end of a job to get to see
him."
"How was that?"
"Oh, those guard chaps; soldiers, I s'pose they call themselves.
They're a deal too handy with those spears of theirs. They ought to be
told that they mustn't point them at an Englishman's breast."
"Oh, it's only because they're on duty, Mike," replied Harry.
"Wouldn't make any difference to me, sir, whether it was on dooty or
off dooty if one of them was to go inside my chest."
"Oh, you needn't be afraid of that."
"Afraid! Oh, come, I like that, Master Harry--afraid! Not likely to be
afraid of any number of the squatty, yellow-skinned chaps, but they
oughtn't to be allowed to carry such things. Fancy Englishmen at home
all going about carrying area railings in their hands."
Harry shook his head, for his recollections of spear-pointed area
railings were very vague.
"Don't matter, sir," said Mike, "they don't know any better; but I
know I shall get in a row one of these days for giving one of 'em a
smeller right on the nose."
"Nonsense! you mustn't do that, Mike."
"Why not, sir? Couldn't do no harm; they're as flat as flat as it is."
"You know what my father said about keeping on good terms with the
natives."
"Yes, sir, I know, sir, but fair play's a jewel; if I keep on good
terms with them they ought to keep on good terms with me, and sticking
a spear-point into a man's wesket aren't the sort o' terms I like.
'Specially when you know the things are poisoned."
"Nonsense! The Prince assured me they were not."
"Well, those ugly, twisty krises are, sir."
"No. The only danger from them is their sharp point."
"Well, that's bad enough, sir; but how about the thing you've got
yonder? What is it, Master Harry?" he asked.
"Come out and see. Don't stand there with your head just stuck out
like a snake in a hole looking to see if it's safe."
"Well, but is it safe, sir?"
"Come and see. If it's safe enough for me to be out here, it's safe
enough for you."
Mike evidently considered this reply unanswerable, for he came out
slowly and cautiously, the two men seated on the hamper-like basket
evidently enjoying the man's timidity. They glanced at Harry
inquiringly, and he gave them a quick nod of assent, with the result
that as Mike was passing them, with divers suspicious glances at their
seat, they made a sudden spring together, as if the occupant of the
bamboo covering had suddenly and by a tremendous effort raised the
lid. There was a loud creaking, and with a rush Mike was back through
the door, which he banged to.
The old hunter, who had seated himself to prepare a fresh piece of
betel-nut for chewing, laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks,
while his two bearers drew their feet up and squatted now upon the
basket lid, chuckling with delight, and looking to Harry as if
expecting a fresh hint for startling Mike.
Harry went to the door and pushed at it, finding it give a little, but
only to be pressed to directly, as if by Mike's shoulder.
"Here, it's all right; open the door," cried Harry. "He didn't get
out."
The door was opened cautiously, and Mike's head slowly appeared, to
look from one to the other and encounter faces that were serious now
almost to solemnity.
"I thought he'd got out, sir," said Mike.
"Oh no, he's safe enough; look how they've fastened the lid down with
bamboo skewers."
"Yes, sir, but some o' them things is so awful strong. What is
it--tiger?"
"Oh no, it's not a tiger, Mike. A tiger would scratch and kick a
basket like that to pieces in no time."
"Of course he would, sir. I say, Master Harry, hadn't you better tell
old Sree to get up and sit on the basket too?"
"Hardly room, is there?" said Harry seriously.
"Plenty, sir, if you make those chaps squeedge up together a bit."
"But the basket's so tickle, Mike, and their weight might send it over
sidewise. If it did the basket would go nearly flat, the lid would be
burst off, and where should be we then?"
"I know where I should be, sir," said Mike--"indoors."
"You wouldn't have time, for those beasts are so wonderfully active
that this one would be out of the basket like a flash of lightning."
"Would he, sir? Then don't you do it. Let him be. What is it, sir--a
leopard?"
"Oh no, not a leopard, Mike."
"What, then? One of those big monkeys we've never yet got a sight of?"
"Monkey? Oh no."
"What is it, then, sir?"
"Well, you see, Mike, I don't know myself yet," said Harry, laughing.
Mike looked at him sharply, then at the three Siamese, whose faces
were contorted with mirth, and back at his young master.
"Humbugging me," he said sharply. "That's it, is it, Master Harry?
Yah! I don't believe there's anything in the old hamper at all."
He went round the basket from the other direction, so as to reach the
door, and as he got behind the two men on the lid, he turned.
"I do wonder at you, Master Harry, laughing at a fellow like that, and
setting these niggers to make fun of me. Yah!"
He raised one foot and delivered a tremendous kick at the bottom of
the basket, startling the two squatting men on the lid so that one
sprang up and the other leaped off on to the bamboo floor of the
verandah, while a violent commotion inside the basket showed that its
occupant had also been disturbed.
"Something else for you to laugh at," said Mike, and he slipped in and
closed the door.
Harry smiled, the man returned to his perch on the lid, frowning and
looking very serious, while the occupant of the basket settled down
quietly again, making Harry more curious than ever as to what it might
be; but he mastered his desire to go and peer through the split bamboo
so tightly woven together, and waited impatiently for the coming of
his friend and companion.
"I believe it's a big monkey, after all," he said to himself. "Sree
always said he was sure there were monsters right away in the jungle,
just about the same as the one father saw at Singapore, brought from
Borneo. It was precious quiet, though, till Mike kicked the basket.
How savage it made him to be laughed at!"
He glanced at the basket again, and then at the old hunter and his
men, all three squatting down on their heels, chewing away at their
betel-nut, and evidently in calm, restful enjoyment of the habit.
"Just like three cows chewing their cud," said Harry to himself, and
then feeling that it was the best way to avoid the temptation to look
into the basket, he went along the verandah to the corner of the
house, just as his father reached the next corner, coming to join
them.
"Well, has Phra come?" he cried.
"No, father, not yet."
"Found out what's in the basket?" said Mr. Kenyon, smiling.
"No; haven't looked."
"Well done, Hal; I didn't give you credit for so much self-denial. But
there, I think we have waited long enough. Let's go and see now what
we've got."
"No, no, don't do that," said Harry excitedly. "Phra would be so
disappointed if we began before he had time to get here."
"Ah well, he will not be disappointed," said Mr. Kenyon, "for here he
is."
As he spoke a boat came in sight, gliding along the river at the
bottom of the garden--a handsomely made boat, propelled by a couple of
rowers standing one in the bow, the other astern, facing the way they
were going, and propelling the vessel after the fashion of Venetian
gondoliers, their oars being secured to a stout peg in the side by a
loop of hemp.
Harry started off down the garden to meet the passenger, who was
seated amidships beneath an awning; and as the men ran the craft
deftly up to the landing-place, a dark-complexioned, black-haired lad
sprang on to the bamboo platform, looking wonderfully European as to
his dress, for it was simply of white flannel. It was the little
scarlet military cap and the brightly tinted plaid sarong with kris at
the waist which gave the Eastern tinge to his appearance.
"Well," he said, in excellent English, as he joined Harry, "what have
they got? Something from their traps in the jungle?"
"Don't know anything. There they are yonder. We waited till you came."
"Oh," said the Siamese lad, with a gratified look, "I like that. I'm
afraid I shouldn't have waited, Hal."
"Oh, but then you're a prince," said Harry.
The Siamese lad stopped short.
"If you're going to chaff me about that, I shall go back," he said.
"All right; I won't then," said Harry. "You can't help it, can you?"
"Of course I can't, and I shan't be able to help it when I'm king some
day."
"Poor fellow, no; how horrible!" said Harry mockingly.
"There you go again. You've got one of your teasing fits on to-day."
"No, no, I haven't. It's all right, Phra, and I won't say another word
of that sort. Come along."
"Good-morning," said Mr. Kenyon, as the boys reached the verandah.
"Come to see our prize?"
"Yes, Mr. Kenyon. What is it you have this time?"
"We are waiting to see. Harry here wanted it to be kept for you."
The new-comer turned to give Harry a grateful nod and a smile, and
then walked with his host along the verandah, and turned the corner.
The moment he appeared, the hunter and the two men leaped up excitedly
and dropped upon their knees, raising their hands to the sides of
their faces and lowering their heads till their foreheads nearly
touched the bamboo floor.
The young Prince said a few words sharply in his own language, and the
men sprang up.
"Now then, Mr. Kenyon," he said, "let's see what is in the basket."
"What have you got, Sree?" asked Mr. Kenyon.
"Very fine, big snake, Sahib," was the reply.
"A snake?" cried Harry excitedly. "Ugh!"
"A big one?" said the merchant uneasily. Then, recalling the habit of
exaggeration so freely indulged in by these people as a rule, he asked
the size.
"Long as two men and a half, Sahib," said Sree. "Very thick, like
man's leg. Very heavy to carry."
"Humph! Twelve or fourteen feet long, I suppose," said Mr. Kenyon. "Is
it dangerous?"
"No, Sahib. I find him asleep in the jungle. He eat too much; go to
sleep for long time. Didn't try to bite when we lift him into the
basket. Very heavy."
"What do you say, Prince?" said the merchant. "Shall we have the lid
off and look at it?"
"Yes. I won't be afraid," was the reply. "Will you, Hal?"
"Not if the brute's asleep; but if it's awake and pops out at us, I
shall run for your boat."
"And leave your poor father in the lurch?" said Mr. Kenyon.
"But you'd run too, wouldn't you, father?"
"Not if the snake threw one of its coils round me."
"Then I suppose I shall have to stay," said Harry slowly.
"Perhaps it would be as well," said Mr. Kenyon drily--"You won't run,
will you?"
The young Siamese laughed merrily, and showed his white teeth.
"I don't know," he said; "I'm afraid I should. Snakes are so strong,
and they bite. I think it would be best to go with Harry."
The hunter said something very humbly in the native tongue.
"He says that he and his men would hold tight on to the snake if it
were angry, and shut it up again; but I don't believe they could. They
would all run away too."
"I don't think there is any danger," said Mr. Kenyon gravely. "These
things always try to escape back to the jungle, and they are, I
believe, more frightened of us than we are of them. We'll have a look
at the creature, then, out here, for I have no suitable place for it
at present."
"You could turn the birds out of the little aviary and let it loose
there, father."
"Good idea, Hal; but let's see it first. Look here, Sree; you and your
men must lay hold of the brute if it tries to escape."
"Yes, Sahib; we catch it and shut the lid down again."
"That's right," said the merchant. "Yes, who's that? Oh, you, Mike.
Come to see the prisoner set free? Come and stand a little farther
this way."
"Thank you, sir; yes, sir," said the man.
Harry nudged the Prince, and the nudge was returned, with a laughing
glance.
"No danger, is there, sir?" said Mike respectfully.
"I hope not," said Mr. Kenyon; "but you will be no worse off than we
are. Like to go back before the basket is opened?"
"Isn't time, sir; they've nearly got it open now."
"Run round the other way, Mike," cried Harry.
"Me, sir? No, thank you," replied the man. "I don't want to run."
Meanwhile the two bearers were holding the lid of the basket firmly
down while Sree pulled out eight stout elastic skewers of bamboo,
which had held the lid tightly in place. And as one after the other
was slowly and carefully extracted with as little movement of the
basket as possible, so as not to irritate the snake if awake, or to
disturb it if asleep, the interest and excitement increased till only
one was left, when Harry glanced at Mike, who stood with eyes widely
staring, cheeks puffed out, and fists clenched, as if about to start
off at full speed.
Sree looked up at Mr. Kenyon as the two men pressed down harder and he
stood ready to pull out the last skewer.
"Out with it," said Mr. Kenyon, and a thrill ran through all present
as the last piece of bamboo was withdrawn.
But still the lid was pressed down, and of this the hunter took hold,
said a few words to his two men, who stood back right and left, ready
to help if necessary, while their master had stationed himself at the
back of the basket, facing his employer and the two boys. He held the
lid with outstretched hands, and once more he paused and looked at Mr.
Kenyon as if waiting for orders to proceed, his aim of course being to
make the whole business as impressive as possible.
"Now then, off with it," cried Harry, and in spite of their
excitement, to the amusement of the two boys the hunters took off the
lid with a tremendous flourish, and stood back smiling with triumph.
"Just like Mike taking the dish-cover off a roast peacock," as Harry
afterwards said.
It was too much for the last-mentioned personage. As the basket was
laid open for the gentlemen to see its contents, Mike took half a
dozen steps backward as fast as he could, and with his eye fixed upon
the open basket he was in the act of turning to run, when he saw
everyone else stand fast.
"Lies pretty quiet at the bottom," said Harry, advancing with Phra,
Mr. Kenyon keeping close behind.
"Only a little one," said the young Prince, rather contemptuously.
"Here! I say, Sree; what do you mean by this?" cried Harry.
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Phra. "This is one of your tricks, Hal."
"That it isn't," cried the boy.
"Where is the snake, Sree?" said Mr. Kenyon. "The basket's empty."
CHAPTER III
SREE'S PRISONER
The hunter took a couple of steps forward, looked down into the
basket, looked up, half stunned with astonishment, looked in the lid,
then outside it, lifted up the basket and peered under it, threw down
the lid, felt in his sarong, and then, as there was no heavy boa
twelve or fourteen feet long in its folds, he turned fiercely to the
two men in turn to ask them angrily in their own tongue what they had
done with the snake.
Both of them felt in their sarongs and began to protest volubly that
they had not touched it; that it was there just now, for they had
heard it and felt the weight. It was there--it must be there--and
their master had better look again.
"It's a conjuring trick," said Phra, who looked annoyed.
"I had nothing to do with it, then," said Harry. "I hadn't, honour
bright," he added hurriedly as his companion looked doubtingly at him.
"Here, Sree, have you begun to learn juggling?"
"No, Sahib; it was a lovely snake, all yellow, with big brown spots
and purple shadows all over the dark parts. One of these sons of
wickedness must have taken it out to sell it to some ship captain to
carry away. Surely Sree would not try to cheat the good Sahibs and his
Prince by playing tricks like an Indian juggler. Here, Michael; you
heard the snake inside before the master came?"
"Yes," said Mike, who looked quite brave now, as he approached and
looked into the basket searchingly. "I'm sure I heard it plainly, but
there's no snake here now. There has been one here, though, for you
can smell it."
"Yes, there has been one here," cried Harry eagerly. "Then where is it
gone?"
"Something dreadful has blinded all our eyes, Sahib, so that we cannot
see. Thrust in your hand and feel if it is there."
Harry shrank for the moment, for the idea of feeling after a snake
that had been rendered invisible was startling; but feeling ashamed
the next moment of his superstitious folly, he plunged his hand down
into the basket, felt round it, and stood up.
"There's nothing in there," he said.
"Well, you could see that there was not," said his father shortly.
"But there has been one there quite lately," said Harry. "Smell my
fingers, Phra."
"Pouf! Serpent!" cried the young Prince, with a gesture of disgust.
"It must have got away."
Sree took hold of the basket, bent down into it, looked all round, and
then to the surprise of all he stood it up again, turned it round a
little, and then jumped in, to stand upright.
The surprise came to an end directly, for Sree pointed downward, and
as he did so he thrust his toes through the bottom of the basket,
where no hole had been apparent, but which gave way easily to the
pressure of the man's foot from within, thus showing that it must have
been broken at that one particular place.
"What! A hole in the bottom for the reptile to crawl out? That was
wise of you, Sree!"
"I was wise, Sahib, and the basket had no hole in it when we put the
snake in."
"Then it must have made one, and forced its way through."
Sree was silent, and looked at Mike as if waiting for him to speak.
But Mike had not the least intention of speaking, and stood with his
lips pinched together, perfectly dumb.
"Why, of course!" cried Harry excitedly; "I see now. Mike gave the
basket a tremendous kick as he went by it, and startled the serpent,
and made it swing about. Why, Mike, you must have broken a hole
through then."
"Master Harry, I--" began Mike.
"Yes, Sahib, that was it; he broke a hole through, and once the
snake's head was through he would force his way right out."
"One minute," said Mr. Kenyon rather anxiously; "tell me, Harry: are
you perfectly sure that the snake was there?"
"Certain, father."
"And you saw Michael kick the basket?"
"Oh yes, father; and Michael knows he did."
"That's right enough, sir; but I didn't mean to let the brute out."
"No, no, of course not," said Mr. Kenyon anxiously: "but if the
serpent was in that basket a short time ago and is gone now, it must
either be in one of the rooms here by the verandah or just beneath the
house."
"Ow!" ejaculated Mike, with a look of horror, as he glanced round; and
then he shouted as he pointed to an opening in one corner of the
verandah, where a great bamboo had been shortened for the purpose of
ventilating the woodwork beneath the bungalow, "That's the way he has
gone, sir; that's the way he has gone."
It seemed only too probable, for it was just the kind of place in
which a fugitive, gloom-loving reptile would seek for a hiding-place;
while as if to prove the truth of Mike's guess there was a sharp,
squeaking sound heard somewhere below the house, and one after the
other three rats dashed out of the opening, darted across the
verandah, and sprang into the garden, disappearing directly amongst
the plants.
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon; "the reptile seems to have gone under the
house."
"And he will clear away all the rats, Sahib," said Sree, in a tone of
voice which seemed to add, "and what could you wish for better than
that?"
"But I think that my son and I would rather have the rats, my man.
What do you say, Hal?"
"Yes, father; of course. We can't live here with a horrible thing like
that always lying in wait for us. How long did you say it was, Sree?"
"Two men and a half, Sahib."
"And that's a man and a half too long, Sree. What's to be done?"
Sree looked disconsolately at the merchant, and slowly rubbed his
blacking-brush-like hair.
"The Sahib told me to bring everything I could find in the jungle, and
this was a lovely snake, all yellow and brown and purple like
tortoiseshell. The Sahib would have been so pleased."
"No doubt, if I could have got it shut up safely in some kind of cage;
but you see you have let it go."
"If the Sahib will pardon me," said the man humbly.
"Of course; yes, it was not your fault, but Michael's. Well, Michael,
how are you going to catch this great snake?"
"Me catch it, sir?" said Mike mildly.
"Yes, of course; we can't leave it at liberty here."
"I thought perhaps you would shoot at it, sir, or Master Harry would
have a pop at it with his gun."
"That's all very well, Mike; but it's of no use to shoot till you can
see it," cried Harry.
"How can we drive it out, Sree?" said Mr. Kenyon. "We must get rid of
it somehow."
Sree shook his head.
"I'm afraid it will go to sleep now, Sahib," he said.
"For how long?"
"Three weeks or a month, Sahib. Until it gets hungry again."
"Why not get guns and two of us stand near here to see if it comes out
of this hole, while the others go from room to room hammering on the
floor?"
"That sounds well," said the merchant.
"And it would be good to try first if a cat would go down. Snakes do
not like cats or the mongoose, and the cat might drive it out. Cats
hate snakes."
"That sounds like a good plan, too, Sree. Suppose we try that first.
We have a cat, but what about a mongoose? Have you got one?"
"I had one when I was in Hindooland, Sahib, but perhaps it is dead
now."
"If not, it's of no use to us now," said Mr. Kenyon sarcastically.
"Here, Hal, go in and get the two guns hanging in my room. Bring the
powder-flasks and pouches too. Be careful, my lad; the guns are
loaded."
"Come along, Phra," said Harry.
