escort of twenty
bluejackets and as many marines. A large crowd of people had collected
to see them pass along to the palace, which was a bare, barn-like
structure, but they looked on sullenly and silently as the party passed
through them on their way. They were kept waiting some little time
outside the building, then entered through a doorway which led them into
a large, unfurnished room, at the end of which the rajah was seated. He
rose when the officers entered, and received them with an appearance of
great cordiality, his chiefs standing behind him.

The conversation was wholly of a complimentary character; the subject
of the business on which the British ship had come was not even touched
upon; refreshments, consisting of native sweets and palm wine, were then
passed round, and the captain, seeing that all business talk was to be
deferred, took his leave.

The doctor, who was fond of the two midshipmen, was always ready to chat
freely with them.

"What did you think of our ally, Dr. Horsley?" Dick asked him, when,
having changed his full uniform for a suit of undress, he came up on
deck.

"Between you and me, Balderson, I have seldom seen a more unmitigated
looking ruffian in my life; even for a Malay, he is ugly. Soh Hay tells
me that in his young days he was a great fighter, and his face and
shoulders are seamed with scars. I asked how he came to be rajah; for he
does not look at all the type of the better class of people. Soh told
me that, in the first place, he took to the jungle, owing to his having
krised in a quarrel the son of the chief here. He was joined by other
fugitives, set up as a pirate, and captured by surprise one of the
chief's prahus. His force grew rapidly, and he made a night attack on
the chief's campong, killed him and all the members of his family, and
caused himself to be elected chief of the tribe, which was then a
small one. Gradually he swallowed up one after another of his weaker
neighbors, sometimes by force, sometimes by treachery. I believe he is
now confronted by more powerful chiefs, and that it is only because he
is possessed of some six or eight piratical prahus that he has been able
to maintain his position. No doubt he has become alarmed by a prospect
of a combination against him, and has so invited us to support him. Such
a step will, of course, greatly add to his unpopularity, but doubtless
he thinks that, with our help, he could defy his enemies."

"But, he cannot sup