ther with thee,
to sit upon the throne which thy valour has won for him, and for his
seed for ever!'

So Wan Bong set off on a triumphal progress up river to Bukit Betong,
disbanding his army as he went. But scarcely had he reached his home,
than he learned, to his dismay, that Che' Wan Ahman and Che' Wan Da,
with a large force, were only a few miles behind him at Batu Nering.
Panglima Raja Sibidi, with all his people, had made common cause with
the enemy, whose ranks were further swelled by the very men who had so
lately been disbanded by Wan Bong on his journey up river. The Pekan
_Rajas_ had carefully collected them man by man as they followed in the
wake of the dispersing army, and Wan Bong thus found himself deprived,
in an instant, not only of all that he had believed himself to have won,
but even of such poor following as had been his in the days before his
ambitious schemes were hatched.

But before the royal forces began their invasion of the upper country,
it became evident to them that Che' Jahya, the Chief who had been left
in charge of the Tembeling River by Wan Bong, must be disposed of. This
man had followed Wan Bong's fortunes from the first, and it was known in
the royal camp that no attempt to buy his loyalty would be likely to
prove successful. Wan Bong had started up the Jelai on his triumphal
progress, and it was important that no news should reach him, that might
cause him to stay the dispersal of his men. So Che' Jahya's fate was
sealed. About the second day after Wan Bong's departure for Bukit
Betong, Che' Jahya was seated in the cool interior of his house at Kuala
Atok, on the Tembeling River. The sun was hot overhead, and the
squeaking low of a cow-buffalo, calling to its calf, came to his ears.
The fowls clucked and scratched about the ground beneath the flooring,
and the women-folk in the cook-house chattered happily. All spoke of
peace. The war was over, and Che' Jahya sat dreaming of the good things
which would be his in the days that were coming. He had stood by Wan
Bong when bullets were flying, and had camped on the bare earth when his
armies had taken the field. His aid and his counsel had had no small
share in his chief's success. Che' Jahya's heart was filled with peace,
and the gladness of one whose toils are over, and who sees his rewards
well within his grasp. Already, in imagination, he was acting as the new
Bendaharas deputy, having power over men, a harem full of fair women,
a