"No, I am going back for my gun."
"I meant to lend you one of mine," said the merchant quietly. "You two
lads ought to be able to shoot that reptile if we succeed in driving
it out."
"Ah!" cried the young Siamese eagerly. "Thank you."
He looked gratefully at Mr. Kenyon, and then followed Harry into the
bungalow.
"This is a nice job," said the latter. "We shall never drive the brute
out. This place was built as if they wanted to make a snug,
comfortable home for a boa constrictor. There are double floors,
double ceilings, and double walls. There's every convenience for the
brute, whether he wants to stay a week or a year."
"Never mind; it will be good fun hunting him. Where are the guns?"
"Here, in father's room," said the boy, leading the way into the
lightly furnished bed-chamber with its matted floor and walls, bath,
and couch well draped with mosquito net.
One side was turned into quite a little armoury, guns and swords being
hung against the wall, while pouches, shot-belts, and powder-flasks
had places to themselves.
"Take care," said Harry, as he took down and handed a gun to his
companion, who smiled and nodded.
"Yes," he said; "but it isn't the first time I've had hold of a gun."
"Well, I know that, Phra. You needn't turn rusty about it. I only said
so because it comes natural to warn any one to be careful."
"Hist! Listen," said the Prince, holding up his hand.
Harry had heard the sound at the same moment. It was a strange,
rustling, creeping sound, as of horny scales passing over wood in the
wall to their right.
A look of intelligence passed between the boys, and they stood
listening for a few moments, which were quite sufficient to satisfy
them that the object of their visit within was gliding slowly up
between the bamboos of the open wall, probably to reach the
palm-thatched roof.
But it was not to do so without hindrance, for after darting another
look at his companion Phra cocked his gun, walked close to the wall,
and after listening again and again he placed the muzzle of his piece
about six inches from the thin teak matting-covered boarding, and
fired.
The result was immediate. Whether hit or only startled by the shot,
the reptile fell with a loud thud and there was the evident sound of
writhing and twisting about.
"Well done, Phra! You've shot him!" cried Harry; "but if he dies there
we shall have to take the floor up to get him out."
"What is it, boys? Have you seen the snake?"
"No, sir. I heard it in the wall, and fired."
"Yes, and you have hit it, too," said the merchant. "Listen."
The boys were quite ready to obey, and all stood attentively trying to
analyse the meaning of the movements below the floor.
It proved to be easy enough, for the violent writhings ceased, and the
serpent began to ascend the side of the room again in the hollow wall.
They went on tip-toe to the spot they had marked down, and as soon as
they were still again they could hear the faint _crick, crick, crick_
of the scales on the wood, as the serpent crawled from beneath the
floor and extended itself more and more up the side, so that it was
plain enough to trace the length upward, till evidently a good six
feet had been reached.
"My turn now," said Harry, cocking his piece. "Shall I fire father?"
"No; it would only bring it down again, and if it dies beneath the
floor or in the wall it will be a great nuisance to get it out. It
will mean picking the place to pieces."
"Let it go on up into the roof, then."
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon; "if it gets up there it will be sure to
descend to the eaves, and if we keep a pretty good watch we shall see
it coming down slowly, and you will both get a good shot at it."
They stood listening for a few minutes longer, and then the _crick,
crick_ in the wall ceased, and it was evident that a long and heavy
body was gliding along over the ceiling.
"Now then, boys, out with you, and I think I'll bring a gun too; but
you shall have the honour of shooting the brute if you can. By the
way, I don't think Sree has exaggerated as to the reptile's length,
and I shall be glad to get rid of such a neighbour."
"It's not moving now," said Harry, in a whisper.
"Yes, I can hear it," said Phra, whose ears were preternaturally
sharp; "it's creeping towards where it can see the light shine
through, and it will come out right on the roof."
The little party hurried out to where Mike and the three Siamese were
anxiously watching the hole in the corner of the verandah, the three
latter armed with bamboo poles, and their long knives in their
waist-folds, while Mike had furnished himself with a rusty old cavalry
sword which he had bought in London, and brought with him because he
thought it might some day prove to be useful.
Their watching in the verandah came to an end on the appearance of the
little party, and they were posted ready to rush in to the attack of
the reptile if it should be shot and come wriggling down off the attap
thatch.
But for some minutes after the whole party had commenced their
watching there was no sign of the escaped prize, not the faintest
rustle or crackle of the crisp, sun-dried roof.
Phra began to grow impatient at having to stand in the hot sun holding
a heavy gun ready for firing, and Harry was little better, for the
effort of watching in the dazzling glare affected his eyes.
"Can't you send somebody inside to bang the ceiling with a stick, Mr.
Kenyon?" said Phra at last.
"Yes," said that gentleman. "This is getting rather weary work. Here,
Mike, go indoors and listen till you hear the snake rustling over the
ceiling of my room, and then thump loudly with a bamboo."
"Yes, sir," said Mike promptly, and he took two steps towards the
house, and then stopped and coughed.
"Well, what is it?" said Mr. Kenyon.
"I beg pardon, sir; but suppose the beast has taken fright at seeing
you all waiting for him, and got into the house to hide."
"Yes?" said Mr. Kenyon.
"And is scrawming about all over the floor. What shall I do then?"
"Don't lose a chance; hit it over the head or tail with all your
might."
Mike looked warmer than ever, and began to wipe the great drops of
perspiration off his forehead.
"Yes, sir," he said respectfully.
"We must not stop to be nice now, for it seems to be hopeless to think
of capturing the reptile again, and I can't have such a brute as that
haunting the place."
"No, sir, of course not," said Mike.
"Well go on," said Mr. Kenyon sharply. "You are not afraid, are you?"
"Oh no, sir, not a bit; but--"
Mr. Kenyon shrugged his shoulders and strode into the house, while the
two lads burst out laughing.
"I say, Mike, you are a brave one!" cried Harry.
"Now, look here," cried the man, "don't you go making the same mistake
as the master. I'm not a bit afraid."
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Phra.
"No, sir," said the man angrily; "not a bit afraid; but I've got a
mother in England, and I don't like to be rash."
"You never are, Mike."
"No, sir, and I won't be. I'm sure every one ought to look before he
leaps when it's over a dangerous place, and--Ah! look out; here he
comes."
There was a yell, too, from Sree and his two men, who dashed forward
together, as all at once the great serpent seemed to dart suddenly
from under a fold of the palm-leaf thatch, make an effort to glide
along the slope from the neighbourhood of those who were waiting for
it, and then failing from the steepness of the incline, rolled over
and over, writhing and twining, towards the edge where the bamboo
supports formed the pillars of the verandah.
"Here, hi! stop!" roared the boys; but it was all in vain, for the
excited Siamese men were deaf to everything save their own impulses,
which prompted them to recover the escaped prize, and obtain their
promised reward.
"Here, I don't want to shoot one of them," cried Phra, stamping in his
disappointment.
"No, no, don't fire," cried Harry, throwing up his gun. "Here, hi,
Mike! Now's your time; go and help. Lay hold of his tail, but don't be
rash."
For the serpent had rapidly reached the edge of the thatch and fallen
into one of the flower beds with a heavy thud which proclaimed its
weight. But the next minute that was a flower bed no longer.
The serpent began the work of destruction by struggling violently as
it drew itself up into a knot, and the three Siamese finished the
work. They seemed to have not the slightest fear of the great
glistening creature whose scales shone in the sun, but dashed at it to
try and pinion it down to the ground.
There was a furious hissing, mingled with loud shouts, panting,
rustling, and the sound of heavy blows delivered on the earth and the
bamboo flooring of the verandah, as the serpent freed its tail and
lashed about furiously. Then there was a confused knot composed of
reptile and men, rolling over, heaving and straining, and a gaily
coloured sarong was thrown out, to fall a few yards away.
"Can't you get a shot at it, boys?" cried Mr. Kenyon, as he rushed
out.
"Impossible, father."
"Yes, impossible," repeated Mr. Kenyon.
"What fun!" cried Phra excitedly. "They want to catch him alive. Look,
Hal, look."
Harry was doing nothing else, and forgetful of all his repugnance he
approached so near the struggling knot that he had a narrow escape
from a heavy flogging blow delivered by the serpent's tail, one which
indented the soft earth with a furrow.
"Ugh! you beast!" cried Harry, kicking at one of the reptile's folds,
which just then offered itself temptingly; but before the boy's foot
could reach it the fold was a yard away and the struggle going on more
fiercely than ever.
It was the fight of three stout, strong men against that elongated,
tapering mass of bone and muscle, with fierce jaws at one end, a
thick, whip-like portion at the other, and the men seemed to be
comparatively helpless, being thrown here and there in spite of the
brave way in which they clung to the writhing form. The end soon
arrived, for the reptile made one tremendous effort to escape,
wrenched itself free enough to throw a couple of folds of its tail
round the thick bamboo pillar which supported the roof, took advantage
of the purchase afforded, and threw off its three adversaries, to
cling there with half its body undulating and quivering in the air,
its head with its eyes glittering fiercely, and its forked tongue
darting in and out, menacing its enemies and preparing to strike.
The men were up again in an instant, ready to resume the attack, Sree
giving his orders in their native tongue.
"I'll get hold of his neck," he panted, "and you two catch his tail.
Keep him tight to the bamboo, and I'll hold his head close up and ask
the master to tie it to the upright."
"Stand back, all of you!" cried Mr. Kenyon. "Now, boys, get into the
verandah and fire outward. You have a fine chance."
"No, no, Sahib," cried the hunter imploringly. "The snake is nearly
tired out now, and in another minute we shall have caught it fast."
"Nonsense," cried Mr. Kenyon; "it is far too strong for you. You are
all hurt now."
"A few scratches only, Sahib, and we could not bear to see so fine a
snake, which the master would love to have, killed like that."
"Thinking of reward, Sree?" said the merchant, smiling.
Harry whispered something to Phra, who nodded.
"Let them have another try, father," cried the boy. "Phra and I don't
mind missing a shot apiece."
"Very well," said Mr. Kenyon, and turning to the men--"Take it alive,
then, if you can."
From wearing a dull, heavy look of disappointment the faces of the
Siamese were all smiles once more, and they prepared to rush in at
their enemy on receiving a word from Sree, who now advanced with one
of the bamboo poles he had picked up, and held out the end toward the
quivering, menacing head of the snake.
The latter accepted the challenge directly and struck at the end of
the thick pole, its jaws opening and closing, and the dart of the
drawn-back head being quicker than the eye could follow.
Sree was as quick, though. The slightest movement of the wrist threw
the end of the pole aside, and the serpent missed it three times
running. After that it refused to strike, but drew back its head and
swung it from side to side till it was teased into striking once more.
This time there was a sharp jar of the bamboo, as the reptile's teeth
closed upon the wood, and the pole was nearly jerked out of the man's
hands. But he held on firmly without displaying the slightest fear,
swaying to and fro as the reptile dragged and gave.
"Better kill it at once, Sree," cried Mr. Kenyon.
"Pray no, Sahib. He is very strong, but we shall tire him out. I am
going to have his neck bound to the great bamboo pillar with a
sarong."
"My good fellow," cried the merchant, "if you do it will drag the
pillar down."
"And pull half the roof off," said Phra. "Yes, they are very strong,
these big serpents."
"I'm afraid he would, Sahib," said the hunter mildly. "Now, if I had
time I could go into the jungle and get leaves to pound up and give
him, and he would be asleep so that we could put him in the basket."
"Well, hadn't you better go and fetch some?" cried Harry
mischievously. "Here, Mike, come and hold this bamboo while Sree
goes."
There was a burst of laughter at this, in which the Siamese joined,
for Mike's features were for a moment convulsed with horror; the next
he grasped the fact that a joke was being made at his expense, and
stood shaking his head and pretending to be amused.
"We had better have a shot, my lads," said Mr. Kenyon. "It is too
unmanageable a specimen to keep, and I shall be quite content with the
skin."
"Let them have another try, Mr. Kenyon," said Phra eagerly. "It is
grand to see them fight. Perhaps they will win this time."
"Very well," said Mr. Kenyon, smiling.
"Go and help them, Phra," said Harry, laughing.
"It's so hot," said the young Siamese, "and one would be knocked about
so, and have all one's clothes torn off. Besides, you can't take hold,
only by clinging round it with your arms, and snakes are not nice. But
I will, if you will."
"All right," said Harry; "only let's have the tail."
Mike looked at the boys in horror, as if he thought they had gone mad.
But at that moment Sree gave a sign to his two followers, after
finding that the reptile was so much exhausted that he could force its
head in any direction, for it still held on tightly with its teeth.
There was a rush, and the two men seized the creature's tail and began
to unwind it from the pillar by walking round and round.
"Hurrah! they've mastered it," cried Harry, and they drew back as the
last fold was untwined from the pillar, Mike drawing much farther back
than any one else, so as to give plenty of room.
But the tight clasp of the teeth-armed jaws did not relax in the
slightest degree, and the next minute, by the efforts of the three
men, the creature was half dragged, half carried out into the open
garden, limp apparently and completely worn out.
"Why, they'll manage it yet, father," cried Harry. "Here, Mike, bring
that basket out here."
"Yes," cried Mr. Kenyon, "quick!"
Mike looked horrified, but he felt compelled to obey, and, hurrying
into the verandah, he was half-way to the men with the basket, when he
uttered a yell, dropped it, and darted back.
"It was frightened of Mike," said Phra afterwards.
Frightened or no, all at once when its captors were quite off their
guard, the serpent suddenly brought its tremendous muscles into full
play, contracted itself with a sudden snatch as if about to tie itself
in a knot, and before the men could seize it again, for it was quite
free, it went down the garden at a tremendous rate, making at first
for the river, then turning off towards the jungle.
The men, as they recovered from their astonishment, darted in pursuit,
but stopped short, for Mr. Kenyon's gun rang out with a loud report,
making the serpent start violently, but without checking its course,
and it was half out of sight among the low-growing bushes when, in
rapid succession, Phra and Harry fired, with the effect of making the
reptile draw itself into a knot again, roll, and twine right back into
the garden, give a few convulsive throes, and then slowly straighten
itself out at full length and lie heaving gently, as a slight quiver
ran from head to tail.
The boys cheered, and after reloading in the slow, old-fashioned way
of fifty years ago, went close up to the reptile.
"Shall I give him another shot in the head, Mr. Kenyon?" cried Phra.
"No, no, my lad; it would be only waste of powder and shot. The brute
is beyond the reach of pain now. Well, Hal, how long do you make it?"
he cried, as that young gentleman finished pacing the ground close up
to the great reptile.
"Five of my steps," said Harry; "and he's as thick round as I can
span--a little thicker. I say, isn't he beautifully marked, father?"
"Splendidly, my boy."
"But who'd have thought a thing like that could be so strong?"
"They are wonderfully powerful," said Mr. Kenyon. "It is a splendid
specimen, Sree," he continued to that personage, who, with his
companions--all three looking sullen and out of heart--was rearranging
dragged-off or discarded loin-cloths, and looking dirty, torn, and in
one or two places bleeding, from the reptile's teeth.
"Yes, Sahib," said the man sadly; "he would have been a prize, and I
should have been proud, and the Sahib would have been grateful in the
way he always is to his servants."
"Oh, I see," said Harry, who whispered to his father and then to Phra,
both nodding.
"I could not have kept such a monster as that alive, Sree," said the
merchant; "but you men behaved splendidly. You were brave to a degree,
and of course I shall pay you as much or more than I should have given
you if it had been prisoned alive."
"Oh, Sahib!" cried the man, whose face became transformed, his eyes
brightened, and with a look of delight he brought a smile to his lips.
Turning quickly to his two men, he whispered to them in their own
tongue, and the change was magical. They uttered a shout of joy, threw
themselves on their knees, raised their hands to the sides of their
heads, and shuffled along towards the master.
"That will do, Sree," cried Mr. Kenyon impatiently; "make them get up.
You know I do not like to be treated like that."
"Yes, Sahib; I know," said the hunter, and at a word the two men
started up, beaming and grinning at the two lads.
"Brave boys," said Phra, speaking in his own tongue; and, thrusting
his hand in his pocket, he brought out and gave each of the men one of
the silver coins of the country.
The next moment all three were grovelling on the earth before their
young Prince.
He waved his hand and they rose.
"I don't much like it now, Hal," said Phra apologetically; "but it is
the custom, you know. I like to be English, though, when I am with
you."
"Oh, it's all right," said Harry; "but you do improve wonderfully,
lad. You'll be quite an English gentleman some day. I say, father,
give me some silver; I want to do as Phra did."
Mr. Kenyon smiled and handed his son some money, nodding his
satisfaction as he saw him give each of the Siamese a coin, and check
them when they were about to prostrate themselves.
"No, no," he shouted; "be English. Pull your blacking-brushes--so."
The men grinned, and gave a tug at what would have been their
forelocks if they had not been cropped short.
"Skin the snake very carefully, Sree," said Mr. Kenyon quietly, after
liberally rewarding the men, whose gloom gave place to the exuberance
of satisfaction.
"Yes, Sahib; there shall not be a tear in the skin," cried the old
hunter eagerly.
"Where shall they do it, father?" said Harry. "It will make such a
mess here."
"Let them drag it down to the landing-stage, my boy, and they can
sluice the bamboo flooring afterwards, and then peg out the skin to
dry on the side. You will stay and see it done?"
"Yes, father," replied the boy, and he turned to Phra.
"Will you stop?"
"Of course. I came to stay," was the reply; "didn't you see that I
sent the boatmen back?"
CHAPTER IV
FISHING WITH A WORM
"I say, Sree, hadn't you and your fellows better have a wash?" said
Harry, as soon as Mr. Kenyon had re-entered the bungalow to go to his
office on the other side for his regular morning work connected with
the dispatching of rice and coffee down to the principal city.
"What good, Sahib?" said the man, looking up with so much wonder in
his amiable, simple face, that both Phra and Harry burst out laughing,
in which the men joined.
"Why, you are all so dirty, and you smell nasty and musky of that
great snake."
"But we are going to skin it, Sahib, and we shall be much worse then."
"Oh yes, I forgot," said Harry.
"When we have done we shall all bathe and be quite clean, and go and
thank the good Sahib before we depart."
He said a few words to his two men, and, gun in hand, the boys walked
with them towards the boa, when a thought occurred to Harry.
"I say," he cried, "mind what you are about when you bathe, for
there's a crocodile yonder, half as long again as that snake."
"Ah!" ejaculated the man, "then we must take care."
"So will we, Phra. We'll look out for him and try and get a shot."
"A big one?" said the Siamese lad.
"Yes, I think it is the biggest I have seen."
"Then we'll shoot him. But how bad you have made me! Before we became
friends I followed our people's rule--never killing anything. Now this
morning I am going to try and kill a crocodile, after helping to kill
a snake."
"Well," said Harry, "I don't care about arguing who's right, but it
seems to be very stupid not to kill those horrible great monsters
which drag people who are bathing under water and eat them, and to be
afraid to kill a tiger that springs upon the poor rice and coffee
growers at the edges of the plantations."
"So it does," said Phra, with a dry look; "and I am trying not to be
stupid. All, look there!"
Harry was already looking, for as one of the men took hold of the
serpent's tail, in order to drag it down to the landing-place, it was
snatched away, then raised up and brought down again heavily to lie
heaving and undulating, the movement being continued right up to the
head.
