CHAPTER V.
So far, nothing had been seen of the rajah's prahus. When questioned onthe subject, he replied that they were all down on the coast, tradingwith the natives; but it was so improbable that they should have beensent away while the rajah was in fear of an attack by his neighbors thatno credence was given to the assertion. The ship's boats often went outfor long rows on the river, ostensibly--as the captain told the rajah,who inquired suspiciously as to the meaning of these excursions--for thesake of giving the crews active exercise, but principally in order totake soundings of the river, and to investigate the size and positionsof the creeks running into it. One day the gig and cutter had proceededfarther than usual; they had started at daybreak, and had turned offinto what seemed a very small creek, that had hitherto been unexplored,as from the width of its mouth it was supposed to extend but a shortdistance into the forest. The master's mate was in command of one boat,the second lieutenant of the other; Harry Parkhurst accompanied thelatter. After pushing through the screen of foliage that almost closedthe entrance to the creek, the boats rowed on for some distance. Forhalf a mile the width was but some fifteen yards, and the trees met inan arch overhead, then it widened considerably.
"This is just the sort of place," the lieutenant said to Harry,"where the rajah's prahus may be hidden away. We had best go along asnoiselessly as possible. If we were to come upon them suddenly theymight fire upon us, and that would bring on a general row. If we shouldcatch sight of them, it would be best to take the news to the captain,and let him act as he thinks fit."
He ordered the men to cease rowing until the gig came alongside.
"Mr. Morrison," he said, "it seems to me that this is a likely place forthe prahus to be hidden. We had better try and discover if this is thecase, without being ourselves seen; therefore have all the oars, exceptfour, laid in, and let the men muffle those with their stockings, andbe most careful to dip them into the water without making a splash.Let absolute silence be preserved in the boat. I will lead the way asbefore, and if I hold up my hand stop rowing instantly."
"Aye, aye, sir!" the mate replied.
The same precautions were taken by the cutter, and the boats proceedednoiselessly. Presently the stream narrowed again, until it seemed thatthey were approaching its termination, and the boat stopped rowing.
"I fancy we have come to the end of it, Mr. Morrison," the lieutenantsaid in a low voice.
"I am afraid so too, sir; there is no room for the oars, and we shalleither have to punt the boats, or to drag them by the bushes."
The lieutenant was about to give the order to turn when Harry said,suddenly, "There is a current, sir. I have had my eye upon that root,and we have drifted backwards a couple of feet since we lost way, sothere must be a stretch of water above us."
The lieutenant watched the root of the tree to which Harry had pointed,for a minute in silence, then he said, "You are right, my lad, there isa current, and, as you say, there must be a stretch of water above us.Lay in your oars, lads; stand up, and pull her along by the boughs andbushes, but don't make the slightest sound."
Twenty yards farther the creek widened, and the oars were again got out.
"Take your place in the bow, Mr. Parkhurst, and hold up your hand theinstant you see anything unusual, and do you, men, be ready to hold herup the instant I give the order."
They proceeded for a quarter of a mile, the gig following close behind.Suddenly, at a bend in the stream, a glare of light was seen ahead.Harry held up his hand, and passed the word down in a whisper that justahead the creek widened into a broad sheet of water. The lieutenantstopped the gig by holding up his hand, passed the order for the mento lay in their oars noiselessly, and told the coxswain to keep in wellunder the bushes on the left hand side; then he made his way forward,and joined Harry, telling the men to pull the boat forward by meansof the branches overhead which were well within reach, but to avoidbreaking even a twig.
In a minute or two the bow of the boat arrived at the end of the screenof bushes, and a low exclamation broke from the lieutenant and Harrysimultaneously; they were looking out on to an almost circular pool sometwo hundred yards in diameter. In the center were moored six prahus.Two of them lay broadside on to the creek, the other four were in a linebehind these, and it seemed that their broadsides were directed to theopposite side of the pool, for the other two boats were in the way oftheir firing at the creek. They were long, low vessels, rowing sometwenty oars on each side. Each carried a number of small brass guns, andthey were evidently full of men, for numbers could be seen on deck, andboats were passing to and fro between them and a small village at theedge of the pool. Having taken in all the details of the scene, thelieutenant passed the word for the mate to leave his own boat and joinhim. When he did so, he whispered to him: "I thought it was as well thatyou should have a view of these fellows' position too, Morrison, as itwould be of use to you if you have to take a boat in to attack them."
