fell; and, wonderful to relate, for Malays make bad
sentinels, they kept faithful watch both by day and by night. Thus at
length they won to Pekan without mishap; and thereafter they were
suffered to remain in peace, no further and immediate attempts being
made upon their lives.

To' Raja--or Panglima Prang as he was still called by the King and the
Court Faction--remained at the capital a prisoner in all but the name.
The Bendahara declined to accord him an interview, pointedly avoided
speech with him, when they chanced to meet in public, and resolutely
declined to allow him to leave Pekan. This, in ancient days, was
practically the King's only means of punishing a powerful vassal,
against whom he did not deem it prudent to take more active measures;
and as, at a Malay Court, the _entourage_ of the Raja slavishly follow
any example which their King may set them, the position of a great Chief
living at the capital in disgrace was sufficiently isolated, dreary,
humiliating, and galling.

But To' Raja's own followers clove to him with the loyalty for which, on
occasion, the natives of Pahang are remarkable. The Bendahara spared no
pains to seduce them from their allegiance, and the three principal
Chieftains who followed in To' Raja's train were constantly called into
the King's presence, and were shown other acts of favour, which were
steadfastly denied to their master. But it profited the Bendahara
nothing, for Imam Bakar, the oldest of the three, set an example of
loyalty which his two companions, Imam Prang Samah and Khatib Bujang,
followed resolutely. Imam Bakar himself acted from principle. He was a
man whom Nature had endowed with firm nerves, a faithful heart, and that
touch of recklessness and fatalism which is needed to put the finishing
touch to the courage of an oriental. He loved To' Raja and all his
house, nor could he be tempted or scared into a denial of his affection
and loyalty. Imam Prang Samah and Khatib Bujang, both of whom I know
well, are men of a different type. They belong to the weak-kneed
brethren, and they followed Imam Bakar because they feared him and To'
Raja. They found themselves, to use an emphatic colloquialism, between
the Devil and the Deep Sea, nor had they sufficient originality between
them to suggest a compromise. Thus they imitated Imam Bakar, repeated
his phrases after him, and, in the end, but narrowly escaped sharing
with him the fate which awaits those who arouse the wrath of