"You don't seem to have killed that," said Harry drily.
"No," replied Phra; "but I will," and he cocked his gun.
But Sree addressed a few words to him in his native tongue, and the
lad nodded.
"What does he say?" asked Harry; "he can kill it more easily, without
spoiling the skin?"
"Yes. Look. What a while these things take to die!"
"My father says that at home in England the country people say you
can't kill a snake directly. It always lives till the sun sets."
"You haven't got snakes like that in England?"
"Oh no; the biggest are only a little more than a yard long."
"But how can they live like that? What has the sun to do with it?"
"Nothing. Father says it's only an old-fashioned superstition."
"Look! Sree's going to kill the snake now. He's a bad Buddhist."
"Never mind; he's a capital hunter. See what splendid things we've
found when we've been with him," said Harry enthusiastically. "He
seems to know the habits of everything in the jungle."
Harry ceased speaking, for Sree drew a knife from its sheath in the
band of his sarong, or padung, whetted it on one of the stones of the
rockery, and went to the head of the serpent, which was moving gently.
Sree bent down, extending his left hand to grip the reptile softly
behind the head, and give it a mortal wound which would afterwards
serve as the beginning of the cut to take off the beautifully marked
skin.
But at the first touch, the reptile seemed to be galvanized into life,
and coiling and knotting itself up, it began to twine and writhe with
apparently as much vigour as before receiving the shots.
"Did you ever see such a brute?" cried Harry. "Take care, or you'll
lose him."
"Oh, no, Sahib; I will not do that. Only let me get one cut, and I
will soon make him still."
He waited for a few minutes till the reptile straightened itself out
again, and then at a sign the two men followed their leader's example,
throwing themselves down upon the fore part of the boa, which began to
heave again, the lower part of the body writhing and flogging the
earth.
But Sree was quite equal to the occasion. He had pinned the reptile's
neck down with one hand, and managed to hold it till with all the
skill of an old huntsman, he had slit up the skin, inserted his knife,
and cleverly divided the vertebrae just behind the creature's head.
The moment this was done the tremendous thrashing of the tail part
began to grow less violent, then grew more gentle still, and finally
it lay undulating gently.
"He will die now," said the man, and the long, lithe body was dragged
to the bottom of the garden and stretched out on the bamboo
landing-stage beneath the attap roofing.
As soon as this was done, the three men went down to the water's edge,
stripped off their sarongs, washed them, and spread them in the hot
sun to dry, while, gun in hand, the two lads stood carefully scanning
the river in search of enemies, so as to get a shot.
But no great reptile was in sight then, and they remained looking on
while Sree and his men cleverly stripped off the boa's skin and
stretched it out to dry, before fetching a couple of brass vessels
from the back of the bungalow and using them to thoroughly remove all
traces of their late work.
Their next duty was to take a couple of bamboos and thrust off the
body of the serpent.
Sree, however, undertook to do this himself, telling his men to refill
the brass vessels to sluice down the bamboo stage.
But instead of thrusting the repulsive-looking reptile off, he
stopped, thinking for a few moments.
"What is it?" said Phra; "why don't you throw that nasty thing in to
be swept out to sea?"
Sree gave him a peculiar look, and turned to Harry.
"Was it a very big crocodile, Sahib?" he said.
"Yes. Why?"
"Would you like to have a shot at it?"
"Of course; but these big ones are so cunning."
"Let's see," said the man. "Perhaps I could get you a shot."
The boys were interested at once.
"What are you going to do?" said Phra.
"See if I can bring one up where you can shoot."
"How?" asked Harry.
"Is there a big hook in the house?" said Sree.
"Do you want one?"
"Yes, Sahib."
"Go up, then, and tell Mike to give you one of the biggest meat-hooks.
Say I want it directly, and then he will."
The two men squatted down at the end of the landing-place, smiling,
behind their vessels of water, as Sree hurried up the garden, while
the two boys stood, gun in hand, scanning the surface of the river.
"He's going to make a bait of the snake, I suppose; but I don't expect
the croc will be about here now. If the water were clear we could
see."
But, as before said, the stream was flowing of a rich coffee or
chocolate hue, deeply laden as it was with the fine mud of the low
flats so often flooded after rains in the mountains, and it was
impossible to see a fish, save when now and then some tiny, silvery
scrap of a thing sprang out, to fall back with a splash.
"We're only going to make ourselves hot for nothing," said Harry. "I
don't believe we shall see the beast. Now, if you had been here when I
saw him."
"And both of us had had guns," said Phra. "What nonsense it is to talk
like that! One never is at a place at the right time."
"Fortunately for the crocs," said Harry, laughing. "Here he is."
"What, the croc?" cried Phra, cocking his gun.
"No, no; Sree.--Got it?"
"Yes, Sahib. A good big one."
The man came on to the landing-stage, smiling, with the bright new
double hook in his hand and a stout piece of string. Then taking down
a little coil of rope used for mooring boats at one of the posts, he
thrust one of the hooks through the hemp, bound it fast with string,
leaving a long piece after knotting off, and then passed the other
hook well through the vertebrae and muscles behind the snake's head,
using the remaining string to bind the shank of the hook firmly to the
serpent's neck so as to strengthen the hold.
There were about twenty yards of strong rope, and Sree fastened the
other end of this to the post used to secure the boats, before looking
up at the boys.
"Large big fishing," he said, with a dry smile. "Fish too strong to
hold."
"And that's rather a big worm to put on the hook," said Harry,
laughing. "There, throw it out, and let's see if we get a bite. Are
you going to fish, Phra?"
"No," said the Prince; "I am going to shoot. You can hold the line."
"Thankye, but I'm going to fish too. Throw out, Sree."
The old hunter's throwing out was to push one end of the serpent off
the end of the bamboo stage, with the result that the rest glided
after it, and with their guns at the ready the two boys waited to see
if there was a rush made at the bait as it disappeared beneath the
muddy stream.
But all they saw was a gleam or two of the white part of the serpent,
as it rolled over and over, then went down, drawing the rope slowly
out till the last coil had gone; and then nothing was visible save a
few yards of rope going down from the post into the water, and rising
and falling with the action of the current.
Sree squatted down by the post and went on chewing his betel, his two
men by the brass vessels doing the same.
So five, ten, fifteen minutes passed away, with the boys watching,
ready to fire if there was a chance.
"Oh, I say, this is horribly stupid," cried Harry at last. "Let's give
it up."
"No," said Phra; "you want patience to fish for big things as well as
for little. You have no patience at all."
"Well, I'm not a Siamese," said Harry, laughing. "We English folk are
not always squatting down on our heels chewing nut and pepper-leaf,
and thinking about nothing."
"Neither am I," said Phra; "but I have patience to wait."
"It is your nature to," said Harry. "You're all alike here; never in a
hurry about anything."
"Why should we be?" replied Phra quietly. "We could not in a hot
country like ours. You always want to be in a hurry to do something
else. Look at Sree and his men; see how they wait."
"Yes, I suppose they're comfortable; but I'm not. I want to go and lie
down under a tree. Think it's any good, Sree? Won't come, will he?"
"Who can say, Sahib?" replied the man. "He ought to if he is about
here. That bait is big and long; the bait must go far down the stream,
and it smells well."
"Smells well, eh?" said Harry.
"Beautiful for a bait, Sahib. You are sure you saw one this morning?"
"Saw it, and hit it a fine crack with a big stone."
"Then he ought to be there and take that bait; and he will, too, if
you have not offended him by making his back too sore."
"Offended him! Made his back too sore!" said Harry, with a chuckle.
"What a rum old chap you are, Sree! You talk about animals just as if
they felt and thought as we do."
"Yes, Sahib, and that is what the bonzes teach. They say that when
people die they become crocodiles, or elephants, or birds, or
serpents, or monkeys, or some other kind of creature."
"And that's all stuff and nonsense, Sree. You don't believe all that,
I know."
"It's what I was taught, Sahib," said the man, with a queer twinkle of
the eye.
"But you don't believe it, Sree. You don't think that some one turned
when he died into that old snake, or else you wouldn't have caught it
to sell to my father as a specimen."
"And then skinned it and made a bait of it on a hook to catch a
crocodile," said Phra.
"Not he. Look at him," cried Harry. "See how he's laughing in his
sleeve."
"He isn't. Hasn't got any sleeves."
"Well, inside, then. His eyes are all of a twinkle. He doesn't believe
it a bit. There, I shan't stand here any longer cuddling this gun,
with nothing to shoot at."
"It is rather stupid, Hal."
"Yes. Here, jump up, Sree, and take us where we can have a shoot at
something, or go and fish; I don't care which."
"Come and see the elephants," suggested Phra.
"No, I want to be under the shady trees. What's the good of going to
see the tame elephants? They're not white, after all. Chained by one
leg and nodding their old heads up and down, up and down, till they
see you, and then they begin sticking out their leeches."
"Sticking out their leeches?" said Phra, looking at him wonderingly.
"Trunks, then. They always look to me like jolly great leeches ready
to hold on to you. Let's go. Pull up the hook and line, Sree, and get
rid of that nasty snake."
"Yes, Sahib," said the old hunter, beginning to haul on the rope,
which came in heavily for a few feet.
"It comes in slowly," said Phra; "has something taken the bait?"
_Whush!_ went the line through Sree's hands, and then _whang!_ as it
was snapped tight with such violence that the man started from it, for
the stout post was jarred so that it quivered and seemed about to be
pulled down, while the light bamboo and palm roof swayed, and the
whole structure seemed as if it were going to be dragged over into the
river.
There was no doubting the violence of the wrench and the danger, for
the two men sprang off on to the shore and stood staring, till Sree
shouted to them to come back and help haul.
"Why, we've caught him, Phra," cried Harry, as soon as he had
recovered from his astonishment. "Look out, lad, and be ready to fire
as soon as he shows upon the surface. Pull, Sree; don't let him drag
like that at the post again."
"I can't move him, Sahib," said the man, who looked startled; and he
was already hauling with all his might, but doing nothing more than
slightly ease the strain on the post.
But first one and then the other man got a grip of the rope, pulling
together with such effect that whatever had seized the bait and become
hooked began to jerk the line violently, as if it were throwing its
head from side to side.
"Be ready to shoot, Master Harry," said Sree. "He may rush up to the
top of the water and come at us, or try to sweep us off here with his
tail."
"Nonsense!" cried Harry.
"'Tisn't," said Phra calmly, as he stood like a bronze statue, ready
to fire. "I saw a man swept off a boat once like that."
"By a croc?"
"Yes."
"What then?" said Harry huskily.
"I don't know. He was never seen again. Ah, look out!"
As Phra spoke there was a violent eddying in the water where the end
of the line must have been.
"He's coming up," cried Harry, raising his gun to his shoulder. "Hold
on, all of you. Ah, here he is. Fire!"
The two guns went off almost like one, for all at once the hideous
knotted head of a crocodile appeared at the surface and came rapidly
towards the stage slackening the rope and making the two men quit
their hold and, in spite of an angry cry from Sree, tumble one over
the other ashore.
The hunter behaved bravely enough, but the moment had arrived when he
felt that discretion was the better part of valour--when it was
evident that the hideous reptile, enraged at finding such a finale to
the delicious repast of musky boa, neatly skinned apparently for its
benefit, but followed by a horrible tearing sensation in its throat
and the pressure of a long rope which could not be swallowed nor
bitten through because it persisted in getting between the teeth, had
risen to the surface, caught sight of a man dragging at the rope, had
aimed straight at him as being the cause of all the pain, and was
about to rush at and sweep him from the platform.
Under the circumstances Sree was about to let go and follow the
example of his men, but the firing checked the crocodile's charge,
sending it rushing down below with a tremendous wallow and splash on
the surface with its tail; the rope ran out again, and Sree proudly
held on, congratulating himself on not having let go, but repenting
directly after, for there was a jerk which seemed as if it would drag
his arms out of their sockets, and if he had not let the rope slide he
must have gone head first into the river.
Then came another drag at the post which supported the roof, and once
more everything quivered, but not so violently as before, while Sree
tightened his hold again and roared to his men to come.
The movement of the rope now showed that the great reptile was
swimming here and there deep down in the muddy water, while the two
lads with hands trembling from excitement reloaded as quickly as they
could; and as the two men resumed their places on the stage and took
hold of the rope, the sharp clicking of gun-locks told that a couple
more charges were ready.
"Think we can kill him, Sree?" cried Harry.
"I daren't say, Sahib. The rope may break by his teeth at any time,
but we'll drag and make him come up again, so that you can have
another shot. What are you loaded with?"
"Big slugs," cried Phra.
"Ought to be bullets," said the hunter.
"But we are very near, Sree," chimed in Harry.
"Yes, Sahib; but an old crocodile like this is so horny. Never mind;
you must try. Say when you're ready."
"Now," said Phra hoarsely, and Harry stood with his lips pinched and
his forehead a maze of wrinkles.
Sree turned fiercely to his two followers, who had hold of the rope
close behind him.
"If you let go this time, I'll knock you both in," he cried, "and then
you'll be killed and eaten, and come to life again as crocodiles."
The men shivered at this to them horrible threat, and Harry and Phra
exchanged glances.
Meanwhile Sree was, so to speak, just feeling the crocodile's head,
and as no extra strain was put upon the rope the reptile kept on
swimming to and fro; but the moment the rope was tightened and the
three men gave a steady drag there was a violent eddying of the water,
the rope slackened, and the huge head and shoulders shot out as if the
brute meant to reach its enemies in one bound.
But once more the reports of the two guns came nearly together, and
the gaping jaws of the reptile snapped together as the head
disappeared.
"Load again," cried Harry excitedly. "Let him run, Sree."
The hunter nodded, and as soon as the guns were loaded the drag and
reappearance of the beast took place, another couple of shots were
received, and this time the reptile whirled itself round and making
good use of its favourite weapon struck at the occupants of the
landing-stage, its tail sweeping along with terrific force.
But the brute had miscalculated the distance. Six feet nearer, and the
two lads would have been swept into the river. As it was they felt the
wind of the passing tail and heard the loud humming _whish_ as it
passed.
"That was near, Phra," said Harry.
"Yes; the hideous wretch! the beast!" hissed the Siamese lad through
his teeth, and followed it up with another loud, hollow, hissing noise
from the barrel of his gun, as he rammed a wad down upon the powder.
"Let's go on and kill him. Such a wretch ought not to live and destroy
everything he can reach along the banks. Oh, how I wish we had some
big bullets! I'd half fill the gun."
"Then I'm glad you have none, old chap," said Harry.
"Why?" cried Phra, pausing, ramrod in hand.
"You ought to know by now. Burst the gun."
"Nearly ready, Sahib?" cried Sree. "He's pulling harder, and I'm
afraid of the rope breaking."
"Not quite," said Phra, but a minute later, "Let's stand a bit farther
back, Hal. Now, Sree, pull."
There was another steady draw upon the rope, which ran out now quite
at right angles with the stage, and in an instant it was responded to
by a tremendous rush. The water rose in a wave, then parted, as the
open jaws of the crocodile appeared, coming right at them. The next
moment the landing-stage quivered and rocked, for it was as if a
tree-trunk had struck it right at the edge. Then there was a splash
which sent the water flying all over the edifice, and all was still.
The reptile's charge had its effect, for as it fell back into the
water the three Siamese rose to their feet from where they had flung
themselves off from the staging in among the flowering bushes, and
Harry and Phra sat up on the path which led into the garden.
"Oh, what a beast!" cried Phra, rubbing himself. "I hate him, oh, ten
thousand times worse now!"
"Lucky we didn't shoot one another," said Harry. "I say, see how I've
scratched the stock of father's gun."
"Why didn't you fire, Sahib?" said Sree ruefully, as he began picking
thorns out of his left arm.
"Come, I like that!" cried Harry. "Why didn't you three hold on by the
rope? I say, Sree, this is a one-er."
"You see, he doesn't like that hook, Sahib," said the hunter.
"But he has got to like it," said Harry. "There, we're not beaten.
Come on again. We must kill him now."
"I'm afraid, Sahib, he is one of those old savage crocodiles that are
enchanted, and can't be killed."
"Oh, are you?" said Harry drily; "then I'm not. And if that rope
doesn't break, we're going to kill him for being so impudent, aren't
we, Phra?"
"Yes," said the lad, with his dark eyes flashing. "We will kill him
now if it takes pounds of powder."
"And hundredweights of shot," said Harry. "Now then, look at the
primings, and then stir the wretch up again, Sree, before he jigs that
post down."
The jerking of the post was transferred to the arms of the men as the
two lads stepped back to the bamboo floor, ready once more, and
laughingly now, as they trusted to their own activity to escape the
reptile's jaws. The men began to haul at the rope, with the same
result as before.
But the boys were more ready this time. They watched the approaching
wave, and as the open jaws of the enemy appeared, they fired right in
between them, as if moved by the same impulse; and this time the
creature dropped back at once.
"That was a good one, Sree," cried Harry, beginning to reload.
"It was great and wonderful, Sahib. How glad I am to see you both
trying to slay the old murderer! A few more shots like that, and he
will never again drag little children and poor weak women down to his
holes in the muddy banks. It is a grand thing to do; but the bullets
should be heavier than those."
"Never mind," said Phra; "we'll make these do."
Once more the order was given to pull, and the rope was tightened as
it descended just in the same place, showing that the reptile was
lying still in the same spot--probably a hole in the muddy bed--which
had formed its lurking-place during the last few minutes.
It was a complete repetition in every respect of the last rush, and,
taught by experience, the lads were as quick in the repetition of
their last tactics. The wave rose in response to the heavy drag, the
water eddied and parted, and once more a couple of heavy charges of
slugs were poured between the hideous, gaping jaws, which closed with
a snap, and the head sank down out of sight.
But this time there was a fresh surprise. The monster's tail rose high
in the air, and delivered three or four tremendous smacks on the
surface, raising such a foam and shower that it was only dimly seen
how the reptile must have tried to evade its enemies by shooting up
stream.
But it was apparent by the direction of the rope, to which the three
men held on as long as they could, the final jerk making them let go
for a few minutes, but only for Sree to seize hold again.
"He must have got that last badly, Sahib," said the hunter gravely, as
he began to pull in the slack, which showed that the reptile was no
longer straining at the line.
"Bring him back then directly we're ready," cried Harry, "and we'll
give him another dose. But I say," he added, as he went on loading
quickly, "that line comes in very easily."
"Yes, Sahib, and we must be on the look-out. I thought he had rushed
up stream, but he must be close here."
"I know," cried Phra; "it's just like the cunning beast. He has come
back, and is hiding under the floor. We must look out."
"Yes, Sahib," replied the hunter; "very likely, for they are cunning
things. I will not pull in more rope till you are ready for him."
"Ready!" cried Phra a minute later, and Harry echoed the cry.
"Better stand on my other side, Sahibs," said Sree; and the lads took
up the more advantageous place--one, too, which made the hunter more
safe from proving the resting-place of the next volley of bullets.
The two men eagerly took their places at the rope, for familiarity
with the danger incurred had thoroughly bred contempt; and the hauling
began slowly and steadily, every one being on the _qui vive_, and
ready to spring back.
But the first yard came without the slightest resistance.