Two minutes later the boats were drawn back again to the open water intheir rear, and rowed as noiselessly as before down the creek, no wordbeing spoken until they were half a mile away from the pool.
"That is a snug hiding place, Mr. Morrison," the lieutenant said.
"It is indeed, sir. Who would have thought the scoundrels were so closeto us, or that they lay up this narrow creek, which I have passed half adozen times and never thought worth examining? I should not have dreamtthat one of those craft could have passed through."
"I doubt whether they did pass through. They hardly could have done sowithout breaking down a good many of these branches, and we must haveseen signs of that. I think they must have got into that pool by somecreek coming in on the opposite side. You see four out of the six boatswere anchored in line so as to bring their broadsides to bear on somepoint opposite to them, while the other two guarded them against anyattack from this side. Naturally, they thought it unlikely that any boatwould come up here, and so directed their main attention to the otheropening. The next thing to find out will be where the other streamjoins the river, otherwise, as soon as we make our appearance, they willescape that way, and there is not the least doubt that they could rowaway from our fastest boats. However, it is a great thing that we havediscovered their whereabouts without their having the least notion thatwe have done so, and I am sure the captain will be very pleased when hehears that we have found them. It will give him the whip hand over thatlying rascal Sehi."
Captain Forest smiled grimly when the lieutenant made his report of thediscovery that he had made.
"Thank you, Mr. Hopkins; that is a very valuable discovery. Just atpresent matters have not come to a point when we can turn it to account.The next thing will be to find out where the other passage comes out.It will be a serious business to attack them in the boats alone;these prahus carry a tremendous lot of men, and the Malays will fightdesperately. I do not say that we might not succeed, but we should losea lot of men in the attempt; it would be hot work even with the ship,attacked by six of these fellows at once. If it was in the night, wemight fail to see any of them before they were upon us, and we shouldhave hard work to beat back four or five hundred of them if they allcame swarming on deck together. However, we can wait, and the first timethe rajah shows any signs of treachery we can pounce upon his fleet.He will not dream that we have discovered their hiding place, and willtherefore let them hide there without movement. However, we must try tofind the ether end of the entrance to the creek.
"Please impress upon Mr. Morrison and young Parkhurst that it is of thehighest importance no words shall be spoken about it; and it might beadvisable, also, to give notice to the men who were in the boats, tokeep their mouths shut. I have no reason to believe that the interpreteris not faithful to our interests, but it is just as well not to trustanyone. Moreover, it may be that some of these Malays who come on boardwith fruit may have been for a time at Singapore or Penang, and pickedup a little English, and a chance word might let them know that we havediscovered the prahus."
"I wonder why our friend Hassan has not turned up," Dick Balderson saidto his chum one day, after they had been lying for a month opposite thetown.
"I expect something has occurred to keep him," Harry said. "I am quiteconvinced that he would have come if he could. He may be in troublehimself with some of his neighbors, or he may have tried to exerthimself too soon and done himself damage. I am quite convinced thathe meant what he said. At any rate, till this business here comes to ahead, we are not likely to be able to go up and pay a visit to him."
"No, I am quite sure that the captain would not let us go now, andindeed, I would not ask him, even if I were sure he would, for we mayget to blows with the rajah any day; he cannot put off giving a finalanswer much longer. I wonder the captain stood his shilly shallying solong as he has."
It was but two evenings after this that, as the two midshipmen wereleaning against the bulwarks, watching the reflection of the stars inthe sluggish stream, a native sampan stole silently out from the shadowof the shore and dropped down alongside the Serpent. So noiseless wasthe movement that the two men on the lookout in the bow did not noticeit, and the midshipmen thought it was a shadow of some dark objectfloating down stream, when it came alongside and a man stood up.
