sands of the
elephants, and the tens of thousands of the followers, with which they
credited the adventurous, but slender bands of ragamuffins, who followed
Ahmad's fortunes, Che' Seman broke into their talk with words on a
subject which, at that time, was ever uppermost in the minds of the
Tembeling people, and the conversation straightway drifted into the
channel in which it had run, with only casual interruptions, for many
weeks past.

'He of the Hairy Face[12] is with us once more,' ejaculated Che' Seman;
and when this announcement had caused a dead silence to fall upon his
hearers, and had even stilled the chatter of the women-folk near the
fireplace, he continued:

'At the hour when the cicada is heard (sunset), I met Imam Sidik of
Gemuroh, and bade him stay to eat rice, but he would not, saying that He
of the Hairy Face had made his kill at Labu yesternight, and it behoved
all men to be within their houses before the darkness fell. And so
saying he paddled his dug-out down stream with the short quick stroke
used when we race boats. Imam Sidik is a wise man, and his words are
true. He of the Hairy Face spares neither priest nor prince. The girl
he killed at Labu was a daughter of the _Wans_--her name Wan Esah.'

[Footnote 12: _Si Podong_ = one of the names used by jungle-bred
Malays to describe a tiger. They avoid using the beast's real
name lest the sound of it should reach his ears, and cause him
to come to the speaker.]

'That makes three-and-twenty whom He of the Hairy Face hath slain in one
year of maize' (three months), said Awang in a low fear-stricken voice.
'He touches neither goats nor kine, and men say He sucketh more blood
than He eateth flesh.'

'That it is which proves Him to be the thing he is,' said Ngah.

'Thy words are true,' said Che' Seman solemnly. 'He of the Hairy Face
has his origin in a man. The _Semang_--the negrits of the woods--drove
him forth from among them, and now he lives solitarily in the jungles,
and by night he takes upon himself the form of Him of the Hairy Face,
and feasts upon the flesh of his own kind.'

'I have heard tell that it is only the men of Korinchi who have this
strange power,' interposed Abdollah, in the tone of one who longs to be
reassured.

'Men say that they also possess the power,' rejoined Che' Seman, 'but
certain it is that He of the Hairy Face was born a _Semang_,--a negrit
of the woods,--and when He goeth forth in human guise he i