"Look out!" said Harry, holding his gun to his shoulder, and aiming
down at the water; "he must be very near."
Another yard came without the crocodile being felt.
"He must be close in," whispered Phra, and the excitement now became
intense; for their enemy seemed to be playing a very artful game under
cover of the thick water, which completely shielded the approach.
"Better stand farther back, Sahibs," said Sree, ceasing to pull,
"But we couldn't see to shoot," said Harry.
"Better not shoot than be seized by this child of a horrible mother,
Sahib."
"We should have time to spring back," said Phra; "for we should see
the water move. Go on pulling in the rope."
"Yes, go on," said Harry excitedly. "I can't bear this waiting. Haul
quicker, and let's have it over."
The men obeyed, and another yard was easily and slowly drawn in, the
Siamese in their excitement opening their eyelids widely so as to show
the opalescent eyeballs; but still there was no check, and the curve
of the rope now showed that the hook end must be close under the
stage.
"Now, Sahibs, mind," whispered Sree hoarsely; "he is down there by
your feet, or else right under the floor."
The lads glanced down at the frail, split bamboos, through whose
interstices they could just catch the gleam of the flowing water,
while the same idea came to both.
Suppose the brute were to dash its head upward? It would break through
as easily as if the flooring had been of laths.
But all was still save the rippling whisper of the water and the hum
of insect life outside in the blistering sunshine, as the men drew on
cautiously, inch by inch, in momentary expectation of the development
of a cunning attack.
It was almost in breathless awe now that the men ceased pulling for a
few moments in response to an order from Sree, who whispered to his
superiors,--
"We are just at the end, Sahibs; be quite ready to fire."
"We are," they replied, in a husky whisper.
"Then we shall pull now sharply, Sahibs."
"Pull," said Harry. "Quick!"
The men gave two rapid heaves, and the boys started back with a shout.
"Oh!" roared Harry, stamping about the floor, "only to think of that!"
For Sree was standing holding out the frayed and untwisted end of the
rope, worn through at last by the crocodile's teeth, and parted in the
last rush.
"Oh, I say!" cried Phra.
"Mind! Look out!" yelled Harry, making a dash for the shore, and
immediately there was a regular stampede, which ended in the Prince
seizing his friend by the arm, and thumping his back with the butt of
the gun he held.
"Oh, I say, don't--don't!" panted Harry, who was choking with
laughter.
"Then will you leave off playing such tricks?"
"Yes, yes--please, please!" cried Harry. "Oh, don't; it hurts."
"I know: it'll be like that fable of the shepherd boy and the wolf.
Some day he'll come and no one will run."
"I don't care, so long as you leave off thumping me with that gun.
Don't, Phra, old chap," he added, growing serious; "it's dangerous to
play with guns."
"It's too bad," said Phra. "I thought the beast was jumping on to us.
What a pity, though! All that powder and shot wasted for nothing."
"The bullets were too small, Sahib," said Sree; "but I'm afraid you
could never have killed that crocodile."
"Oh, nonsense!" cried Harry; "bullets would have done it."
Sree shook his head solemnly.
"Look at him, Phra. I did think he was sensible."
"No; he's nearly as superstitious as any of them," replied the lad.
"No, Sahib," said Sree; "I only think it's strange that you fired shot
after shot into that thing, and still he was as strong as ever. I hope
he will not stop about here, and make it not safe to come down to the
landing-place. It would be bad."
"Ahoy--oy--oy!" rang out in a clear, manly voice, and the sound of
oars was followed by a boat gliding into sight.
CHAPTER V
THE DOCTOR'S POST-MORTEM
"Morning, Mr. Cameron," cried Harry heartily, as the boat, propelled
by its fore-and-aft rowers, glided up to the landing-stage, Sree
handing the crocodile-catching rope to one of the men to make the boat
fast, while the occupant of the seat beneath the central awning leapt
out.
He was a good-looking, lightly bronzed, red-haired man of about
thirty, tall, and active apparently as a boy, and as he strode over
the yielding bamboo flooring, making it creak, he shook hands warmly.
"How are you, my lads?--Ah, Sree!" and the hunter salaamed.
"I'm jolly, Mr. Cameron. Phra's bad. Put out your tongue, old chap."
Phra's reply was a punch in the chest.
"Looks terribly bad," said the new arrival, who knew his friends.
"Here, what does all this shooting mean? I came on to see."
"Awful great croc," cried Harry.
"Shooting at it?"
"Yes, and the big slugs rattled off it like hail on a lot of dry
thatch."
"Then you did not kill it?"
"Kill it--no. Only wish we had. Mr. Cameron, it was a monster."
"So I suppose. Nine feet long, eh?"
"Nine feet long!" said Harry contemptuously; "why, it was over
twenty."
"You young romancer!" cried the new-comer. "How long was it, Prince?"
"I've only seen its head," said Phra. "It was big enough for it to be
thirty feet."
"Then I beg your pardon humbly, Hal."
This was accompanied by a hearty clap on the shoulder.
"Oh, I don't mind," said the lad merrily. "Only if you won't believe
me, Mr. Cameron, I won't believe you."
"I never tell travellers' tales, Hal."
"No, but you tell me sometimes that your nasty mixtures will do me
good, and that's precious hard to believe."
The young doctor laughed.
"You ought to have killed the croc, though," he said.
"Sahib! Sahib, look!" cried Sree, as a shout arose from Mr. Cameron's
boatmen.
All turned sharply to where the men were pointing, to see, floating on
its back and with its toad-like under part drying in the hot sunshine,
the body of a huge crocodile.
"That's ours," cried Harry.
"Or a dead one from somewhere up the river," said the doctor. "But
we'll soon prove it with our noses."
"Hooray! no need," cried Harry; "that's him;" for all at once the
great reptile undulated in the water, struggled, splashed, and turned
over, swam round, and went up the river again, passing out of sight.
"Well, you are pretty sportsmen! Why didn't you shoot?"
"I never thought of the gun," said Phra.
"Here, take us in your boat, and let's follow him, Mr. Cameron."
There was another shout before the doctor could answer, for the men
could see that the reptile's strength was exhausted, it being once
more upon its back, floating down the stream.
"We'll shoot this time," said Phra.
"There is no need, master," said Sree. "I think it is dead now."
"I came to have a chat with your father," said the doctor; "but I must
make acquaintance with our friend yonder. Look here, Sree, take the
boat and the rope and tow the brute ashore. Take care that it is dead
first. Don't run any risks."
"No, Sahib," said the man, drawing his keen knife from his waist and
trying its edge and point.
"Ah, I need not try to teach you, Sree."
"Here's father," cried Harry, as Mr. Kenyon came out of the open
window of the bungalow and walked down to where they stood.
"Ah, Cameron, how are you? Glad to see you, man. How is the wife?"
"Complaining about the heat. But look yonder."
He pointed at the floating reptile, and the merchant uttered an
exclamation of wonder.
"So that explains the firing, boys. It is a monster. What a good
riddance! What are you going to do, Sree?"
"Put a rope round his neck and bring him ashore, Sahib."
"Yes, we ought to take some measurements. But be careful, or it will
capsize you; I don't think it's dead."
"It will be soon, Sahib," said the man meaningly.
"Yes, but those creatures have such strength in their tails. Where is
your spear, man?"
"In my boat, Sahib, far away."
"Here, Harry, run to the hall and take down one of those Malay
spears."
Harry ran, and after a moment's hesitation the young prince followed
him, walking in a slow, dignified way. But long contact and education
with an English boy had left its traces, and before he had gone many
yards the observances of his father's jungle palace were forgotten,
and he dashed off as hard as he could go, leaping in at the doorway
and nearly overturning his companion.
"Here, mind where you're coming to," cried Harry.
"Bring two spears," cried Phra excitedly.
"Well, I am bringing two, aren't I? Thought you'd like to have a go,
too."
Phra's arm went over his friend's shoulder in an instant.
"That's what I do like in you," he cried. "You always want to share
everything with me."
"You're just as stupid," said Harry drily. "Here, catch hold. Which
will you have? Make haste. Come along."
"Oh, I don't mind," said Phra.
"Better choose," said Harry, holding out the long, keen heads. "This
one's as sharp as that one, and that one's got as good a point as
this. Which is it to be?"
"I don't quite understand," said Phra, gazing in Harry's laughing
eyes. "Yes, I do. Either of them will do. How fond you are of trying
to puzzle one!"
"Make haste, boys," cried Mr. Kenyon.
Dignity before the common people was once more forgotten, prince and
English boy racing down to the landing-stage with the light spears
over their shoulders.
"Hullo!" said Harry's father. "I did not mean you to go."
"Oh, we must go, father," cried the lad.
"Well, be careful, Sree. Mind that the boat is kept a little way
back."
"Yes, Sahib; I will take care."
"You might have asked me if I'd like to come in my own boat," said the
doctor, smiling.
"Oh, Dr. Cameron," said Phra with an apologetic look, "pray go;" and
he offered him the spear he held.
"No, no, my dear lad," said the doctor; "I was only joking. It is your
task."
"But come too," cried Harry.
"There will be plenty in the boat without me. Off with you."
Harry looked unwilling to stir, but the doctor seized him by the
shoulders and hurried him along, and the next minute they were being
paddled towards the floating reptile, the men managing so that the
boys could have a thrust in turn, the Prince as they passed along one
side, Harry on their return on the other.
But the thrusts did not follow one another quickly, for the deep
plunging in of the spear by Phra seemed to act like a reviver,
although it was delivered about where the lad believed the heart to
be.
In an instant the great reptile had flung itself over and began
lashing the water with its tail.
"Take care!" shouted Mr. Kenyon from the landing-stage. But the
warning was needless, for a sharp stroke from the oars sent the boat
well out of reach, the rowers changing their positions and sending it
backward in pursuit, as the crocodile began once more to swim up
stream, at a pretty good rate at first, then slower and slower,
leaving the water stained with its blood as it went on.
It managed to make its way, though, quite a hundred yards above the
bungalow before its tail ceased its wavy, fish-like motion. Then there
was a struggle and a little splashing, and once more it turned over
upon its back.
"Your turn now," cried Phra excitedly. "I must have missed its heart.
You stab it there this time."
"Want the doctor here to tell me where it is," said Harry, as he stood
up with his spear poised ready to strike when within reach.
"Thrust just between its front paws, Sahib," said Sree from where he
squatted just behind the front rower.
"I will if I can; if I can't, how can I?" hummed Harry.
"Now," whispered Sree.
"Yes, yes, now," cried Phra excitedly.
"There you are, then," muttered the lad, and he delivered a thrust
right in the spot pointed out, snatching back the weapon just in time,
for the wound seemed to madden the reptile, which turned over and
began to struggle with astonishing vigour; but only to roll over again
and swim round the boat in that position, giving Phra the opportunity
of delivering a deadly thrust, which was followed by another by Harry.
"That has done it," said the latter, for there was no response to
these save a slight quivering of the tail, and now Sree rose from
where he had crouched.
"Dead now, Sahibs," he said; "he will fight no more."
The two lads worked their spears about in the water a few times to
cleanse them, and then sat down under the thatched awning, panting and
hot with exertion, while they watched the action of the hunter. Sree,
aided by the boatmen, who held the crocodile within reach, leaned over
the side and slipped a running noose over the monster's head right up
to the neck, drew it tight, and then let the rope run through his
hands as the two Siamese rowers made their oars bend in sending the
light sampan along, for the huge bulk was heavy. But the stream was
with them, and a few minutes after, in obedience to the doctor's
instructions, the crocodile was drawn up close to the muddy bank, some
fifty yards below the merchant's garden.
Here another rope was fetched out and made fast round one of the hind
legs, both ropes being held by Sree's men, while their leader remained
in the boat, the boys having sprung ashore.
And now measurements were taken, the monster proving to be just
twenty-one feet in length, and of enormous bulk.
"I was not far wrong, Doctor Cameron," said Harry.
"No, my boy; you were not, indeed."
"Are you going to let it float down the river now?" asked Phra.
"Not yet," said the doctor; "but perhaps you two had better go now,
for I am about to superintend rather a nasty examination in the cause
of science."
"I know," said Harry to his companion; "he is going to see what the
thing lives on. Shall we go?"
"No," said Phra gravely; "I want to learn all that I can, and the
doctor is so clever, he seems to know everything."
"I heard what you said, Prince," said the doctor, smiling; "but I
don't; I wish I did. Now, Sree, you know how to go to work; let's get
it over; the water will wash everything away."
The hunter, who had worked with Doctor Cameron in many an expedition,
and understood what was required, bent over the side of the boat, made
one long opening, and then plunging his knife in again, made another,
and with the flowing water for help, in a short time laid bare the
various objects which formed the loathsome reptile's food.
First and foremost there was, to the doctor's astonishment, the snake,
and as soon as this had been sent floating down the stream there were
fish, seven of goodly size, beside some that were quite small. Then
the boys were puzzled, but the cleansing water soon showed that what
followed next were a couple of water-fowl, nearly as big as geese.
"That's all, is it?" said the doctor.
"No, Sahib, there is something else--something hard," said the hunter,
and he searched about, gathering something in his hand, rinsed it to
and fro a few times, and carefully threw four objects ashore.
Harry shuddered and felt a horrible, sickening sensation for a few
moments, but it was swept away directly after by the feeling of rage
which made the blood run hot to his temples.
"I've been thinking what brutes we were, killing things as we have
been this morning; but oh, the beast! I should like to kill hundreds."
"Ugh!" ejaculated Phra, as he stamped his foot, and then through his
compressed teeth: "The wretches! the monsters! how I hate them!"
He said no more, but stood with his companion listening as the doctor
rested on one knee and turned over the objects on the grass.
"Yes, strung on wire; that is why they have not separated. Gilt
bronze, and very pretty too. Each one is chased; the leg and arm
bangles are bronze too, and quite plain. You may as well put them in
your museum, Kenyon, with a label containing their sad little
history--Worn by some pretty little Siamese girl dragged under when
bathing."
"Yes, Sahib doctor," said Sree respectfully; "they wear bangles like
that three days' journey up the river."
"Horrible!" ejaculated Harry, bending over the relics.
"Horrible indeed, my boy," said his father. Then laying his hand upon
Phra's shoulder, "Thank you both, my lads, for ridding the river of a
vile old murderer."
"Thank old Sree, too, father," said Harry eagerly, "for he did more
than either of us."
"I'm going to thank Sree," said the merchant. "There, let the monster
float down to the sea. Don't go away yet; Doctor Cameron and I want to
talk to you."
"Yes, and Harry and I want to go up the river to the wild jungle,"
said Phra eagerly. "We have not had a hunt for a week."
"Come along, then," said Mr. Kenyon, laying his hand on the Prince's
shoulder. "We'll talk it over, and perhaps we can join forces. What's
that, Sree?"
"The crocodiles from below are coming up, Sahib; they have smelt the
blood."
"Yes, look at that," said the doctor, as there was a wallow and a
splash not ten yards from the monster's head.
"Take care!" said Mr. Kenyon excitedly. "Don't try to untie those
ropes, Sree, or you may have your hand seized; cut them, and let the
reptile go."
Sree obeyed, dividing the strong cords with a couple of cuts. Then
taking an oar from one of the boatmen he forced the boat along past
the crocodile, giving the latter a thrust, when the current bore it
outward, and directly after another of its tribe, of about half the
size, raised its head out of the water, and drew itself partly on the
bulky body, which rolled over toward it, and then sank back out of
sight.
But it was not gone, and the agitation of the surface about the
floating body showed that others were there, tearing at it as it
floated away.
"I should hardly have thought that we had so many of these brutes
about here," said the doctor.
"They come and go, Sahib; and they hide so. There are plenty more, and
that dead one will never reach the sea."
"It's a warning to you two boys never to attempt to bathe off here,"
said Mr. Kenyon.
"Bathe, father!" cried Harry, glancing down at the bronze rings and
the necklace lying in the grass; "I feel as if I shall never like to
bathe again;" and Phra curled up his lip, as he once more
ejaculated:--
"Ugh!"
CHAPTER VI
MAKING PLANS
It was pleasantly dusk and shady in Mr. Kenyon's museum, where the
party had gathered, glad enough to get away from the glare of the sun
after the exertions of the morning. For Siam is a country beautiful
enough, but one where the sun has a bad habit of making it pretty
often somewhere near ninety-nine in the shade. The natives revel in
this, and grow strong and well, though it has a tendency to make even
them a quiet, deliberate, and indolent people. What wonder, then, that
an Englishman should feel indisposed to work?
All the same, there was not much idleness in the Kenyons' bungalow,
for the merchant was an indefatigable business man, who had built up a
fine business, at the same time finding time for gratifying his
intense love for natural history, in which he had an energetic
companion in the young doctor, who had been encouraged to settle at
Dahcok by one of the kings. As for Harry, his restless nature made him
set the hottest weather at defiance unless he was checked, for, to use
his own words, "I'm not going to let Phra beat me out of doors, even
if he was born in the country."
There had been a few words in connection with his restlessness when
the lads bore in the guns and spears, all of which were handed over to
Mike to be cleaned and carefully oiled.
"You lads had better sit down now and have a good rest in here; it's
cool and shady. Your face is scarlet, Hal. Make Phra stay and have a
bit of dinner with us."
"I should like to," said the young Prince eagerly.
"Of course he will, father; but you and Doctor Cameron want to talk."
"About what will interest you as well, I dare say. What were you going
to do?"
For Harry had made a sign to Phra, and was sidling towards the door.
"Oh, I don't know, father; look about and do something along with
Phra."
"Do you hear him, Doctor? Did you ever see such a restless fellow?
He's spoiling the Prince too."
"Oh no," said Phra; "I'm just as bad as he is, sir."
"I begin to think you are," cried Mr. Kenyon. "Look here, Cameron;
they've had a fight with the boa whose skin I showed you, and another
with that crocodile. That ought to satisfy any two boys who love
adventure for quite a month."
"Well, it is a pretty good morning's work," said the doctor, laughing.
"Take my advice, lads, and have a rest till dinner-time, and another
afterwards. As it happens, Kenyon, I told the wife I shouldn't be back
to dinner."
"You wouldn't have gone back if you had not," said Mr. Kenyon
laughing. "Oh, by the way, have you completed your collection of
fireflies?"
"No; there is one which gives out quite a fiery light, very different
from the greeny gold of the others. I've seen it three times, but it
always soars away over the river or up amongst the lofty trees."
"I know that one," said Phra eagerly.
"I've seen it once," said Harry. "Old Sree would get you one."
"I've asked him, but he has not succeeded yet," said the doctor.
"We'll try, then," said Phra, springing up, an action followed by
Harry.
"But the fireflies are best caught by night," said Mr. Kenyon drily.
"Of course," cried Phra, reddening through his yellowish bronze skin,
and he dropped back in his chair, with Harry following suit.
But in spite of the heat, the boys could not sit still, and began
fidgeting about, while Mr. Kenyon and his friend chatted about the
state of the colony.
For want of something else more in accordance with their desires at
the moment, the two boys began to go over the various objects in the
large, high-ceiled room, which were the result of ten years'
collecting. There were bird-skins by the hundred--pheasants with the
wondrously-shaped eyes upon tail and wing, which had won for them the
name argus; others eye-bearing like the peacock, but on a smaller
scale; and then the great peacock itself--the Javanese kind--gorgeous
in golden green where the Indian kinds were of peacock blue.