"Hello!" Harry said, "you must not come alongside like this: what do youwant?"
"Dick, Harry, Doctor; come from Hassan."
"Oh, that is it; all right, come on board," and, leaning over, hestretched out his hand to the native, who seized it, and in a momentstood by his side on the deck, holding the head rope of his sampan inhis mouth.
"Davis," Harry said to the sailor who was standing two paces away, "justgo down to the wardroom, and tell the doctor, with my compliments,that I shall be obliged if he will come on deck at once. Say that it issomething particular."
A minute later the doctor appeared. "I was just in the middle of arubber, Dick, and if you have not an uncommonly good reason for callingme up I will make you smart for it, the first time you get under myhands. Whom have we got here?"
"He is a messenger from Hassan; he mentioned our names and yours."
"Ah, I am glad of that," the doctor said, rubbing his hands together;"they have been chaffing me in the wardroom about it, and prophesyingthat I should never hear of him again. Well, what does he say?"
"He has not said anything except our names, Doctor, and that he comesfrom Hassan. I don't suppose he knows any more English, and I thought wehad better consult you, whether it would be best to send for Soh Hay; hemay have brought some message of importance."
"Right, lad. I think the most prudent thing will be to tell the captainfirst. It may only be a message to say why he has not come, or it may bea matter of some importance. I will go to him at once."
Two or three minutes later he returned. "You are to bring him to thecaptain's cabin. Here, Davis, pass the word forward that the captainwants to see Soh Hay in his cabin."
Harry touched the native, who had been standing quietly by his side, andsigned him to accompany them, and with Dr. Horsley and Dick went directto the cabin.
"So your friend has sent a message at last, lad?" Captain Forest said."I am glad of that, for I own that I had doubts whether we should hearany more of him."
"You come from the chief Hassan?" the captain, who had been working atthe Malay language, with the interpreter, since he had arrived at themouth of the river, asked in that tongue. The man's face brightened.
"Yes, my lord," he said.
"Is he well?"
"The chief is quite well."
"I wish I knew enough to question him without Soh Hay's interference,but I shall only make a mess of it, and, perhaps, get a wrongidea altogether of his message. Now, Soh Hay," he broke off as theinterpreter entered, "you will ask this man the questions exactly as Iput them, and tell me his answer word for word. It may be of importance.Now ask him first what message he brings from his chief to theofficers."
The question was put, and the native, speaking slowly and quietly, andevidently repeating a lesson that he had learned by heart, said, "Thechief sends his greeting to his three friends, Harry, Dick, and Doctor,also to Captain. He is well in body; he is cured, and can throw aspear and lead his men to battle. He has sent four messengers one afteranother, but none have returned with an answer; they have no doubt beenkrised. Now he sends me."
"Tell him that no messenger has arrived until now," the captain said,when this was interpreted to him.
The man nodded. "All krised. I travel at night, hide in trees all day,float down at night in shadow of bushes, and have got through safe.Chief Hassan says not been able to come down. Other chiefs very angrybecause English warship come. Send message to Hassan to join them. Whenhe say no, they threaten to kill him and destroy tribe when warship goaway. Two of Rajah Sehi's prahus go up and down river; stop all boats.Sehi send message to all chiefs; say that English war boat here. Englishcome take his country, and after they done that take the countries ofthe others; make themselves kings of the river. He ask them to join himin killing English, every man, then he would have no more quarrel withthem, no trouble trade any more; be good friends with all neighbors.Some chiefs say one thing, some another. Some more afraid of rajah thanof English; some think better have English here than rajah.
