the point I named
last evening. They were two hours late, though they had paddled their
hardest. As soon as they disembarked I led them to the spot, and the
rest was easy. I knew that the prisoners who had been taken were my two
friends, for I saw them on the deck of the prahu; and glad indeed I was
to be able to pay my debt to them."

"You have paid it indeed most nobly, Hassan," the captain said,
holding out his hand, and grasping that of the chief, when, sentence by
sentence, the story was translated to him. "Little did we think, when
you were brought on board the Serpent, that your friendship would turn
out of such value to us."

There was now some discussion as to the proposed meeting of chiefs; and
half an hour after, a dozen small canoes started with invitations to the
various chiefs to meet the captain at Hassan's campong, with assurances
that he was ready to overlook their share in the attack on the ship, and
be on friendly terms with them, and that the safety of each who attended
was guaranteed, whether he was willing to be on good terms with the
English or not. Four days later, the meeting took place in the newly
erected hall. Ten or twelve of the chiefs attended; others, who
had taken a leading part as Sehi's allies, did not venture to come
themselves, but sent messages with assurances of their desire to be on
friendly terms. A good deal of ceremonial was observed. The marines and
bluejackets were drawn up in line before the hall, which was decorated
with green boughs; a Union jack waved from a pole in front of it.

The chiefs were introduced by Hassan to the captain. The former then
addressed them, rehearsing the service that the English had done to them
by destroying the power of the tyrant who had long been a scourge to
his neighbors, and who intended, without doubt, to become master of the
whole district. As a proof of the good will of the English towards the
Malays, he related how the two English officers had leaped into the
water to save his child, and how kindly he himself had been treated.
Then the captain addressed them through the interpreter. He told them
that he had only been sent up the river by the Governor in accordance
with an invitation from Sehi, of whose conduct he was ignorant, to
undertake the protectorate of his district; and that, on learning his
true character, he at once reported to the Governor that the rajah was
not a proper person to receive protection, as not only did he preven