Every here and there hung snake-skins, trophies of the jungle, while
upon the floor were no less than six magnificent tiger-pelts, each of
which had its history, and a black one too, of murder committed upon
the body of some defenceless native.
Leopard-skins, too, were well represented. Elephants' tusks of the
whitest ivory; and one strange-looking object stood on the floor,
resembling a badly rounded tub about twenty inches in diameter, and
formed out of the foot of some huge elephant.
Skulls with horns were there, and skulls without; cases and drawers of
birds' eggs, and lovely butterflies and moths, with brilliant,
metallic-looking beetles; and the boys smiled at one another as they
paused before first one thing and then another in whose capture they
had played a part.
Here, too, was another stand of weapons that would be suitable for the
attack upon some tyrant of the jungle, or for defence against any
enemy who might rise against the peace of those dwelling at the
bungalow.
The boys were interested enough in the contents of the museum they had
helped to form; but at last the weariness growing upon them became
unbearable, and they moved towards the door, expecting to hear some
remark made by either Mr. Kenyon or the doctor; but these gentlemen
were too intent upon the subject they had in hand, and about which
they were talking in a low voice.
"They didn't hear us come out, Phra," said Harry. "Here let's run and
see whether old Sree has gone yet. I hope Mike Dunning has given them
all plenty to eat."
"He was told to," said Phra quietly.
"Yes, he was told to," said Harry; "but that does not mean that he
always does as he's told."
"One of our servants dare not forget to do what he was ordered," said
Phra, frowning.
"No; but our laws don't allow masters to cut off people's heads for
forgetting things."
By this time they had passed round the house, to find right at the
back Sree and his two men busy at work cleaning and polishing the guns
and spears that had been used that morning, while Mike, whose task it
was by rights, lounged about giving orders and looking on.
"Have you given those men their dinner, Mike?" asked Harry.
"Oh yes, sir, such a dinner as they don't get every day," replied the
man.
"That's more than you know, Mike," said Harry. "Hunters know how to
live well out in the jungle; don't they, Sree?"
"We always manage to get enough, Master Harry," said the man, smiling;
"for there is plenty for those who know how to find it in the jungle,
out on the river's edge, or in the water."
"And you know how to look for provisions if any man does. But here,
you, Mike, they've no business cleaning these things. You finish them;
I want to talk to Sree."
Mike took the gun Sree was polishing without a word, and went on with
the task, while the hunter rose respectfully and stood waiting to hear
what the boys had to say.
"We want to have a day in the jungle," said Harry. "What is there to
shoot?"
"A deer, Sahib."
"No," said Phra, frowning; "they are so hard to get near. They go off
at the slightest noise."
"The young Sahibs might wait and watch by a water-hole," said the
hunter. "It is easier to catch the deer when they come to drink."
"But that means staying out in the jungle all night."
"Yes, Sahib, it is the best way."
"No," said Phra.
"What else, Sree?" asked Harry.
"The Sahib said he would like two more coo-ahs; would the Sahibs like
to lie in wait for them? I could make them come near enough by calling
as they do--_Coo--ah! coo--ah!_"
The man put his hands before his mouth and softly imitated the harsh
cry of the great argus pheasant so accurately that Phra nodded his
head and smiled.
"Yes, that's like it," cried Harry. "_Coo--ah! coo--ah!_"
"And that isn't a bit like it," said Phra laughingly. "You would not
have many come to a cry like that; would he, Sree?"
"No, my Prince," replied the man, shaking his head; "the great birds
would not come for that."
"Very rude of them," cried Harry merrily; "for it's the best I can do.
Well, shall we try for the _coo--ahs?_"
"What else do you know of, Sree?" asked Phra.
"There was a leopard in the woods across the river yesterday, my
Prince; but they are strange beasts, and he may be far away to-day."
"Oh yes, I don't think that's any good," said Harry. "I should like to
try for an elephant."
"There are very few near, just now, Sahib," replied the man. "It is
only a month since there was the great drive into the kraal, and those
that were let go are wild and have gone far away."
"Oh, I say, Phra, and we call this a wild country! Why, we shall have
to go beetle-catching or hunting frogs."
Sree smiled, and Harry saw it.
"Well, propose something better," he cried.
"The men were at work in the new sugar plantation," said the man
quietly.
"Well, we don't want to go hunting men," cried Harry impatiently.
"And the tiger leaped out of the edge of the jungle, caught the man by
the shoulder, and carried him away."
"Ah!" cried Phra excitedly; "why didn't you tell us that at first?"
"Because he kept it back for the last," said Harry. "That's just his
way."
"Would the Sahib and my Prince like to try and shoot the tiger?" asked
Sree.
"Would we? Why, of course we would," cried Harry excitedly. "What
shall we do? Have a place made in a tree?"
"No, Sahib," replied the man, shaking his head. "If it were a cow or
one of the oxen, I would make a place in a tree near the spot where he
had dragged the beast, for he would come back to feed upon it as soon
as it grew dark; but it was not an ox nor a cow. The poor man has been
taken away to the wat, and his wife and friends have paid all they
could for him to be burned."
"What shall we do, then?"
"It is of no use to go without a couple of elephants and beaters to
drive the tiger out."
Harry looked round at Phra, who nodded his head quietly.
"Very well," he said; "we'll have the elephants out, and men to beat.
When shall we go? To-morrow?"
"Yes, my Prince; to-morrow when the tiger will be lying asleep."
"I'll go and speak to my father," said Phra. "He will not care to come
himself, but your father and Doctor Cameron will be sure to say that
they will come."
"Yes, of course," said Harry. "But I say, only to think of old Sree
here knowing of this tiger, and not saying a word!"
"I was going to tell you, Sahib, before I went away."
"But why didn't you tell us before?"
"Because I did not know, Sahib, till a little while ago, when he came
to find me and bring me the news."
He pointed as he spoke to an ordinary-looking peasant who was squatted
a little way off beneath the trees, chewing his betel.
The lads had not noticed the man before, as he had shrunk away more
into the shade on seeing them come out.
"He brought you the bad news?" said Phra.
"Yes, my Prince. He went to find me yonder after coming across from
his village, and no one could tell him where I had gone, till at last
he saw the Sahib doctor's boatmen, and they told him that I was here."
"Then I will go and tell my father we want the elephant," said Phra.
"You go and speak to them indoors, for we must kill that wretch."
"If we can," said Harry, smiling; "but Mr. Stripes is sometimes rather
hard to find."
Phra nodded, and went across the garden on his way to the palace,
while Harry went back into the house, Mike waiting till his young
master's back was turned and then handing the gun he was finishing to
the old hunter.
"You may as well do this, Sree," he said; "you clean guns so much
better than I can."
The old hunter smiled, as he waited to examine the points of the
spears his men had been polishing, and then good-humouredly took the
gun to finish after his own fashion, for there was a good deal of
truth in what Mike Dunning had said.
CHAPTER VII
THE BRINK OF A VOLCANO
The boys were quite wrong in imagining that their act of escaping from
the museum had passed unnoticed, for as soon as they had passed out of
hearing the doctor nodded his head and threw himself back in his cane
chair.
"Now we are alone," he said to Mr. Kenyon, "I may as well tell you
what I have heard."
"Nothing serious, I hope?"
"No--yes. It may be either," replied the doctor. "I would not say
anything before the boys, for it might make Phra uneasy."
"And Harry?" said Mr. Kenyon.
"No, I think not. I don't believe he would give the matter a second
thought."
"You are hard upon the boy," said Mr. Kenyon, rather sternly.
"Not in the least," said the doctor, smiling. "It is his nature. I
don't think the matter is really of any consequence, but it would have
upset Phra, who is as sensitive as a girl; and he would be worrying
himself, and thinking about it for weeks, beside exaggerating the
matter on his father's account."
"What is it, then--some trouble with our friend the other king?"
"Friend, eh? I believe that if he could have his own way every
European would be driven out of the country--or into the river," he
added to himself--"before we were twenty-four hours older."
"What is the fresh trouble, now?"
"Nothing fresh about it, Kenyon. It is the stale old matter. Here we
have two parties in the country."
"Yes, and worse still, two kings," interposed Mr. Kenyon.
"Exactly, each having his own party. The one wants to see the country
progress and become prosperous and enlightened; the other for it to
keep just as it was five hundred years ago; and the worst of it is
nearly all the people are on the stand-still side."
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon. "The old traditions and superstitions suit the
indolent nature of the people."
"And the progress the King is making offends their prejudices."
"You mean the prejudices of the bonzes," said Mr. Kenyon sadly.
"Exactly; that is what I do mean, and they are getting so thick with
the second king, that I sometimes begin to be afraid that we shall
have trouble."
"You have had that idea for a long time now, but the reigning King
holds so strong a position that his kinsman dare not rise against him.
He is as gentle and amiable a man as could exist, but there is the old
Eastern potentate in him still, and our friend number two knows
perfectly well that if he attempted to rise he would be pretty well
sure to fail, and then his head would fall as surely as if our old
Harry the Eighth were on the throne."
"But would he fail? All the bonzes are on his side."
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon, laughing; "and they'd tell him to go on and
prosper, but they would not fight."
"No, they would not fight," said the doctor musingly.
"Do you think there is a regular conspiracy?"
"I really do sometimes, and it makes me uneasy."
"That is because you are a young married man, and fidget about your
wife."
"Well, and quite naturally."
"Yes, quite naturally, of course; but when you have been here as long
as I have, you will not be so nervous."
"I don't think I am nervous, Kenyon; but it would be very horrible if
there should be a rising amongst the people."
"Horrible, but not likely, my dear sir."
"But if there were? I suppose I am right in looking upon ourselves as
being favourites."
"Certainly."
"Well, then, should we not be among the first whom the people would
attack?"
"That is quite possible, but I suppose we should defend ourselves, and
be defended as well by the people who remained staunch."
"I have thought of all that, but if trouble did come it would be
sudden and unexpected, and we should be taken by surprise."
"We might be, or we might have ample warning. I think the latter, for
these people are very open and wanting in cunning."
"But don't you think we--or say you--having so much influence with the
King, would do wisely if you warned him--told him of our suspicions?"
"No, I think not," said Mr. Kenyon.
"Why?"
"Because, quiet and studious as the King is, he happens to be very
acute and observant. I feel certain that nothing goes on in the city
without his being fully aware of it; and though he seems to take very
little notice, I am pretty sure that nothing important takes place
except under his eye, or which is not faithfully reported to him by
one or other of his councillors."
"Perhaps you are right," said the doctor, "and I have been
unnecessarily nervous."
"I feel sure that you have been. I would speak to him, but he might
look upon it as an impertinent interference on my part in connection
with private family matters. Take my advice, and let it rest. We
should have ample warning and ample protection, I feel sure. But I am
glad you spoke out, all the same. But bah! nonsense! You would not be
hurt--you, the doctor who has done so much good among the poor people.
Why, doctor, they look upon you as something more than man: they
idolize you."
"For the few simple cures I have effected."
"Few? Hundreds."
"Well, hundreds, then. But what has it done?"
"Made you friends with every one in the city."
"Made me a number of bitter enemies, sir. Why, the native doctors
absolutely hate me. My word! I should not like to be taken ill and
become helpless. They'd never let me get well again if they had the
doctoring."
"Don't be too hard on them," said Mr. Kenyon.
"Not I, my dear sir. I only speak as I think. So you would not take a
step in our defence?"
"Not until we were certain that it was necessary; then as many as you
like. Steps? I'd make them good long strides. But say no more: the
boys are coming back, and we don't want to set them thinking about
such things."
In effect, steps were heard in the verandah, and a few minutes later
Harry hurried into the museum again.
"Well, boy!" cried the doctor. "What is it? you look hot."
"Tiger," said Harry eagerly.
"Where?" cried Mr. Kenyon and his visitor in a breath.
"Over yonder, by the new sugar plantation," cried Harry. "Jumped on a
man and killed him. Sree has just heard the news. He told me and
Phra."
"How horrible!" said Mr. Kenyon.
"Yes, and the village people sent a messenger to Sree. They want the
brute killed, and we're going to have an expedition and destroy the
wretch."
"Indeed?" said Mr. Kenyon drily.
"You and Mr. Cameron will come with us, of course, father?" said
Harry, who was too much excited to notice the glances exchanged
between the merchant and his visitor; "but I should like to have first
shot, and kill the beast."
"No doubt," said the doctor drily; "but I suppose you would not wish
us to give up our chances if the tiger came out our way?"
"Oh no, of course not," said Harry. Then turning to Mr. Kenyon, "You
will try the new rifles the King sent to you, will you not, father?"
"When I go tiger-hunting," said Mr. Kenyon drily.
Harry felt damped by his father's manner.
"But you will go now, father?"
"What, and walk the tiger up like one would a partridge?" said Mr.
Kenyon. "Certainly not, and you are not old and experienced enough yet
to go tiger-shooting. It requires a great deal of nerve."
"Oh, but I don't think I should feel frightened, father."
"Perhaps not; but you would be too much excited, and might shoot the
doctor. We could not spare him, Hal."
"I shouldn't, father. You taught me how to handle a gun, and if I can
do that I ought to be able to handle a rifle."
"Possibly; but, as Mr. Cameron will tell you, we could not risk going
on foot."
"We're not going on foot, father," cried Harry excitedly. "We're going
to have two elephants, and you and doctor could go on one, and Phra
and I on the other."
"Oh, that alters the case," said Mr. Cameron eagerly.
"Has the King offered to lend us elephants?" said Mr. Kenyon.
"No, father, but he will," said Harry. "Phra has gone to tell him, and
he is sure to say we may have them."
"Indeed? I doubt it."
"He always lets Phra and me have anything we ask for."
"Yes, he is very indulgent to you both, my boy--too much so sometimes;
but I notice that there is a certain amount of wisdom in what he does.
What about the rifles?"
"Well, he gave us the rifles, father."
"With certain restrictions, Hal. They were to be placed in my charge,
and I was to decide when it would be right for you to use them."
"Oh yes, father, he did say that."
"Yes, and I think it was not until you and Phra had been waiting
nearly two years that they were sent."
"It was a long time, certainly," agreed Harry.
"The King is a wise man in his way, and I feel pretty sure that he
will refuse to lend the elephants. What do you say, Cameron?"
"I agree with you."
"What, and let the tiger lurk about that great plantation and keep on
killing the poor fellows who are hoeing?" cried Harry indignantly.
"I'm sure he wouldn't; he's too particular about protecting people."
"He will most likely get up a big hunt to destroy the tiger," said the
doctor; "but I don't believe he will let you two boys go."
"Oh!" cried Harry, who seemed as if he could hardly contain himself in
his keen disappointment; "any one would think it was wicked and
contemptible to be a boy. One mustn't do this and one mustn't do that,
because one is a boy. One mustn't do anything because one is a boy.
It's always, 'You are too young' for what one wants to do. Oh," he
cried passionately, "who'd be a boy?"
"I would, for one," said the doctor, laughing.
"I don't believe it, doctor," cried Harry. "You wouldn't like to be
always kept down."
"Perhaps not; boys never do. They're too stupid."
"What!" cried Harry.
"Too stupid," said the doctor again, while Mr. Kenyon lay back in his
creaking cane chair with his eyes half closed, listening, with an
amused expression of countenance. "Why, I was as stupid as you are,
Hal, at your age."
"But you did not think so," retorted Hal.
"Of course I did not. I did not know any better. I could not see that
by being a thorough boy for so many years, and being boyish and
thinking as a boy should think, I should naturally grow into a
thorough manly man."
"I don't quite understand you, sir," said Harry rather distantly.
"But I'm speaking plainly enough, Hal. Come, confess, my lad; you want
to be a man, and to be treated as if you were one?"
Harry hesitated.
"Speak out frankly, sir," said Mr. Kenyon sternly.
"Well, of course I do," said the lad.
"And you can't see that if we treated you as you wish to be treated,"
said the doctor earnestly, "that we should be weak, foolish, and
indulgent, for we should be doing you harm?"
"Oh, Mr. Cameron, what nonsense!"
"Think of this some day in the future, Hal, my lad," said the doctor
warmly, "and you will find then that it is not nonsense. Look here, my
lad, a boy of seventeen, however advanced and able he may be in some
things, is only a boy."
"Only a boy!" said Harry bitterly.
"Yes, only a boy; a young, green sapling who must pass through years
before he can grow naturally into a strong, muscular man. Some boys
fret over this and the restraints they undergo, because of their
youth, and want to be men at once--want to throw away four or five of
the golden years of their existence, and all through ignorance,
because they are too blind to see how beautiful they are."
"You told me all that once before, Mr. Cameron."
"Very likely, Hal, for I am rather disposed to moralize sometimes. But
it's quite true, my lad."
"Yes." said Mr. Kenyon, "it's true enough, Hal, for boys are
wonderfully boyish. Naturally, too, my lad," he added, with a laugh.
"But there, don't build any hopes upon this expedition, for I should
certainly shrink from letting you go."
"Oh, father, I would be so careful, and I'll believe all Doctor
Cameron said and won't want to be a man till I am quite grown up. I'll
be as boyish as I can be."
"I think I'd shrink from any promises of that kind, Hal," said the
doctor, smiling. "Don't tie yourself down to rules of your own
invention. Look here, aim at being natural, at hitting the happy
medium."
"I suppose that's the unhappy medium for the boy, isn't it?"
"Not at all, my lad; it's the way to be happy. Leave it to Nature; she
will set that right. Don't be too boyish, and don't aim at being an
imitation man--in other words a prig. Be natural."
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon; "the doctor's right, Hal. Be natural, and you
will not be far wrong there."
"I always am as natural as I can be," said Harry, throwing himself
into action, and looking as gloomy and discontented as a boy could
look; "but no one gets to be so disappointed and sat upon as I am."
Mr. Kenyon's brow clouded over, but he said nothing.
"So sure as I set my mind upon anything I'm sure to be balked."
"Poor fellow!" said the doctor gravely.
"Yes, Doctor, it's all very well for you to make fun of me. You can do
just as you like."
"Of course," said the doctor gravely, "and I see that does make a
difference. One sees things from such a different point of view."
"Yes, that you do," said Harry.
"Exactly," continued the doctor slowly, "and you see, as you say, I do
exactly as I like, have everything I wish for, never suffer the
slightest trouble, enjoy the most robust health, am as rich as a man
need wish to be; in fact, I am the happiest man under the sun."
"Are you, Doctor?" said Harry. "I'm glad of it. I didn't know it was
so good as that."
"And, of course, that is about how you'd like to be, eh, Hal?"
"Well," said the boy, hesitating, "something like that--I--er--I--I
don't want to be greedy."
"Don't want to be greedy?" cried the doctor, changing his manner, as
he sprang up and began to pace the museum. "Why, you miserable,
discontented young cub! There is not one boy in a thousand leads such
a life as you do: a good home, surrounded by friends, with plenty of
time for study, and plenty of time for the necessary amusement. Yours,
sir, is an ideal life; but it has spoilt you, and I'm afraid it is
from having a too indulgent father."
"Oh, come, Cameron, I must speak in my own defence," said Mr. Kenyon.
