especially after the affront just received!

So armed with these subtle reasonings, with which I sought to persuade
myself, I left the tragical spot where, according to the brief agony of
my feelings and the likelihood of procedure, I had been torn to pieces
and eaten by a wild beast, and I continued my homeward journey.

How the faintest sound startled me! A falling leaf; a blade of grass
moved by an insect; a snake or a lizard gliding out of my path; the
squeal of a monkey; the fluttering of a bird's wings as it flew up to
its perch, all subjected me to spasmodic thrills.

I always had in my sight that dreadful beast with gaping mouth, and
cruelly glittering eyes. The horrible vision gave new vigour to my body,
extraordinary suppleness to my legs and--wings to my feet.

Kind reader, who knows how many times in your sitting-room or perhaps in
somebody else's even dearer to you--_honi soit qui mal y pense_!--you
have found yourself in front of a tiger, leopard or panther whose
brindled and glossy skin you have admired; who knows how many times you
have absently played with its head, still ferocious-looking, in spite of
its glass eyes and red cloth tongue; who knows how often you have toyed
with its fangs and claws whilst you were persuing a pleasant thought or
inebriating your spirit with the soft tones of a certain voice!

Well, have you ever tried to imagine what emotions you would experience
if quite unexpectedly those glassy eyes should become animated; if that
ugly mouth should open wider; if those white fangs should gleam with
life; if those splendid claws should be stretched out in the act of
lacerating you: if that magnificent skin should once more be
incorporated and rise up to face you?

I confess the truth when I say, that the dainty supper I had brought
with me from Tapah, lost its flavour for me that evening.

* * * * *

A report of my flourishing trade and the news that gold was to be found
at the bottom of the little river which flowed past my humble dwelling
soon spread outside the Sakai region. The consequence was quite an
invasion of our tranquil village.

This immigration greatly alarmed the poor Indigenes who cannot easily
forget how they were once treated by those not of their own race.

They still remembered with terror how the strangers had plundered their
villages, carrying off everything they could lay their hands upon, even
their young men and women to s