all on which quarter of the mat I
staked, nor whether I staked _ko-o_, _li-am_, or _tang_; I pursued the
red half of the dice as one chases a dog, but never once did I catch it.
At last, when my four thousand dollars were finished, I arose and
departed, and my liver was hot in my chest. As I came out of the Farm, a
Chinaman, whom I knew, and who loved me, followed after me, and said,
"Hai-yah, Ungku, you have lost much to-night. That man with whom you
gambled was cheating you, for he has a trick whereby he can make the red
part of the dice turn to whichever side of the mat he wills." "Is this
true?" I asked, and he said, "It is indeed true."'

'Then I loosened the "Chinese Axe" in its scabbard, and turned back into
the Farm. First I seized the Chinaman by the pig-tail, and my followers
gathered up all the money in the bank, near seven thousand dollars, so
that it needed six men to carry it, and I then departed to my house,
none daring to bar my passage.'

'When we had entered the house, I bade the Chinaman be seated, and told
him that I would kill him, even then, if he did not show me the trick
whereby he had cheated me. This he presently did, and for near two hours
I sat watching him, and practising, for I had a mind to learn the manner
of his art, thinking that hereafter I might profit by it. Then, when the
dawn was breaking, I led the Chinaman down to the river by the
hand,--for I was loth to make a mess within my house,--and when I had
cut his throat, and sent his body floating down-stream, I washed myself,
performed my ablutions before prayer, prayed, and went to my bed, for my
eyes were heavy with sleep.'

'_Kasih-an China!_' I said, 'I am sorry for the Chinaman!'

'Why are you sorry for him?' asked Raja Haji, 'He had cheated me and it
was not fitting that he should live; besides, he was a Chinaman, and we
counted not their lives as being of any worth. In Kinta, before Mr.
Birch went to Perak, they had a game called _Main China_, each man
betting on the number of the coins which a passing Chinaman carried in
his pouch, and whether they were odd or even. Thereafter, when the bets
had been made, they would kill the Chinaman and count the coins.'

'They might have done that without killing the Chinaman,' I said.

'It is true,' rejoined Raja Haji, 'but it was a more certain way, and,
moreover, it increased their pleasure. But _Tuan_, the night is very far
advanced. Let us sleep.'

Verily, life in an Independen