"And you ought to speak in mine too, father," cried Harry indignantly,
as he gazed at the doctor with blazing eyes and flaming cheeks.
"I can't, Hal," said his father, smiling; "there's so much truth in
what he says, my boy, and your words were uncalled for--unjust."
"I beg your pardon, Kenyon," said the doctor; "I had no business to
speak as I did. I had no right. But I'm such a hot-headed Scotsman,
and Master Hal here put me out."
"There is no begging pardon needed," said Mr. Kenyon quietly.
"You see, I could not help comparing Hal's lot with mine--a poor, raw
lad on the west coast who lived on potatoes and porridge, with a
broiled herring or haddie once in a way for a treat. But there, once
more, I had no right to interfere."
"I say, granted, and thanks."
"Then I shan't beg your pardon, Hal, boy," cried the doctor, "for I
honestly believe what I say is the truth. Take it all as so many
pills, and if you'll come along the river to my place to-morrow
morning I'll give you a draught as well--to do you good, my dear
boy--to do you good."
"I think I've had physic enough," said Harry sulkily.
"And you don't seem to like the taste, eh?" said the doctor, laughing.
"Never mind; it will, as people say, do you good. You will be sure to
have some bit of luck to take the taste out of your mouth--a bit of
sugary pleasure, my lad. Aha! and here it comes in the shape of
friend, Phra, the prince, who, king's son as he is, does not enjoy a
single advantage more than you."
"Doctor!" cried Harry indignantly. "He has only to speak to have
everything he wants. No one could be better off than he is. Look, he's
in a hurry to tell us all about the expedition for to-morrow. Oh, it
is so disappointing, for I wanted so badly to shoot a tiger. It set me
longing when Phra and I looked at those skins to-day."
"Dear me! what a thirst for blood you are developing, Hal!" said the
doctor, as Mr. Kenyon still sat back in his chair, looking pained,
while his son carefully avoided gazing in his direction. "I should
have thought you had killed enough for one day."
"Well, Phra?" cried Harry, as his companion came straight in.
"Well?" said the boy, with a mocking smile.
"What did your father say?"
Phra was silent for a few moments, and then he spoke quietly.
"That I was too much of a boy yet to think of going after tigers,"
said the lad slowly, and then he started and frowned. For the doctor
had thrown himself back in one of the cane chairs, which gave vent to
a peculiar squeaking noise, while its occupier rocked himself to and
fro, literally roaring with laughter.
"I am very sorry if I have said some ridiculous thing, sir," said Phra
gravely. "I speak English as well as I can."
"Ridiculous thing!" cried the doctor, springing up and seizing the
young Siamese by the shoulders; "why, it was splendid. Look at him,"
he cried, half-choking with laughter, "look at Hal! Oh, dear me, how
you have made my sides ache!"
"But I don't understand," said Phra.
"Then you soon shall," cried the doctor. "My lord there has been in a
tantrum because--because--oh, dear me, I shall be able to speak
directly."
Phra looked in a puzzled way from the laughing doctor to his friend,
who sat frowning and biting his lips.
"Because," continued the doctor, "Mr. Kenyon here has told him that he
should not like him to go to the tiger hunt."
"Mr. Kenyon told him so?" cried Phra quickly.
"Yes, because he is too young."
"Oh, I am so glad," cried Phra, showing his white teeth.
Harry started as if he had received a blow.
"What!" he cried fiercely.
"I say I am so glad, because that is just what my father said to me."
"And very wisely too, Phra, my boy," said Mr. Kenyon, rising. "You
lads had better wait a bit longer before you indulge in a sport which
is very risky even to one mounted upon an elephant, especially if the
elephant is timid. I have known several bad accidents occur through
the poor creature becoming unmanageable from a wounded beast's
charge."
"It's disappointing, sir," said Phra; "but I suppose father's right."
"Of course he is, and I'm glad to see you take it so wisely."
The speaker laid his hand on the doctor's arm, and they went out into
the verandah.
"Ah, Kenyon, you spoil that boy with indulgence."
"Think so?"
"Yes; I don't like to hear a lad like that speak as he did to you. It
was that made me fire up. But there, I'm sorry if I've done wrong."
"You have not done wrong," said Mr. Kenyon, "and I am rather glad you
spoke as you did. But you do not understand Hal so well as I do."
"Naturally I do not."
"He is a queer boy, with a good many things about him that I don't
like; but he has some oddities that I do like. I dare say he will
display one of them before you go."
"He will have to be quick about it, then," said the doctor, smiling,
"for I have not much longer to stay."
"Plenty of time for him to show the stuff he is made of. I'm sorry to
disappoint the boys, though."
"And ourselves too, for I should have liked the jaunt, and the more of
those savage beasts we can destroy the better. What do you say to
going over to the palace and asking the old gentleman to let us have
the use of the elephants and beaters?"
"No," said Mr. Kenyon, "I could not do that under the circumstances.
It would be too hard upon the boys. Yes, Michael?"
"There is a man from--one of the gentlemen from the King to see you,
sir," said the man.
"Indeed? I will come. Come too, Cameron; I daresay it will interest
you."
The messenger had come to ask Mr. Kenyon if he would take charge of a
little expedition to be made against a tiger that had been destroying
life in the neighbourhood, and to say that as matters were so serious
the King would be greatly obliged if he would go.
"I don't like to say No, and I don't want to say Yes," said Mr.
Kenyon.
"I do not see how you can refuse."
"Neither do I," said Mr. Kenyon thoughtfully, and he sent a note back,
promising to undertake the task.
Hardly had the messenger departed before Harry came hurriedly into the
room, but started on seeing the doctor there.
"I thought you had gone, sir," he said. "I made sure I heard the door
swing to."
"No, I have not gone, Hal," said the doctor, smiling good-humouredly;
"but I'll soon be off, if you want to speak to your father alone."
"I did, sir; but it doesn't matter your being here."
"What is it, Hal?" said Mr. Kenyon gravely.
"Wanted to tell you I feel horribly ashamed of myself, father," said
Harry quickly.
"Indeed?"
"Yes, it seems so queer that such a chap as Phra should behave like a
gentleman over a bit of disappointment, while I--I--well, I behaved
like a disagreeable boy."
"But very naturally, Hal," said the doctor. "Better than acting like a
make-believe man."
"Thank you, Hal," said Mr. Kenyon quietly, holding out his hand. "Has
Phra gone?"
"No, father."
"Tell him that his father has sent requesting me to take charge of an
expedition against the tiger, and that I am sorry I cannot ask you two
lads to go with me."
"All right, father; he won't mind. I don't now."
Harry nodded at the doctor, and went out of the room, while his father
waited till his steps had ceased, and a door had swung to.
"Odd boy, isn't he, Cameron?" said Mr. Kenyon then.
"Very odd chap," replied the doctor. "But I like boys to be odd like
that."
CHAPTER VIII
A PROWL BY WATER
It was disappointing and hard for two boys to bear, situated as they
had been--singled out by the old hunter as the first receivers of the
news; but they had determined to be heroic over it, and after a
fashion they were.
"Don't let's seem to mind it the least bit in the world, Phra," Harry
said.
"What shall we do? go up the river?"
"Go up the river? No. Let's see them start, and help them with their
guns when they mount the elephants. They'll be watching to see how we
look, and we're going to puzzle them."
"But will not that look queer?"
"I dunno," said Harry, "and I don't care; but that's what I've made up
my mind to do. What do you mean to do?"
"The same as you do," said Phra firmly.
The result was that at the time appointed Harry walked up to the court
by the palace main entrance, shouldering one of the rifles, and there
his heart failed him for a moment or two, but he was himself again
directly.
For the sight of the two huge elephants with their howdahs, and their
mahouts with their legs hidden beneath the huge beasts' ears, each
holding his anchus--the short, heavy, spear-like goad with hook which
takes the place of whip, spur, and reins, in the driving of the huge
beasts--was almost too much for him.
There was a party, too, of pretty well fifty spearmen to act as
beaters, some of whom were furnished with small gongs. Altogether it
formed a goodly show, and it sent the sting of disappointment pretty
deeply into the boys' breasts, so that they had to bear up bravely to
keep a good face on the matter.
The King was there to see the start made, after Mr. Kenyon, with Sree
for his attendant, had mounted one of the elephants by means of a
bamboo ladder, the doctor and a trusted old hunter in the King's
service perching themselves upon the other.
Then the King wished them both good fortune, the word was given, and
half the spearmen marched off in front; the elephants at a word from
their mahouts shuffled after, side by side, and the remainder of the
spearmen followed, passing out of the gateway.
The King said a few words to the boys, and then retired, leaving them
alone in the yard with the armed men on guard.
"Shall we follow them part of the way?" said Phra then.
"No, that wouldn't do," replied Harry. "It was right to come and show
that we weren't going to mind; but if we followed now, I know what my
father would think."
"What?" said Phra abruptly.
"That we were following in the hope of being asked to get on the
elephants. It would be too mean."
"Yes," said Phra, "of course. I did not think of that. Well, what
shall we do?"
"I dunno. Lie down and go to sleep till they come back; that's the
best way to forget it all."
"Bah! I'm not going to do that. I know: get over the river in a boat,
and go and see the big Wat."
"What for? Who wants to see the old place again, with its bonzes, with
their yellow robes and shaven heads?"
"We could go up the great tower again."
"Nice job to climb all the way up those steps in a hot time like this!
What's the good?"
Phra looked at him and smiled.
"You could take the telescope up, and see for miles."
"But I don't want to carry that lumpy thing up those hundreds of
steps."
"I'd carry it."
"But I don't want you to carry it, and I don't want to see for miles.
I can see quite as much as I want to-day without the telescope. I
don't feel as if I want to see at all. It was quite right, I suppose,
for us to be left at home, and proper for us to come and make a show
of not minding; but now the excitement's all over, and they're gone, I
feel just as if I could howl."
"What! cry?" said Phra wonderingly.
"No--ooo! Howl--shout with rage. I want to quarrel with some one and
hit him."
"Well, quarrel with and hit me."
"Shan't. I should hurt you."
"Well, hurt away. I won't hit back."
"Then I shan't be such a coward. Here, I know: I'll go and take that
chap's spear away, and break it."
He nodded his head towards one of the guards on duty close to the
entrance of the palace.
"What for?"
"Because I'm in a rage," said Harry between his teeth. "Oh, I could do
that, and then run at another and knock him down, and then yell and
shout, and throw stones at those great vases, and break the china
squares over the doorway. I feel just like those Malay fellows must
when they get in one of their mad tempers and run _amok_."
"Why don't you, then?" said Phra mockingly.
"Because I can't," cried Harry bitterly.
"Can't? Why, it would be easy enough. You could go and break the
spears of all the guards, and take their krises away. They wouldn't
dare to hurt you, seeing what a favourite you are with my father."
"I know all that," said Harry, snapping his teeth together.
"Then why can't you do it?" said Phra mockingly. "Go on; run _amok_."
"Shan't--can't."
"Why can't you?"
"Because I'm English, and I've got to fight it all down, and I'm going
to, savage as it makes me feel. Here, what shall we do?"
"Go right up to the highest window in the big tower of the Wat over
yonder, and take the telescope up with us."
"I tell you I don't want to. There's nothing to see there that we
haven't seen scores of times."
"Yes, there is."
"No, there isn't."
"Yes, there is, I tell you."
"Well, what is there?"
"We could watch and follow them with the glass nearly all the way to
the new sugar plantation, and perhaps see the tiger hunt."
Harry started excitedly, and caught his friend by the arm.
"So we could," he said, with his face lighting up. "I needn't go back
for our glass; you could get one from your father; he'd let you have
that if he wouldn't let you have the elephants."
"Yes. Shall I fetch it?"
"No," cried Harry sharply; "I won't take any more notice of the
hunting; we'll do something else."
"But you'd like to see it," said Phra.
"Of course I should, but I won't. There."
"But it's like--what do you call it when you're doing something to
hurt yourself?"
"Hurting myself," said Harry bluntly.
"No, no, no. Ah, I've got it. Biting your own nose off in revenge of
your face."
"All right, that's what I'm going to do--bite it off. I won't watch
them going, and I won't take any more notice of the miserable,
disappointing business."
"Oh, Hal, what a temper you're in!"
"I know that, but I'm fighting it all the time, and I mean to win."
"But you'll be obliged to be here when they come back."
"No, I shan't; I won't hear them."
"You can't help it; they'll come marching back, banging the gongs and
tomtomming and shouting, with the tiger slung on the back of one
elephant, and the doctor and your father in the same howdah. Oh,
you'll be obliged to come and meet them."
"Yes, I suppose so," said Harry, drawing a deep breath. "If I don't,
they'll think me sulky."
"So you are," said Phra, laughing.
"I'm not; no, not a bit, only in a temper."
"I wish the cricket and football things had come."
"I don't believe they ever will come," said Harry. "See what time it
is."
"They will come," said Phra gravely.
"How do you know?"
"Because my father said that we should have them. There, you're better
now."
"No, I'm not; I'm ever so much worse," said Harry, through his set
teeth.
"Well, let's go and kill something; you'll be better then."
"Don't believe I should," replied Harry. "What should we go and kill?"
"I don't know. Let's get the guns and make two of the men row us up
the narrow stream, right up yonder through the jungle where the best
birds are. Your father would like it if we got some good specimens
ready for Sree to skin."
"Very well," said Harry resignedly; "I shan't mind so long as you
don't want me to go up the big temple tower to watch them. I say,
Phra, I'm beginning to feel a bit better now."
Phra laughed, and the two boys went into the palace, where the former
gave an order to one of the servants about a boat, and then led the
way to his own room, a charming little library with a couple of stands
on one side bearing guns and weapons of various kinds, beside
fishing-rods and a naturalist's collecting gear.
"Which gun will you have?" asked Phra.
"Either; I don't care," was the reply; and by the time they were
prepared one of the attendants announced that the boat was ready.
They walked down to the great stone landing-place at the river,
stepped into the boat, and seated themselves under the little
open-sided roof, while their two rowers pushed off, and keeping close
in shore, where the eddy was in their favour, sent the boat rapidly on
through the muddy water.
For some distance the forest lay back away from the river, while the
bank on their right was pretty well hidden by a continuous mass of
house-boats, so close together as almost to touch; but at last these
were left behind, and the trees on their left began to encroach upon
the fields and fruit gardens, where melons, pines and bananas grew in
wonderful profusion, and the air was full of life such as would have
delighted an entomologist.
By degrees cultivation ceased and the wild jungle came close down to
the stream, and in places even overhung and dipped the tips of
branches in the water. Now and then, a small crocodile scuffled off
the muddy bank and plunged into the river. Fish began to be more
plentiful, little shoals showing on the surface, and in two or three
places a heavy fellow springing out in pursuit of its prey and falling
back with a splash.
Birds, too, began to be seen: tiny parrots whistled and chattered in
the trees; a big hawk hovered overhead; and several times over great
long-legged waders were disturbed.
But no attempt at firing was made, the two lads sitting quiet and
thoughtful beneath their sheltering roof, musing over the expedition,
and wondering whether it was being successful.
In imagination Harry seemed to see it all: the men spread out to beat
some fairly open space and drive the tiger towards where the two
elephants would be stationed some fifty yards apart, with their
occupants, rifle in hand, watching for the slightest movement in a
clump of bushes or tuft of reeds.
"Oh, what would I not give to be there!" said Harry to himself at
last. "I wish I were not such a boy!"
The colour came a little, though, into his cheeks--or it might have
been caused by the heat of the sun, at any rate it was there--as he
thought of what the doctor had said, and of his own words to his
father.
And as these thoughts came, he felt something like shame at his
feeling of dissatisfaction with what he had, and his striving after
that which he had not.
"I won't be such a dissatisfied donkey," he muttered, and his face
looked brighter as he turned sharply to speak to Phra.
His change affected his companion, who brightened up too.
"We're getting close to the mouth of the little river," he said.
"I'm glad of it," said Harry cheerfully. "I say, they have been quick;
it's hot work for them."
"Yes," said Phra, "but they'll have a good rest soon while we're going
slowly, and there will be nothing to do but steer, going back."
"I say, suppose they get back first with the tiger."
"I hope they will not," cried Phra; "but it isn't likely. They've a
long way to go, and the beating will take a long time. We shall be
back first. Ugh, you brute!" he whispered, reaching for his gun,
cocking both barrels softly, and taking aim at a large crocodile.
_Snip! snap!_ and then a splash, as the reptile disappeared.
"I don't think you have killed it," said Harry seriously, but with his
eyes dancing with mischief.
"Ah, you're better," cried Phra pettishly. "You don't want to run
_amok_ now. How could I be so stupid! I never thought about not being
loaded."
"Better think about it now," said Harry, beginning the operation in
the tedious, old-fashioned way that ruled so long before the cartridge
was invented for a sportsman's use. "But we were only to shoot birds,
I thought."
"Yes, birds, and only beautiful specimens," replied Phra. "I couldn't
help being tempted to fire at the brute, though. I shall always be
shooting at them now."
"Here we are," said Harry, and at a word from Phra the light sampan
was guided into a sluggish side stream only some twenty yards or so
wide, while on either side the trees rose like a wall of verdure, the
water lapping the leaves, which dipped and played up and down with the
motion of the stream.
"You take that side and I'll take this," said Phra; and then giving
the order to the rower in front, the man ceased paddling and made his
way right astern, to squat down on the little platform beside his
fellow, who cleverly propelled and steered the light craft with his
one oar, leaving the look-out forward free for the gunners.
"Hullo! How are you, old gentleman?" cried Harry suddenly, as a
grey-bearded, venerable-looking little face was suddenly thrust out
through the leaves, so that its owner could look down at the strange
visitors to his wild home.
There was a sharp chattering, the head of the monkey was drawn back,
and then a rustling and waving of the boughs on the left began, going
on a little in front.
"There's a whole troop of them travelling along," said Harry.
"Yes, and they'll scare all the birds," cried Phra. "Look, they've
startled those lovely parroquets. What's to be done?"
"They'll soon go," replied Harry. "Row away."
The man astern thrust the boat along with his easy, Venice-like
manipulation of the oar, and the light boat glided on right in the
centre of the beautiful green lane with its watery floor; but the wave
as it seemed to be likewise glided along, with a peculiar rustle in
the foliage some twenty yards in front.
There was not a sound beside, save when, further ahead, some parroquet
darted out with a shriek to cross to the other side of the stream, or
a sharp flapping of wings told that it was a dove darting frantically
through the twigs to escape from enemies with a great love for eggs,
and no objection to savoury, plump morsels in the shape of
half-fledged young, by way of change from a fruit diet.
"Let's stop," said Phra, on seeing that the undulation in the green
wall on their left kept on at about the same rate.
"Stop, and let them go on?" said Harry. "Very well."
At a word the man ceased paddling, the boat glided on from the impetus
already given, but less and less fast, till completely overcome by the
stream it was meeting, it gradually came to a standstill, and was on
the point of giving way and being borne back, when Harry burst into a
hearty laugh, which had the result of making the grey, inquiring face
of the monkey that had just peered out, pop back again.
"Row," said Phra, "and keep the boat stationary."
The rower dipped his oar gently, and the boat ceased to retrograde.
"What rum little customers they are!" said Harry, as he watched the
place where the grey head had disappeared. "Just like a little old man
watching us. Think they're gone now?"
