a gang of fighting men, which
watches over the person of the King and acts as his bodyguard. It is
recruited from the sons of the chiefs, nobles, and men of the well-bred
classes; and its members follow at the heels of the King whenever he
goes abroad, paddle his boat, join with him in the chase, gamble
unceasingly, do much evil in the King's name, slay all who chance to
offend him, and flirt lasciviously with the girls within the palace.
They are always ready for anything from 'pitch-and-toss to
manslaughter,' and no Malay king has to ask twice in their hearing 'Will
nobody rid me of this turbulent priest?' Their one aim in life is to
gain the favour of their master, and, having won it, to freely abuse
their position. As the Malay proverb has it, they carry their master's
work upon their heads, and their own under their arms, and woe betide
those who are not themselves under the immediate protection of the
King, that chance throws in their way. Sometimes they act as a kind of
irregular police force, levying _chantage_ from those whom they detect
in the commission of an offence; and, when crime is scarce, they often
exact blackmail from wholly innocent people by threatening to accuse
them of some ill-deed, unless their goodwill is purchased at their own
price. They are known as the _Budak Raja_--or King's Youths--and are
greatly feared by the people, for they are as reckless, as unscrupulous,
as truculent, and withal as gaily dressed and well born a gang of young
ruffians, as one would be like to meet in a long summer's cruise.

Awang Itam had served the King for several years as one of the _Budak
Raja_, but his immediate chief was Saiyid Usman, a youngster who was
also one of the King's Youths, and was usually spoken of as Tuan Bangau.
Awang had been born and bred in the house of which Tuan Bangau's father
was the head, and, though in accordance with the immutable Malay custom,
Awang always spoke of himself as 'thy servant' when he addressed Tuan
Bangau, the relations which subsisted between them more nearly resembled
those of brothers, than those which we recognise as being proper to
master and servant. They had crawled about the floor of the women's
apartments in company, until they were old enough to play in the open
air; they had played _porok_ and _tuju lubang_, and all the games known
to Malay children, still in company; they had splashed about in the
river together, cooling their little brown bodies in the runnin