could be attacked.

Now fate had so arranged it, that the point exactly beneath the spider
as it slowly descended was the tip of Bob Roberts' nose, and to this
point in the course of a minute the insect nearly arrived.

It may be thought that its next act would be to alight and fix its rope;
but this was not so easy, for the soft zephyr-like breaths the middy
exhaled drove the swinging architect to and fro. Now it came near, now
it was driven away; but at last it got near enough to grasp at the
sleeper's most prominent feature, just brushing it with its legs, and
setting up an irritating tickling that made Bob snort and scratch his
face.

The spider swung to and fro for some seconds, and then there was another
terrible tickle, to which Bob responded by fiercely rubbing the
offending organ.

The spider was driven to a distance by this; but it was back again
directly, with its legs stretched out, tickling as before.

Bob was not asleep, and he was not awake, and he could neither sink into
oblivion, nor thoroughly rouse himself. All he could do was to bestow
an irritable scratch at his nose, and the spider came back again.

At last, spider or no spider, he dropped into a strange dreamy state, in
which he believed that Tom Long came and loomed over him on purpose to
bend down and tickle him, out of spite and jealousy, with the long thin
feather from a paroquet's tail.

"Don't! Bother!" said Bob, in his sleep; but the tickling went on, and
he felt ready to leap up and strike his tormentor; but he seemed to be
held down by some strange power which kept him from moving, and the
tickling still went on.

Then he could hear voices talking, and people seemed to be about,
laughing at and enjoying the trick that was being played upon him; and
then he started into wakefulness, for a voice exclaimed,--

"Come, Mr Roberts, are you going to wake up?"

It was Lieutenant Johnson who spoke; and on the middy jumping up, he
found standing by him, with the lieutenant, the dark-faced youth who had
met them and acted as guide on the occasion when they made their first
visit to the sultan's home.

He was dressed similarly to the way in which he made his first
appearance before the English party; that is to say, he wore the silken
jacket and sarong of the Malay chiefs, with a natty little embroidered
cap, set jauntily upon his head like that of a cavalry soldier; but in
addition he wore the trousers, white shirt-front, and patent