"No; look."
Harry was looking, and saw at the same moment the little face
cautiously thrust out again, but withdrawn as he made a threatening
movement with his gun.
Then all was perfectly still for a minute.
"Perhaps they're gone now," said Harry.
"No; they are too inquisitive. I daresay there are fifty of them
hidden in among the boughs."
"I think they're gone," said Harry at the end of another minute.
"Well, try. Go on," said Phra, and the oar was once more silently
plied, gently disturbing the water, while at the same moment the wave
in the trees began again, with its gentle rustling, showing that the
monkey troop was once more travelling along just in front, scaring the
birds away as they advanced.
The boat was stopped again, and the monkeys followed suit, the same
curious old face peering cautiously out and watching.
The boat went on, so did the monkeys; and this was repeated over and
over again, stopping and going on, the wave in the trees seeming to be
so exactly influenced by the rowers' agitation of the water that it
was as if one touch moved both water and leaf.
"Well, they are comical little beggars," cried Harry, who was once
more in the highest of spirits. "I say, old man, just take your
friends away; we're going shooting. Do you hear?"
The little head popped in out of sight, but as the boat did not move
it popped out again, as if to find the reason why.
"We shan't get a bird, for they'll keep on like that for miles."
"It's tiresome," said Harry. "Here, I say, if you don't toddle I'll
give you pepper."
The gun was raised threateningly as the boy spoke, and the head
disappeared.
"He knows English," cried Harry, "and he's an uncommonly sensible old
gentleman. Father told me that the country folks at home say rooks can
smell powder. So can monkeys, seemingly."
"Country folks at home? What country folks?"
"Not yours; ours, in the old home, England. There, let's get on and
begin shooting, or we shall get nothing."
"It doesn't matter," said Phra quietly; "it's very beautiful gliding
along without killing things."
"Yes, but as we came to get specimens, let's get a few. I want to, so
as to show father and the doctor that we haven't been moping. Row
away."
The man smiled, and sent the boat gliding up the bright stream again,
for the sun was so nearly overhead that scarcely any shadow was cast
on their left.
But the moment the boat moved the wave ran along the trees again, and
Phra laughed aloud at his companion's face.
"Yes, you may laugh, but it's too bad. There, I'll keep my word,
though, and as soon as my grey-headed gentleman shows his face I'm
going to pepper him with small shot."
"No, you're not," said Phra, laughing. "You don't want him for a
specimen."
"No, of course not. I don't want to shoot him. It would be just like
killing a little old man. I'll only pepper him so as to scare him and
his friends away. They'll spoil all our fun."
"Hi! Look out, Hal!"
There was a great flapping of wings and a loud rushing sound, as two
large birds dashed out from where the troop of monkeys were passing,
to fly across the river to the trees on the other side. But before
they were two-thirds of the way across a couple of reports followed
rapidly one after the other, and the birds fell in the water, which
one of them beat with its wings for a few moments, and then became
motionless, floating down towards the boat, which was dexterously
driven on to meet them.
The birds were carefully lifted in, and with their plumage smoothed
down, laid in a kind of locker, proving to be a finely developed pair
of the great hornbills, no beauties as far as feathering was
concerned, but singular as specimens, from the enormous development of
their bills, and the great addition in form which has earned for them
the sobriquet of rhinoceros.
"That's capital," said Harry. "Father was saying he wanted a good
specimen or two, for ours were very poor."
The boys were loading again now, and the boat was once more advancing.
"The monkeys did not drive those away," said Phra.
"No; just drove them out right for us. Did as well as dogs,
but--Hullo! where are they?"
The boys stared up at the great green wall on their left, but the
trees were motionless in the hot sunshine, not a leaf stirring, the
only movement visible being in one spot where a gigantic wreath of
some flowering creeper hung down from far on high, spreading to the
sunshine hundreds of trumpet-shaped white blossoms, and among these
somewhere about a score of tiny sun-birds were hovering and darting,
the brilliant, metallic, scale-like plumage of head and breast looking
as if the diminutive creatures wore helmet and gorget of wonderfully
tinted and burnished metals, others approaching in lustre the polish
of brilliant gems.
It was a beautiful sight as the little creatures darted about, their
rapidly beating wings almost invisible, but giving the birds the
appearance of being surrounded by a soft haze. Here one would be
apparently motionless beneath a hanging blossom, into which its long
thin beak was thrust to probe the nectar like a gigantic bee. There a
couple would be engaged in chase and flight, with flash after flash of
metallic light reflected from the surface of their plumage as they
darted about in full career, turning different portions of their
plumage to the sun's rays. Again one would seem to be of the most
sober colours, almost dingy, till it moved, and then as it caught the
light at some other angle it flashed into a thing of beauty, dazzling
in its tints of ruby, sapphire, and purple.
The boys had seen these tiny representatives of the humming birds in
the New World scores of times, but always found satisfaction in
watching them, and for the time being the monkeys were forgotten.
"What a chance!" said Harry, as the boat was sent in close to the
burdened tree without disturbing the sun-birds in the least. "If
father wants any more specimens of these, we couldn't come to a better
place."
"But next time we come by, that bush will not be in flower, and there
will be no sun-birds there."
"But they would be somewhere else," said Harry philosophically. "Look
at that one with the red band across his breast. What a beauty! I say,
next time we want any I vote that we don't shoot them with sand or
water, but try a butterfly net."
"Couldn't reach," said Phra.
"Could if we had it at the end of a long bamboo."
"No," said Phra decisively; "you could not handle it quickly enough
then. It would be too clumsy, and the bird would be as quick again.
Couldn't do it, Hal."
"S'pose not," said the boy thoughtfully. "I say, look at that one with
the rose-coloured head."
"Am looking at it. I don't think I ever saw such a beauty."
"Oh dear!" said Harry, with a deep sigh.
"What's the matter?"
"I was thinking what poor, stupid things our stuffed skins are. They
don't look a bit like these tiny beauties all in motion, and seeming
to be a fresh colour every time they move. They're so soft and round,
and so quick. And see how they fly, too. I say, Phra, it seems a shame
to shoot them."
"Horrible! Nothing could be more beautiful," said Phra, thoughtfully.
"Humming-birds are more beautiful," observed Harry.
"Ever seen any?"
"No, but my father says they are. He has seen them stuffed, and they
are so beautiful then that they must be wonderfully lovely alive."
"Let's go on," said Phra thoughtfully. "Perhaps we shall get another
shot or two, in spite of the monkeys."
The man set the boat gliding on again, and Harry sat with his gun
cocked, waiting to see the little grey face peer out from among the
leaves.
"I wouldn't pepper him, Harry," said Phra.
"Not going to," was the reply. "I've only put some powder to frighten
him."
"That's right; but I don't see anything moving."
"They'll show themselves directly. Then we'll stop, and when the
little old fellow shows his face I'll fire."
But the shots already fired had been sufficient, sending the troop
away through the trees at the quickest pace they could command, and
the two boys looked in vain.
Soon after, they had capital chances at different kinds of parrots,
but did not lift their guns, these birds being abundant, and the
little museum amply supplied with their skins; but upon coming abreast
of an opening, the boat stopped, for it seemed a likely place for
something novel.
"Hist!" whispered Phra, pointing. "That's a bird you've not shot yet."
"Yes, like the one you missed that day. Let me try for this one.--How
tiresome! it's gone in beneath the bushes."
It was evidently a bird of secretive habit, for it had dived into a
dense place; but just as Harry was about to give up, and tell the man
to go on, the bird came into sight again, rose from the top of a low
tree, and was in the act of flying across the opening, when Harry
raised his gun quickly and fired.
"Down?" he said. "I couldn't see for the smoke."
"No," said Phra; "it flew right away yonder."
"Oh, it couldn't; I took such a careful aim. Did you see it?" he asked
the men.
They both replied in the affirmative, and Harry looked puzzled.
"It seems queer," he said, beginning to reload his gun. "I don't know
how I could have missed."
"I know," cried Phra. "You loaded to frighten the monkey."
"And did not put any shot in!" cried Harry. "Oh, how stupid!"
At that moment Phra raised his gun and fired at a similar bird, as it
crossed the river, and dropped just at the edge of the opening.
A turn or two of the oar sent the boat alongside, the bird was
retrieved, and Harry was in ecstasies with its beautiful shades of
turquoise blue, pale drab, and grey.
"It's the kind father was saying he was so eager to get a specimen
of," cried Harry. "Do you think any more will come if we wait?"
"I don't think so," was the reply; "but let's try."
They waited for half an hour, but not another bird appeared, and they
went on, having the luck to bring down one of the lovely ground
thrushes at the next opening.
After this Phra shot one of the scarlet-breasted trogons, a beautiful
insect-eating bird, nearly allied to our goatsuckers and cuckoos,
with, in addition to its rosy, scarlet breast, a delicate pencilling
of grey and black, while the greater part of its back was of a fine
metallic green.
Flycatchers with inordinately long tails were the next trophies, and
Harry was beginning to think that enough had been secured for Sree to
skin and preserve, when Phra pressed his companion's arm, and pointed
to what looked like a streak of vivid blue being drawn in the air just
above the water.
It was too far off to fire, so the boys strained their eyesight to
note where the beautiful object settled, but without result, so the
boat was urged gently forward, and, finger on trigger, the boys
watched the spot where they had last seen the bird.
"It has a splendid tail, Hal," said Phra, in a whisper. "You had
better fire."
"No, you; it's a beauty."
"Then you fire; you are so much surer than I am. I'll hold my shot in
case you don't bring it down."
They were in momentary expectation of seeing the bird rise to continue
its flight up the watery way; but there was no sign of it, and the
lads were getting in despair, when there was a flash from a spot least
expected. Phra, in his excitement at seeing it going away without
Harry getting a good view of it, fired, though it seemed to be too
late. However, the bird fell into the river, and another rose at the
report, skimmed along just above the surface, and was getting almost
beyond range, when Harry drew trigger, and the bird dropped.
"I shan't shoot any more to-day," said Harry excitedly, as the two
birds were retrieved and laid for their plumage to dry, being two
perfect specimens of the racket-tailed kingfisher, whose azure
adornments render it one of the most lovely birds of that part of the
world. "I say, what beauties! We have done well."
"We've shot those bird often," said Phra, as he raised one of the
kingfishers by the beak, and drew it softly through his hand, removing
part of the water which remained, and straightening the produced
feathers of the tail, each with its narrow almost naked shaft ending
in a lovely blue ellipse of web. This done, he laid the damp bird in
the sunshine to dry, adding, "But I don't think we ever shot better
specimens, or hurt the plumage so little."
A low, hissing noise drew the boys' attention to the man who was not
rowing, and, as he caught their eyes, he pointed to something in one
of the overhanging trees.
"What is it?" said Harry; "I can't see;" and he cocked his piece,
quite forgetting his words of a short time before.
"Only nests," said Phra; "we don't want them."
In effect there was a cluster of about a dozen pensile nests, formed
like a chemist's retort by the clever bird-weavers, and hanging neck
downward from the ends of thin branches, where they were perfectly
safe from the intrusion of active, long-armed monkeys.
There was, in fact, something attractive at every few yards, for when
birds were not in sight magnificent butterflies or day-flying moths
came flitting out of the openings into the forest, one of which was
the atlas, as much as ten inches across the wings.
And now the tension of seeking for choice specimens being over, the
boys sat back carelessly, watching the various objects which came into
view. Now it would be fish, temptingly suggestive of the sport that
might be had up this lovely stream, did they feel disposed to bring
tackle. A little farther on the boat was stopped for a cluster of
beautiful orchids to be secured, but they were rejected on account of
their being inhabited by a colony of virulent ants.
"I say," said Harry suddenly, "this would be just the place for
fireflies. Let's tell Dr. Cameron, and we'll have a trip up some
night. We might shoot some of the queer night birds."
"Yes," said Phra, "and something else too. There are tigers up here,
they say."
"So much the better. We should get a chance to shoot one then by
accident. I say, where should we come to if we kept right on as far as
the river ran?"
"To the place it started from."
"Well, I know that; but where is it?"
"Oh, it's all our country. There are mountains there, and plenty of
elephants, Sree says."
"Let's have an expedition right up then, and bring a tent and plenty
of provisions. We ought to be able to get all kinds of new specimens."
"I'm willing," said Phra; "but hadn't we better turn back now?"
"Think they will be coming back from the tiger hunt?"
"Most likely. I say, Hal, it hasn't been a bad time, has it?"
"No," said Harry with a sigh. "Tell him to go back."
At the order the man who had been resting returned to the fore part of
the boat, and seized his oar, making that the stern now, while his
companion laid in his oar, and squatted down for his rest.
"Hullo! look!" cried Harry; "there's another of those queer-looking
old chaps," and he nodded in the direction of the other side of the
river, where it was evident that a fresh troop of the quaint little
animals were travelling along in the trees. They were going up the
river, but as soon as they found that the boat was retiring they at
once altered their direction, and the foliage waved and trembled as
they kept alongside, travelling through the dense jungle about
five-and-twenty feet above the ground, and very rarely giving the
occupants of the boat a chance of seeing their lithe, active forms.
How far these eager, inquisitive little fellows would have followed
them, if left undisturbed, it is impossible to say; but after watching
their movements and the eager, excited face of their leader for some
time, Harry grew tired of their company.
"Send a shot over them, Phra," he cried.
The boy raised his gun, pistol fashion, in the air, and fired it,
while Harry watched the wall of verdure.
Just as the gun was fired the little old face of the leader was being
reached out from the extremities of the boughs, the monkey holding on
in what proved to be a very precarious position, for the suddenness of
the report frightened it out of its small wits, and made it give such
a bound that the next moment, collapsed into what looked like a ball
fringed with white, it came rushing through the leaves, splash into
the water, making the occupants of the boat roar with laughter.
"What is fun to you is death to us," said the frogs to the boys, in
the fable, and this was nearly the case with the monkey.
For as soon as the rower saw the beginning of the mishap he gave a
tremendous sweep with his oar, changing the direction of the boat and
giving it greater speed at the same time, so that it might glide in
close to where the trees dipped, and pick up the monkey before it was
drowned or succeeded in dragging itself up.
The movement was cleverly conceived and carried out, but it had a
different culmination from that which was expected.
Full of excitement now, the boys were watching for the monkey to rise
from its deep plunge, and so well had the boatman judged his distance
that the swiftly moving prow was within a yard of the little
unfortunate when it rose to the surface.
At the same moment the gaping, teeth-armed jaws of a crocodile shot
out of the water, and the next would have closed upon the delicate
mouthful, had not the prow of the sampan struck the reptile full on
the shoulder with a tremendous shock which made the boat quiver, while
from the shape of the prow and the force with which it was going, the
boat rose and scraped right over the reptile's back, gliding down on
the other side amidst a tremendous turmoil in the water.
The boys held on by the sides, fully expecting to be capsized, but not
a drop of water was shipped, and when they turned to look back it was
to see that the unoccupied man had snatched at the monkey and lifted
it on board, while the crocodile, a creature of about twelve or
fourteen feet long, was lashing the water into a foam with its tail.
"Here, take us back," cried Harry. "I must have a shot at that brute."
The man reversed the movement of the oar he handled, and the sampan
began to glide back.
"Mind!" said Phra excitedly. "It will be horrible if we are capsized."
"I'll capsize him as soon as I get close enough," said Harry between
his teeth, and he knelt ready in the boat, as it approached nearer and
nearer.
The monkey seemed to be in an utter state of collapse from fear, as it
crouched in its captor's lap, huddled into a drenched ball, till it
caught sight of the crocodile, when it was literally transformed.
In an instant its eyes were flashing and teeth bare at the sight of
its hereditary enemy, the murderer of hundreds of the unfortunates
which from time to time played and slipped, or descended to the ends
of branches to drink from the river; its dull state of helpless
weakness had gone, and before the man who held it could grasp what was
about to happen, the little creature uttered a shrieking, chattering
cry of anger, bounded to the end of the sampan, and raged at the
reptile.
That was enough. The crocodile responded to the angry challenge and
monkey-like, violent language apparently being heaped upon it, and
made a dash at the sampan; but as it reached the prow the monkey
bounded on to the top of the palm-leaf roofing, while, reaching
backward, Harry discharged his piece right between the reptile's eyes.
Firing as he did, with the muzzle of his piece not above a yard away,
the effect of the charge of small shot was much the same as would have
been that of a heavy bullet the diameter of the fowling-piece's bore.
The rower was on his guard too, and as the lad fired he forced the
light sampan away so that they were quite clear of the violent blow
given by the creature's tail, as it swung itself round and then sank
like a stone.
The effect upon the monkey was again startling to a degree.
At the report of the gun it leapt upward from the roof of the shelter,
and instead of coming down in the same place it dropped on all-fours
close to Harry, who caught it by one arm.
"Mind," cried Phra warningly; "they can bite very sharply."
"Oh, I don't think he'll hurt, poor little chap," was the reply, and
the boy drew his little prisoner close to him, laid down his gun, and
patted its shoulder. "Shall we keep it as a pet?"
"No," said Phra; "it would pine away and die. You must get a young one
if you want them to keep."
"Yes, of course," said Harry. "Isn't he comic? I wish I'd got
something to give him. He's ready to make friends."
"So he ought to be," said Phra; "we saved his life. That croc would
have swallowed him like we do Doctor Cameron's pills."
"That he would. What a narrow squeak! I say, have you got anything you
can give him?"
"No, give him his liberty."
"I'm going to. Poor little wretch, how he shivers! He's too much
frightened to bite or do anything. Hi! old gentleman, get up there on
the top."
He lifted the monkey up, and it went slowly on to the hot roof, gazing
back at its captor with wondering eyes.
"Now run the boat in close to the trees," said Harry, as he patted and
stroked the utterly cowed prisoner.
The next moment the open, cabin-like construction was brushing against
the palm leaves with a loud, rustling sound.
This seemed to galvanize the little creature into life, and it uttered
a loud _chick, chick, chack!_
This was answered by a chorus from above; for, unnoticed by the
occupants of the boat, the trees had been in quiet motion all the
while as they glided down.
That was enough; the monkey seized the twigs nearest to it and the
next minute had swung itself up out of sight. There was a tremendous
chattering, which grew distant as if the troop was hurrying through
the trees in one direction, while the boat was gliding swiftly down in
the other, and then Harry said laughingly,--
"Well; he might have been a bit more grateful; never so much as said
Thank ye."
"I think he was wonderfully grateful, for he did not bite. I say,
though, how careful one has got to be about the crocodiles. I turned
quite cold, for I thought we were going over."
"I felt a bit queer," said Harry thoughtfully. "If I were your father
I'd offer a reward for every crocodile that was killed in the river.
They're no good, and they must do a deal of mischief in the course of
the year."
"Let's tell him so," said Phra, smiling. "Perhaps he will."
The journey back was beautiful enough, for they were looking at the
long, sunlit course from a different point of view; but it had ceased
to interest, for the lads were hungry and tired, glad enough too when
the great stone landing-place was reached, and after giving
instructions to the men to take in the birds to place them in Mike's
charge for transfer to Sree when he returned, they went into the
palace, Harry to be Phra's guest over a very hearty, semi-English
meal; for the hunters had not returned and there was no temptation for
Harry to go home and eat alone when he was warmly pressed to stay
where he was, so as to be present when the hunters returned in
triumph.
