a King.

At each interview which these Chieftains had with their monarch, the
latter invariably concluded the conversation by calling upon them to
testify to the faith that was in them.

'Who,' he would ask, 'is your Master, and who is your Chief?'

And the three, led by Imam Bakar, would make answer with equal
regularity:

'Thou, O Highness, art Master of thy servants, and His Highness To' Raja
is thy servants' Chief.'

Now, from the point of view of the Bendahara, this answer was most
foully treasonable. That in speaking to him, the King, they should give
To' Raja--the vassal he had been at such pains to humble--a royal title
equal to his own, was in itself bad enough. But that, not content with
this outrage, they should decline to acknowledge the Bendahara as both
Master and Chief was the sorest offence of all. A man may own duty to
any Chief he pleases, until such time as he comes into the presence of
his King, who is the Chief of Chiefs. Then all loyalty to minor
personages must be laid aside, and the Monarch must be acknowledged as
the Master and Lord above all others. But it was just this one thing
that Imam Bakar was determined not to do, and at each succeeding
interview the anger of the Bendahara waxed hotter and hotter.

At the last interview of all, and before the fatal question had been
asked and answered, the King spoke with the three Chieftains concerning
the manner of their life in the remote interior, and, turning to Imam
Bakar, he asked how they of the upper country lived.

'Thy servants live on earth,' replied the Imam, meaning thereby that
they were tillers of the soil.

When they had once more given the hateful answer to the oft put
question, and had withdrawn in fear and trembling before the King's
anger, the latter called To' Gajah to him and said:

'Imam Bakar and the men his friends told me a moment since that they eat
earth. Verily the Earth will have its revenge, for I foresee that in a
little space the Earth will swallow Imam Bakar.'

Next day the three recalcitrant Chiefs left Pekan for their homes in the
interior, and, a day or two later, To' Gajah, by the Bendahara's order,
followed them in pursuit. His instructions were to kill all three
without further questionings, should he chance to overtake them before
they reached their homes at Kuala Tembeling. If, however, they should
win to their homes in safety, they were once more to be asked the fatal
question, and their lives were