ured us that their ruler could not bear to be alone.
They said, "Even when he eats and sleeps there is always one on the
watch near him who has strength and weapons." There was indeed always
one near him, though our informants had no conception of that watcher's
strength and weapons, which were both shadowy and terrible. We knew, but
only later on, when we had heard the story. Meantime we noticed that,
even during the most important interviews, Karain would often give a
start, and interrupting his discourse, would sweep his arm back with
a sudden movement, to feel whether the old fellow was there. The old
fellow, impenetrable and weary, was always there. He shared his food,
his repose, and his thoughts; he knew his plans, guarded his secrets;
and, impassive behind his master's agitation, without stirring the least
bit, murmured above his head in a soothing tone some words difficult to
catch.

It was only on board the schooner, when surrounded by white faces, by
unfamiliar sights and sounds, that Karain seemed to forget the strange
obsession that wound like a black thread through the gorgeous pomp of
his public life. At night we treated him in a free and easy manner,
which just stopped short of slapping him on the back, for there are
liberties one must not take with a Malay. He said himself that on such
occasions he was only a private gentleman coming to see other gentlemen
whom he supposed as well born as himself. I fancy that to the last he
believed us to be emissaries of Government, darkly official persons
furthering by our illegal traffic some dark scheme of high statecraft.
Our denials and protestations were unavailing. He only smiled with
discreet politeness and inquired about the Queen. Every visit began with
that inquiry; he was insatiable of details; he was fascinated by the
holder of a sceptre the shadow of which, stretching from the
westward over the earth and over the seas, passed far beyond his own
hand's-breadth of conquered land. He multiplied questions; he could
never know enough of the Monarch of whom he spoke with wonder and
chivalrous respect--with a kind of affectionate awe! Afterwards, when we
had learned that he was the son of a woman who had many years ago ruled
a small Bugis state, we came to suspect that the memory of his mother
(of whom he spoke with enthusiasm) mingled somehow in his mind with the
image he tried to form for himself of the far-off Queen whom he called
Great, Invincible, Pious, a