It was growing late by the time they had done, and they strolled out
into the court, and then into the beautiful garden, one of the King's
hobbies.
It was a lovely moonlight night, with here everything turned to
silver, there all looking black and velvety in the shade. The river,
too, looked its best, with the moonbeams playing upon its surface; but
the boys were growing too weary to admire the beauties around, or to
heed the buzzing, croaking, and booming that came from across the
river.
"Look here," said Harry at last, "they've gone farther than they
meant, and they're not coming back to-night."
"Going to camp out?" asked Phra dubiously.
"Not a doubt about it. Perhaps going to watch through the night for
the tiger, with a goat or calf tied up for bait."
"Very likely," said Phra, yawning.
"There, don't turn sleepy like that."
"Can't help it."
"I say, look here; go and tell your father you are coming down to the
bungalow to keep me company to-night, because I don't like to be
alone."
"No, you stop and sleep here. Then you will not have the bother of
walking down there."
"No," said Harry firmly; "father's out, and I'm sure he wouldn't like
me to leave the house when he's away. Come and sleep at our place
to-night, there's a good chap."
"Very well," said Phra. "Come with me and speak to father."
"All right," said Harry, coolly enough, and they walked through the
moonlit garden together, when, as they passed toward the palace, the
incongruity of it all seemed to strike the boy, and he laughed softly.
"I say, how comic it all seems! Here's your father a great Eastern
king--king over this big country, and yet he's only your father, and
I'm going with you to talk to him just as if he was nobody at all."
"But he is," said Phra thoughtfully. "He's very different with other
people, but he talks to you, and about you to me, just as if you were
a--I mean a boy like I am."
"Well, it's very nice of him," said Harry. "I've never done anything
to make him like me. I never went down on my knees and held my hands
on each side of my face, and seemed as if I were going to rub the skin
off my nose on the ground because he's a great king."
"No; he laughed about it one day, and said that's why he liked you to
be my playfellow."
"That's funny, isn't it?"
"No; he said he liked you because you were frank, and manly, and
independent."
"Ah," said Harry, after a brief pause, "he doesn't know what a bad one
I can be sometimes."
"Hist!"
"What for?"
"Listen."
"I am listening, but I can't hear anything."
"I can, right away in the distance. Can't you hear?"
"No, nothing but the frogs at the riverside, and the barking of a
croc. Yes, I can; something going thump, thump, far away."
"It's the drum. They're marching back with the elephants."
"Hurrah!" cried Harry excitedly. "Well, I am glad, because I should
have lain awake ever so long thinking that something had happened, or
that father was in danger from the tiger, perhaps. I say, you don't
feel sleepy now?"
"Sleepy? No, not a bit. Here, let's get down yonder so as to meet
them."
"But they'll be half an hour yet. Look there; the guard has heard the
drum."
As he spoke the picturesque beauty of the place was enhanced by the
appearance of the guard turning out, bearing lighted torches, some of
which were stuck at intervals about the courtyard, throwing up the
grotesque figures and carvings abundantly scattered around.
Then more were fetched, and the place became brilliantly lighted for
the reception of the King's friends who were bringing the body of the
slain tiger in triumph home.
The red glare of the torches mingled strangely with the silvery light
of the moon, so that some of the men's spears seemed to be tipped with
silver, some with gold; and listening and noting these things the time
of waiting soon passed away for the boys, who at last joined a party
of a dozen torch-bearers setting off to meet the returning party.
But before they reached the gate Phra stopped short and arrested his
friend.
"No," he said in an earnest whisper, "don't let's go. Very likely my
father will come out, and he would like us to be near to seem to be
honouring and paying him respect."
"Very well," said Harry shortly; for it was against his grain.
"Yes, there he comes," said Phra eagerly, as the palace entrance was
lit up by numbers of lanthorn-bearers, and the King came and stood on
the terrace to welcome his English friends.
At last the party of spearmen in advance marched in, with the
elephants shuffling along side by side behind; but each bore its load
the same as when it started, no alteration having been made.
Harry ought to have let the elephants go close up to the terrace and
kneel before the King, to whom the result of the hunt should have been
first communicated, but in his excitement he forgot all about Court
etiquette, and ran up to the side of the nearest beast.
"Well, father, Where's the tiger?" he cried.
"Over the hills and far away," cried the doctor.
"Yes, my boy," said Mr. Kenyon; "we have seen nothing but his pug--the
marks of his feet."
CHAPTER IX
NATURALISTS' TREASURES
There were a few words exchanged with the King as the hunters were
about to descend, but he bade them keep their seats in the howdahs,
saying that they must be very tired, and after ordering the mahouts to
take their elephants to the gentlemen's quarters, he bade them
good-night and went in.
"Then we must part here, Cameron," said Mr. Kenyon.
"Yes; good-night, and better luck next time."
The doctor's elephant rose and began to shuffle off, its companion
following its example and uttering an angry trumpeting sound upon
being checked.
"Here, Hal," said Mr. Kenyon, "you may as well ride."
"Yes, of course, father. Good-night, Phra." Then mischievously,
"They'll have to send us if they want that tiger shot."
"Yes, Mr. Kenyon, we don't think much of you and Doctor Cameron as
tiger-hunters."
The merchant laughed, as the elephant knelt once more and Harry
scrambled up into the howdah, Sree, who was holding on behind, giving
the boy a hand. Then there was a heave and a pitch to and fro, and the
huge beast was on its legs again, shambling off towards the bungalow,
a pleasant enough sight in the moonlight, and welcome enough to Harry,
who was pretty well tired out.
"Didn't you see the tiger at all, father?" he asked.
"No, or most likely I should have shot it," replied Mr. Kenyon. "The
brute has evidently gone off to the country on the slope of the
mountains and saved his stripes this time. What have you been doing
with yourself?"
Harry briefly told of his adventures.
"Then you have some decent specimens for me?"
"Yes, father; beauties."
"You have done better than we did, my boy. We have only brought back
sore bones. There, I am not in much of a humour for talking to-night;
I want a good rest."
"You must be tired, father."
"Yes, too tired to think of anything but sleep. Not quite, though;
there are those birds. Sree, can you come first thing in the morning
and skin them?"
"Yes, Sahib. I was going to ask if I might come."
No more was said till the elephant had stopped of its own accord at
the gateway of the bungalow garden for as soon as it had got over its
irritation at being separated from its companion it had gone steadily
enough.
After this the mahout was so liberally rewarded that he wanted to get
down from the elephant's neck to prostrate himself, and of course was
not allowed, but sent back, Harry stopping to watch his great, grey,
shambling mount till it disappeared, with Sree still hanging by the
back of the howdah.
Breakfast was late the next morning, both the merchant and his son
sleeping very soundly; and when at last Harry dragged himself from his
light bamboo bedstead and had refreshed himself, not with a good swim
in the river,--a luxury too dangerous to attempt,--but by squatting in
a large, open tub and pouring jars of cold water over his head, he
went out into the verandah, to find Sree just finishing the skin of
the last of the birds by painting the fleshy side all over with
preserving paste before turning it back and filling it with cotton
wool.
"How quick you have been, Sree!" said Harry. "I meant to have come and
helped you."
"The young Sahib must have been tired."
"I'm tired now," said the boy, with a yawn. "But I say, they are all
good birds, aren't they?"
"Some of the best I have ever seen, Sahib; there is hardly a feather
gone. Look at this one," said the man, taking hold of the bird's long,
thick beak and giving it a dexterous shake, with the result that the
feathers fluffed up and then fell gently back into place, lying so
lightly and naturally that it was hard to believe that nothing but the
skull, leg and wing bones were left of the little creature which
animated the skin so short a time before.
"Beautiful," said Harry, examining it and the others already prepared
in turn. "I wish you had been with us, though. We had capital sport."
"Yes, Sahib, I wish I had been with you," said Sree. "My heart felt
heavy for you when I found you were not to come. I like to be with the
young Sahibs. We had no sport at all."
"Ah, you should have been with us. The crocodile must have been
fourteen feet long."
"Ah! but they would not be so big up the little river. I hope, though,
the Sahib will not shoot any more."
"Not shoot any more!" cried Harry. "Are you friends with the
wretches?"
"No, Sahib," said the man solemnly; "but they are dangerous beasts,
and I fear if the young Sahib goes after them much there may be an
accident."
"Hardly likely," said Harry contemptuously.
"I don't know, Sahib; they are very dangerous beasts. A hungry mugger,
as they call them over yonder on the Ganges, will rush at any one in
the water, or try to sweep him off the shore into the river. If he is
wounded he is mad with rage, and strikes about furiously with his
tail. One hard blow would break or overturn a sampan, and a man in the
water is no match for one of these beasts."
"Oh, but I shall be careful, Sree," cried Harry; "and I can't help
hating the monsters."
"We all hate them, Sahib, except some of the foolish people who would
think it a sin to hurt a crocodile. Do not be rash."
"Oh no, I shan't be rash," said Harry; "but you should have been with
us yesterday; it was rare fun with the little grey-whiskered monkey.
It was frightened nearly to death, what with the noise of the gun and
the fall plump into the water, and the ducking, and then being so
nearly snapped up by the crocodile."
"It would be frightened, too, on finding it was a prisoner, Sahib."
"He looked just like a withered-up old man, not much bigger than a
baby."
"Yes, Sahib; they are strange little beasts," said Sree, who was still
busy with the skins, giving delicate touches here and there to the
plumage, with a small needle made of ivory. "I never kill one if I can
help it, because they are so much like very wild old men."
"That is a lovely skin, Sree," said Harry, bending over the blue and
grey thrush.
"Yes, and these are hard to find, Sahib."
"Father will be delighted with those, I'm sure," said Harry. Then
turning off to the old hunter's last remarks, "So you don't like
shooting monkeys?"
"No, Sahib, I never do."
"It does seem a shame, for they're such merry, happy-looking little
chaps, swinging and playing about in the trees. How they enjoy the
fruit, too! They seem to have quite a jolly life."
"Oh no, Sahib; they have their troubles too," said Sree seriously,
"and many of them."
"Monkeys do?" cried Harry, laughing. "Why, what troubles can they
have?"
"Muggers waiting under the trees to catch any that fall, Sahib."
"Then they ought to know better than to play in the branches which
overhang the river."
"That is where the best fruit grows, in the open sunshine, Sahib, and
it is often when they go down to drink that the muggers catch them or
sweep them into the water with their tails."
"Ugh! the beasts!" cried Harry.
"Then there are the leopards lying in wait up in the trees, and some
of the big wild cats, too, staring at them. Monkeys are very quick,
but the leopards are sometimes quicker."
"Yes, it's wonderful how active those spotted, cat-like creatures are.
I say, Sree, have you ever seen one of the very big monkeys that live
in the islands?"
"Only once, Sahib. It was when I went to Borneo with a Sahib from
India. We were a long time hunting in the woods before we found one,
and then it was high up in a tree, going along hanging by his hands.
He seemed to be a very quiet, tame sort of beast, only trying to get
away; but the Sahib shot him, and he hung from a great bough, oh, very
high up, till the Sahib shot again, and then he let go and came down,
dropping from bough to bough till he fell dead, nearly at our feet."
"Was it very big, Sree?"
"Very, very big, Sahib; nearly twice as big as I am."
"Really?"
"Oh yes, Sahib. Not so tall as I am, not higher than the Prince Phra,
but so big and broad--big head--big face with great swellings behind
the cheeks--big shoulder, and big arms that reached down nearly to his
feet. And such hands and feet, Sahib! so big and strong."
"Much like a man, Sree?"
"Like what a wild man might be, Sahib. And yet no, not like a man; he
was more like a wild beast, all hairy. The poor people here, some of
them, believe that when we die, if we have been wicked we shall turn
to monkeys or crocodiles."
"And do you believe that, Sree?"
The man looked up and smiled, as he shook his head.
"Oh no, Sahib; I don't believe anything of the kind. It is all
nonsense; but monkeys are very curious little things, and very
cunning. They have plenty of sense."
"Think so?"
"Oh yes. Did not you say that the one you caught was angry with the
crocodile, and danced about and called him names?"
"Well, he did something of the kind," said Harry, laughing; "and very
comical it was."
"Oh yes, Sahib, I've seen them spit at and shout and chatter at the
muggers often enough. Being so much in the jungle, watching night and
day, I often notice all that the wild things do--birds, snakes,
lizards, as well as the tigers and bears and monkeys. I have seen how
they fight, and how they play and teach their young ones to play; but
there is nothing which can play like a monkey. He is more full of fun
than a boy. A monkey always seems to think that another monkey's tail
is meant to pull, so as to tease him."
"Yes, I've seen them do that."
"But the funniest thing, Sahib," said the old hunter, "is to see a
monkey pull another one's tail, and then pretend that he did not do
it. I have seen one put his hand out behind, and give a pull, and then
snatch his hand back and shut his eyes, pretending to be asleep."
"Oh, here you are," said Mr. Kenyon, coming into the verandah. "Come,
Hal, breakfast; we are very late."
"Here are the specimens Phra and I got yesterday father."
"These? Capital; excellent! That is the kind of _Pitta_ I wanted so
badly, and those two kingfishers will be a splendid addition to the
collection. Well skinned too, Sree. They are perfect."
Over the breakfast Mr. Kenyon related their adventures of the previous
day; but there was nothing much to tell save of wearisome wanderings
here and there through rugged, thorny ground where the tiger's pugs
could be traced. Hollows were carefully beaten, and patches of reed
and grass driven, while the hunters waited for the coming of the
cunning beast which was not there. Then at last they found
unmistakable traces of his having gone off, and, weary and disgusted,
they had turned back.
Harry Kenyon and his father led a very pleasant life in that curious
country, for their position was a favoured one, though a great deal
was due to the latter's enterprise.
At first their existence was lonely, but it was not long before their
position became a good deal talked about through correspondence which
followed their arrival, and by degrees a happy little colony had grown
up in the neighbourhood of the palace.
It was entirely at the King's invitation that Mr. Kenyon had first
settled there, for being himself a man who took great interest in
scientific matters and the wonders of nature, he had by accident come
in contact with the merchant, who had sought an interview, with the
object of asking certain concessions and leave to trade. The result
was that Mr. Kenyon was taken quite by surprise on discovering that
the King, whom he had expected to find much on a par with so many of
the barbaric chieftains of the East, was a man who cared nothing for
war and aggrandisement, neither for decking himself out in diamonds,
emeralds, and pearls, but who was dressed in the simplest manner,
loved to study chemistry, and surrounded himself with beautifully made
microscopes and telescopes, obtained at great expense from London and
Vienna.
That one interview was quite enough for the beginning of a friendship,
the King soon finding out that his visitor was a man of similar tastes
to himself, but immeasurably far in advance, and eager to impart his
scientific knowledge to one to whom so many things were enclosed in
what seemed to be a sealed-up book of wonder and mystery.
The consequence was that, instead of making a temporary stay in Siam,
Mr. Kenyon gladly accepted the monarch's friendship and protection,
settling down on the banks of the great river at once.
This had happened ten years before the events narrated here, but all
had not been smooth. There had been plenty of the opposition of
ignorance; the King's far-seeing brain was almost alone, and his
nobles and retainers of the blood royal looked with contempt upon the
strange things that took up so much of their ruler's time. To them
many of his studies seemed to be mere madness, and they looked at one
another and shook their heads when they learned that the King spent
the whole of some nights looking through a tube like a big bamboo, at
the moon and stars.
Then worse things happened: it was found that he was doing uncanny
things, a kind of magic by which he conjured up horrible creatures and
made them dance and whirl about in water. He showed favoured people
strange demons with teeth and horns and claws in a dark room in the
palace, where he made a great white spot of light come on the wall,
into which he conjured the aforesaid monsters.
But the worst of all was his fitting up one little room with shelves
and cabinets full of bottles and glasses. It was well known that here
he studied, by mixing and boiling up, how to make horrible poisons,
one drop of which shown to an enemy would produce madness, while if
taken it was sudden death. And all this the nobles, priests from the
great temples, and wise men generally, in secret conclave, came to the
conclusion could only have one meaning, and that was to kill off
secretly every one of the blood royal and second king's family, so
that no one except the one the King wished could by any possibility
succeed to the throne.
It was very dreadful, and they shook their heads more and more, and
there were talks about its being a sacred duty to kill such a vile
being, and make the second king the first; but so far it had all been
talk, for changes are a long time coming about among such people as
these.
Then, too, for a long time Mr. Kenyon, this foreigner of the
barbarians who came from the far West, was looked upon with sinister
eyes, for was he not a favourite with the King, helping him to prepare
his magic and his terrible poisons?
But as no one died, and no one seemed to be any the worse for the
King's magic, and above all as the great people of the country found
that Mr. Kenyon was a very pleasant gentleman, who paid great respect
to them and all their institutions, it was settled that he should not
be stabbed with krises--unless he behaved worse or did some real harm.
He did offend soon after, for upon settling down he was favoured by
the King with a grant of land on the banks of the river, this being
looked upon as a great offence, land in such a position having
heretofore been reserved for the sole benefit of the great nobles of
the land and the priesthood, for their large monastic
institutions--great walled-in enclosures of some fifteen or twenty
acres, covered with the temples, shrines, and conventual
dwelling-places of the talapoins or bonzes, as they were called, and
easily enough to distinguish by their closely shaven heads and long,
yellow robes. Ordinary people and the poor had to live, according to
law, in house-boats, with which the rivers, canals, and backwaters
were covered. These waterways were the highways--there were no proper
roads--and were thronged with dwelling-places large and small,
warehouses, shops, and places of entertainment, all built upon bamboo
rafts and moored to the banks, forming a beautifully healthy, populous
city, for the tide from the sea swept to and fro, clearing it from all
impurities day and night.
That grant of land gave great offence, for who was this strange
barbarian who had come among them with his little curly-haired boy and
a servant, that he should be treated as if he were a noble lord of the
land? And once more Mr. Kenyon's position seemed to be precarious, for
the King's favour went farther towards his new English friend and
student. For native workmen and material were supplied in abundance,
the orders given to the men being that they should build the place,
dwelling and warehouses, in accordance with Mr. Kenyon's design.
All this proved a great gain to both, for while Mr. Kenyon prospered
wonderfully in his trading ventures, and had ample opportunity for
collecting the strange products of the country in connection with his
favourite study, the King found his revenues increase and his capital
become more enlightened by the introduction of Europeans, who were
attracted there through finding that they were protected, treated with
respect, and encouraged to trade.
This was forgiven, and all went well till the doctor came, when the
native medicos grew alarmed and threatening, for this Englishman, or
Scotchman, knew better than they.
As the years went on the friendship grew firmer, and the King gladly
seized the opportunity of letting his son share young Kenyon's
studies, for his desire was that his boy should become an enlightened
ruler, who would carry on his plans for the improvement of the country
over which in all probability he would some day reign.
Mr. Kenyon, who was a highly cultivated man, gratefully entered into
the King's plans and invited a clever university man from Oxford to
come out and act as tutor to the two boys, with the result that the
young Prince Phra passed a good half of his existence with Harry at
the bungalow, sharing his studies and amusements, while Harry was
always as welcome a guest as his father at the palace, having only to
express a wish to have it gratified, whether hi
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