The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-27

bring him away thus far into the unknown in
terror. had never in my dreams even exa
pected a visitor, and had almost come to the con-
clusion that had seen white man for the last
time so ill was and so far from all ideas of
civilization.
No sleep no food could I take for the next two
days. / was in feverish excitement, and toward
the close of the second day stationed myself
upon the highest point, with my men around
me, with their guns ready to fire salute of well
come By and by. in the dim distance. l could
hear shouts and three four small canoes
approaching rapidly against the stream. My
excitement was intense. and at last L was re-
warded by seeing large prahu slowly turn the
bend of the river. manned by some twenty
orang-dyang, or paddlers, who occupied the fore
part of the canoe. Amidship roof of leaves,
and astern stood the form of my unknown
visitor, bareheaded. and in white. l gave
the word, "Fire" and never was there
such row in Penungah before Bang!
bang!' at irregular intervals was kept up durin g
the quarter of hour it took for the prahu to ar
rive alongside the landing place. There, stepping
lightly ashore was Frank Hatton once more; and
again we CRASHED hands. this time With indie
scribable feeling of thankfulness. He looked
we'll and strong and was in high spirits
We walked together up the hill and entered
my humble dwelling which consisted of a roof
and floor of split bamboos built on piles. Hav-
ing no chairs, we sat together upon the ham,
mock, and we each seemed to have much to
say that we found difficulty in conversing at
all.
The rest of that evening we spent in talking
over our homes and our respective relations and
conjecturng together what our friends far away
at home were then doing; whether it was fine
weather in the old country not, and many
other things like that. We opened bottle of
wine from my stores and drank to each others
healths; we smoked cigarettes and talked far
into the night Frank then ordered his ham
mock to be prepared and we turned in but not
to sleep. We each had too many questions to
ask one another We would both be silent for
few minutes and would ask some questions
about Sandaken. Then silence again and Frank
would be the interrogation. This kept up
until sunrise when we both dozed off for half an
hour.
l noticed when it was quite dark that two or
three of Franks men kept dropping kind of
powder into the fire, and asking him what it
meant and what the powder was, he said his ma
tives We're very superstitious and were afraid OF
ghosts. The powder which they threw into the
fire was, he said. composed of bits of worsted,
the bark of the upas tree, and occasional
glass bead. This they believed pleased the
deity, who in return for this intention kept
watch over them through the night to protect
them from the attack of the spirits of their de-
parted relatives. This led to Frank telling me
many interesting things about the supersttious
fears of the natives. The fitful fireignt and the
intense outer darkness made the stories all the
more impressive My visitor and fellow coun-
tryman also taught me many Malay words and
gave many valuable hints in regard to the
language, ali of which / thoroughly remember
to this day. We finally retired to our respective
sleeping places and fell asleep.
At last, Franks arrangements being quite
com leted, the date was fixed for his departure
to investigate the Seguama river on the 18th of
February. He collected few things together,
which he said he would not require upon that
journey, and asked me to take care of them and
send them down to Sandakan at the first ODpor
tunity. Then came the time for our parting,
and we walked together sadly down the hill to
the boats and stood for some minutes grasping
hands and wishing each other good bye. His
last words to me were. Good bye. old chap, till
we meet again in London. Well have a jolly
time then" His boat pushed off, and he glded
slowly with the stream.
AS stood there watching him disappear round
the bend in the distance a feeling of sadness and
strar e foreboding came over me, such feel
ing Il at never had before and wondered how
long 1t would be before l once again would
him. I was very sad as l walked up the hill to
the hut. l rested many times. and felt choking
sensation in my throat. l. however. lay down
in my hammock and spent the remainder of that
night gazing listlessly at the sky, feeling down
hearted and thoroughly miserable, till, all at
once, | heard the splash of canoe and jump
ing up, found that Bonesu had just arrived with
his two sons They approached me in an agi
tated manner and told me in Malay that they
had dived in the river where Franks canoe was
upset. and they showed me a prismatic compass
and fiat compass and an aneroid which they
had recovered from the bottom of the river.
Immediately whistled UP my men. and gave
orders to Hassan, my corporal, to Immediately
start off and try and overtake Frank and give
him these things which l knew were a serious
loss to him. Half hour afterwards all was
quiet again, and Hassan was we'll on his way
down the river
On the third day Hassan returned and brought
note upon which written Il A. n.
Dear Ward-Thanks for the things, but l fear
they sadly damaged" l took this note,
folded it carefully and slowed it away. Every
thing was miserable for the next week. I was
sad, i'll and downhearted l wanted to return to
Sandakan, but feared to leave the place on ac-
count of rumors of band of desperadoes from
nelghboring tribe coming up and docking off our
heads.
Whilst in this uncertain state of mird man
arrived at Penungah whom l recognized and
who proved afterwards to have been one of
Frank Hattons followers. He was in a terrible
state of excitement, and spoke SO quickly was
unable to understand single word he said. At
last, by the aid Of Hassan, was told that poor
Frank was dead. and was made acquainted with
the sad details of his sad accident. l then made
up my mind, at all hazards, to try and return as
soon as possible, and about month afterwards
| was on my way down the river to Sandakan,
Frustrated with the jungle fever. then found
that the tale was only too true.
''You said that Frank was reticent as to his
mission on the Segama"
Eyes but hopeful, evidently"
Ibid he speak of possible gold find2'
mo. he did noe talk MUCK of the business of
his expedition; he examined the banks of the
river and the bed whenever he could and re-
GREETED that it was the rainy season. He spoke
once of the great mineral promise of the Kina
Balu country. He talked more of London than
of Borneo, though he spoke of intended visit
to Java and Siam. heard from others more of
his expedition than from himself. but he said
that little opium pipe that he bought from
the Tungara men nearly cost him his
life. He was remarkably coolheaded
thought, and brave. and his men loved him.
Passing one of the rapids saw his boat slew
round towards jutting rock. saw him bend
down and speak to one of his men, the strongest
and biggest of them. The man leaped from the
boat, chung to the rock, and received the shock
of the collision with his feet, and saved the boat
He had been upset himself more than once or
twice on his river expeditions You see nobody