Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-11-24
AMTLDMANNERED A ORIENTAL

N IVA LIZ 4M AAAt tAN ~ ~ WILL n ~
liz you insider the circumstances of
the case. it was the only thing that he
could do. But Palnbe Serang had been
hanged by the neck till he is dead. and
nobody cares whether he was right or
wrong.
Three years ago, when the Elsass-Lo.
thringen steamer Saarbruck was coaling
at Alden. and the weather was very hot
indeed, Nurkeed, the big fat Zanzibar
stoker who fed the second right furnace
80 feet down in the hold. got leave to go
ashore. He departed @Seedee boy, I"
as they call the stokers; he returned the
full blooded Sultan of Zanzibar-his
Highness Sayyid Burgash--with bottle
in each hand. Then he sat on the fore
hatch grating eating salt fish and onions
and singing tile songs of a far country.
The food belonged to Pambe. the Se-
rang. or head man of the Lascar sailors.
He had just cooked it for himself,
turned to borrow some SALT and when
he came back Nurkeed's dirty black fin
gers were spading into the rice. A Sc
rang is person of Importance, far above
a stoker. though the stoker draws better
pay. He sets the chorus of "Hyai
Hullal Hee-ahl He'll" when the cap-
tain's gig is pulled up to the davits; he
heaves the lead, too; and sometimes,
when all the ship is lazy, he puts on his
whitest muslin and big red sash and
plays with the passengers children on
the quarter deck. Then the passengers
give him mo,ey. and he saves it for an
orgie at Bombay, Calcutta, or Pulu Pc
nang.
Hol you fat black barrel, you're eat
ing my food! said Pambe, in the Other
Lingua Franca. which begins where the
Levant tongue stops. and runs from Port
Said eastward till east is west and the
sealing brigs of the Kurile Islands gos-
sip with Hakodate junks.
"Son of Eblis monkey face, dried
sharks liver, pig man. am the Sultan
Sayyid Burgash and the commander of
all this ship. Take away your garbage,
aud Nurkeed thrust the empty pewter
rice plate into Pambe's hand Pambe
beat it into basin over Nurkeed's
woolly head. Nurkeed drew his sheath
knife and stabbed Pambe in the leg.
Pambe drew his sheath knife; but Nur-
keed dropped down into the darkness OF
the hold and spat through the grating at
Pambe, who was staining the foredeck
with his blood
Only the big white moon saw these
things; for the officers were looking
after the coaling -and the passengers
were tossing in their close ca6iiIaasss- All
right, said Pambe-and went forward
to tie up his Ieg-"we will settle the ac.
count later. He was a Malay, born in
India, married once in Burmah, where
his wife had cigar shop on the Shwe
Dagon road; once in Singapore TO a Chi
nese girl, and once in Madras, to a Mo-
hammedan woman who sold fowls The
English sailor can not. owing to postal
and telegraph facilities marry so pro-
fusely as he used to do; but native sail
ors can, being uninfuenced by the bar.
barous inventions of the Western saw
age. Pambe was a good husband when
he happened to remember the existence
of wife; but he was also a very good
Malay, and it is not wise to offend a
Malay, because he does not forget any
thing. Moreover. in Pambe's case blood
had been drawn and food spoiled Next
morning Nurkeed rose with a blank
mind He was no longer Sultan of Ian.
zibar. but very hot stoker. So he went
ON deck and opened his jacket to the
morning breeze, till sheath knife came
like flying fish and stuck into the wood
work of the cooks galley. half an inch
from his right arnpit He ran down
below before his time. trying to remem-
Der what he could have said to the owner
of the weapon At noon, when all the
ships Lascars were feeding. Nurkeed
advanced into their midst, and being a
placid man. with large regard for his
own skin, he opened negotiations, say
ing: Men of the ship, last night was
drunk. and this morning know that
behaved unseemly to some one or an.
other of you Who was that man, that
may meet him face to face and say
that was drunk2"
Pambe measured the distance to Nur.
keed's naked breast II he sprang al
him. lie might be tripped up. and blind
blow at the chest sometimes only means
cash on the breast bone. Ribs are
difficult to thrust between, unless the
subject is asleep So he said nothing,
nor dill the other Lascara Their faces
Immediately dropped ali expression, a
Is tile custom of the Oriental when there
IS killing on the carpet or any chance oi
trouble Nurkeed looked long at the
white eyeballs. he was only an African
and could not read characters. a big
sigla-almost groan--broke from him
and he went back to the furnaces. The
Lascars took up the conversation where
lie had interrupted it They talked ol
tie best methods Of cooking rice.
NuFkeed suffered considerably during
flsn run a Rrrnf.axr frnr,, Lack ~ f~aaF