The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-11-25
FLORETTE TENiPUS.
Gentle on Land, But "a Veritable Tiger on
the Water.

the Water.
La-su-da, that was the name Of the native
whose hut was reared just beyond my
fence, and La-su-da was to me the most
| obliging Of neighbors. His ciyilities went rs
! far rs catching m occasional stray chicken
Of mine. La-su-da was Of pure Malay
stock, and showed no Chinese blood. We
were quite sOciablc after a month or two,
and accepted his aid in thatchiag lean
to | had added TO my cottage. | was not
willing to let him work for nothing, and
gave him small amount Of money. l sup
pose / was careless rs to my gardening
tools leaving them about when sudden
rain came on, but | never missed anything.
felt then quite assured as TO his honesty.
La-su-da's occupation seemed varied. He
had a small patch Of vegetables, some kind
Of edible tuber, which the Mafays eat In
a half fermented state, and he did some lit
tie work in wedding his plot He was, how
ever. more OF fisherman, and would be
absent sometimes for a week. The little
river O-di-tan ran directly into the sea-
which was not mere than six miles distant
as the crow would fly. but the creek twist
ed and doubled so that the sea was fully
eighteen miles away. | would sometimes
watch La-su-da padding along, and |
thought | had never seen such an expert
bOatman.
had missed him for several days, when
one evening | was surprised by receiving
visit from him His arm was bandaged,
and he was limplng La-su-da exhibited TO
NE fairly deep cut I'm his forearm AMI
showed n leg that had been apparently
grazed by shot. l did not inquire how my
patient had been hurt, but at once applied
To his wounds such simple remedies as l
had. In two weeks La-su-da was fairly
well again.
He seemed as If he wanted TO show me
his gratitude one day | found on my win
dow sill n very handsome bolt Of some kind
Of Chinese brocaded silk. I scarcely knew
what to DO with the stuff which | had
every reason 10 suppose was worth nj least
n dollar or more a yard, and there were
TWENTY-FIVE yards CT II. / wanted TO re-
turn the stuff but La-su-da had made a
mysterious disappearance.
About month afterward heard com
motion at La-su-da's hut, and went out TO
see what had happened. Two or three or
my native friends in the village, hearing
the noise. accompanied me. When we en-
tered the hut there was my Malay friend
extended on the f0cF stark dead. lie hhd
been run through several times with
spear and there was an ugly cash across
HIS luNts
How did this happen" I asked, quite
Mortified.
"Oh. IL was TO he expected. La-su-da was
a pirate but a good pirate. He never ala
anv harm to n soul on the land' but 10
sooner was he I'm his boat than his business
changed. Along the river he could collect
I'm a half hour twenty leading men In MS
rofessiOn-frst-chop pirates-and then they
stood out 10 sea In craft or some twenty
five tons, and they plundered any JUNK they
came across.
"La-su-da was captain. and very brave
man he was-a perfect tiger when MS Dloou
was up We had n great deal or respect
for him He was civil Obiging. and never
u,rfaged any Of Us in the village. We never
however. went on the water without MS
nermission. He wanted tribune, and we
maid him, but not much. oh, he Is TO De
forgiven.
you must understand that our ways are
not your ways For one thousand years or
more the family Ct La-s2-da have been III
the piracy business. Ii was their nature.
Poor fellow We are sorry Tor nm, Dut
he has two or three sons. and rs they VIII
certainly carry out their fathers calling,
There will be more Cinnamon who Will
suffer We shall miss him very much, for
ne used TO self us the best opium very
cheap. and there was nothing close or mean
about him"
But this La-su-da must have killed many
n poor sailor or trader" | said.
''Many? Why, count your teeth over
twenty times and you would about come
near the number OF men La-su-da has
killed. "-"OT the Coast of Malacca-"