"Right, sir," said Dick: but he finished the dinghy first, said that
there'd be a row about the cut painter, and then had his glass of grog
before he changed his things.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

A RUN AFTER A RAJAH.

Fresh news reached the residency the next day from the sultan, who sent
word that he had had a very threatening letter from Rajah Gantang,
declaring that if he did not break at once with the English, ruin,
destruction, and death would be his fate before many months had passed.

This threatening language had completely upset the sultan, so the chief
who bore the message said, and he begged that his friends and allies,
the English, would not let him suffer for his fidelity to them; and when
asked what he wished done, the chief replied that while Rajah Gantang
lived there would be no peace, for the rajah's emissaries were in every
part of the country, ready to carry news, to rise on their lord's
behalf, even to assassinate, should their orders be to that extent.

The result of all this was a promise that the rajah should be found, if
possible, though how it was to be done the resident could not say.

Just in the nick of time a good-sized prahu came down the river, and on
anchoring by the steamer her captain went on board, with a pitiful tale
of how he had been treated higher up the river.

Believing the rajah's power to be broken, he had been on his way down,
laden with a good cargo of tin, when he was summoned by a prahu to stop.
This he refused to do, not knowing who summoned him, when he was
attacked by a party from the prahu, two of those on board were killed,
and he himself severely wounded.

In proof of his assertions he displayed a spear wound in his arm and the
stab of a kris in his shoulder.

Doctor Bolter was sent for, and the master of the prahu had his wounds
dressed, after which he implored the help of Captain Horton to recover
the slabs of tin that had been taken from his boat, almost ruining him,
so severe was the loss.

The news that one of the prahus was about, up the river, set the ship's
company on the _qui vive_ once more. The master of the prahu, having
been robbed of his cargo, had no farther aim, and was glad enough to
offer his services as guide. When asked as to the depth of the river,
he declared that the steamer could ascend for another twenty miles, so
it was decided to make a fresh expedition against this disturber of the
country; but the whole of the plans were kept