"Hassan says must take great care. Sehi very treacherous; attack whenthey do not expect it. He thinks his prahus can easily take Englishship; but Hassan says Sehi wants the other chiefs to aid, so that ifthe English send up more ships, then, can all join him in fighting them.Hassan says he will do what he can. He has eight war canoes, but no goodagainst prahus--they run at canoes, and cut them in half; but willcome to help if English attack. He does not know where prahus are. BegsCaptain to attack these first; it is they that make Sehi master of theriver. If they destroyed, other chiefs not afraid of Sehi, and he mightget some of them to join against him. Hassan said tell Harry, and Dick,and Doctor he does not forget their kindness, and will do what he can towatch over them. Such is Hassan's message."
"Ask him when he is going back to his chief," the captain said.
"He go now," the interpreter said, after asking the question. "He get asfar as he can before morning. He sure many eyes watch ship night andday to see that no message comes, or any word of what rajah is doing. Hefloat down stream in sampan some distance, then paddle to opposite bank,then keep in shadow of bushes up the river, and hide away till nightcomes again."
"Very well, then, tell him that he is to thank his master for sendingus warning; that we had already found out that what he told us before hewent away was true, and that Sehi is a very bad man. Say that we are notafraid of prahus, and will make short work of them when we get a chance.Tell him we will take great care, and not let ourselves be surprised,and that when we have finished with this fellow here, the ship will comeas far up the river as she can go, and show the chiefs that the Englishhave no evil intentions against them, and will send his three friendswith a strong boat party to pay him a visit. By the way, ask the man ifhe knows this part of the country."
"Yes, Captain; he says that he has been since his boyhood a boatman, andhas worked for some years with a trader, who used to go up the creeks,and trade with the villagers."
"Ask him if he knows a creek that turns off from the river four or fivemiles above this; it is a very small one, but it leads into a pool onwhich is a large village."
The man nodded at once, when the question was put, then spoke for aminute or two.
"He says, Captain, that he knows the pool and village; but he has neverbeen up the small creek that you speak of. Did not know that a boatcould get through. He has been there by a large creek that runs intothe other branch of the river, the one that turns off twelve miles belowthis; from that river it is an hour's paddle in a sampan to the pool."
"How should we know the entrance?" the captain asked.
"Entrance difficult to find," the native replied; "strip of land runsout from both sides, covered with trees. One goes a little beyondthe other, so tha
t anyone who did not know it would pass the entrancewithout noticing it. It is just wide enough for a large craft to go inand out. There is a village stands a hundred yards below the entrance;it would be known by a big tree that grows before a large house close tothe bank. The water is deep on that side. You have only, after passingthe village, to keep close in shore, and you will then see the entranceto the creek. It is called Alligator Creek, because, more than anyplace, it swarms with these creatures."
"Thank you," the captain said. "Will you tell the chief that I say youhave rendered me a valuable service?"
He opened a case in which he kept presents intended for the chiefs, andtook out a brace of handsome pistols, a powder flask, and a bullet mold.
"Take these," he said, "in token of the service you have rendered. WhenI see your chief, you shall be well recompensed for the risk that youhave run in bearing me his message."
The Malay looked longingly at the pistols, and then said, "I came byorder of my chief, and not for reward."
"Quite so. I understand that, and am not offering you a reward for thatservice, but for the information that you have given me, which may be ofvalue if I have trouble with the rajah here."
The man bowed and took the pistols offered. "I will use them againstyour enemies," he said warmly; "but all of us know the creek, for it isthat which renders it so difficult for us to fight against Sehi. He ismaster of the water, and we cannot attack him without first crossingthat creek. We should have to carry canoes with us, to do it, for thecreek is too full of alligators for anyone to swim across, and our smallcanoes would have no chance of passing the creek when his war boats werethere."
The captain nodded when this was translated to him.
"Sehi's place, in fact, stands upon an island formed by the two branchesof the river and this creek. As soon as he became master of the river,he could hardly be assailed, while at any time he could sally out andfall upon his enemies. Ask the man if he will take any refreshmentbefore he goes."
The man declined. He had, he said, sufficient fruit and dried fish forhis journey back. A few minutes later he took his place in the littlecanoe and drifted away into the darkness, and was soon lost to sight.