Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-01-04
Al MILD ORIENTAL.

II you consider tho circumstances Of
tha case, il was tho only thing that ho
could do. But Pambe Serang had been
hanged by the neck till he was dead,
and nobody cared whether he was right
or wrong
Three years ago, when the ElEass-
Lofhringen steamer Saarbrck was coal
Ing nt Adon and the weather was very
hot indeed, Nurkcod, the big fat Zanzi-
bar stokcr who fed the second right
furnace 30 feet down in the hold, got
leave to go ashore. He departed n
s'Seodeo boy" as they call the stokers.
He returned the full blooded sultan Of
Zanzibar-his royal highness Sayyid
Burgash-with u bottle in each hand
Then ho sat on tho fore hatch grating
eating salt fish and onions and singing
the songs Of "a fur country. The food be-
longed 70 Pambe, the serang, or head
man OF the laacar sailors, He had just
cooked IL for himself, TUNED to borrow
some salt, and when he came back Nur-
keed's dirty fingers were spading into
the rice. A serang is person OF i'm
portance, fnr above stoker, though the
stoker draws better pay. He sets the
chorus of "Hyo, hula! Hoeah, heb, "
when tho captains gig is pulled mp to
the dnvits He heayes the lead, too, and
sometimes, when all the ship is lazy
he puts on his whitest muslin and a
big red sash and plays with the passen-
gers children on the quarter deck
Then the passengers give him money,
and no saves it for an orgie at Bombay,
Calcutta or Pulu Penang.
"Ho, you fat, black barrel, you're
eating my foodv 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
gossip with Hakodate junks.
"Son Of Eblis, monkey face, dried
sharks liver, pig man, / am the Sultan
Gayyid Burgash and the commander OF
all this shipl Take away your garbage,
and Nurkeed thrust the empty pewter
rice plate into Pambe's hand. Pambe
beat Il 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 tho darkness Of
the hold and spat through the grating
ut Pambe, who was staining the fore
deck 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 cabins. "All
right, i" said Pambe, and went forward
70 tie up his leg, we will settle the
account later" He was Malay. born
In India, married once In Burma,
Mhero his wife had cigar shop on the
Shwe Dagon road; once in Singapore to
Chinese girl and once in Madras 20 .
Mohammedan woman who sold fowls.
The English sailor cannot, owing 70
postal and telegraph facilities, marry
20 profusely as he used to do, but ma
tive sailors can, being uninfiuenoed by
tha barbarous inventions OF the western
savage. Pambe was good husband
when he happened 20 remember the ex-
istenoe Of wife. but he was also very
good Malay, and it is not wise to offend
= Malay, because he does not forget any
th,,.~. Moreover, in Pambe's case blood
baa been drawn and food spoiled Next
morning Nur.Ssed rose with blank
mind. He was no longer sultan OF Fan
ribar. but a very hot stoker. so he went
ON deck and opened his jacket 70 the
morning breeze till q sheath knife came
like a flying fish and stuck into the
woodwork Of the cooks galley haii an
Inch from his right armpit. de ran down
elbow before his time, trying to remem'
her what he could have said to the
owner of the weapon. At noon. when
All the ships lascars were feeding, Nur
keed advanced into their midst, and be-
ing a placid man with large regard
for his own skin he opened negotiations,
saying: "Men of the ship, last night 4
know that behaved unseemly TO some
ono or another Of you. Who was that
man. that may meet him face to face
and say that l was drunk. F"
Pambe measured the distance to
Nurkeed's naked breast If he sprang
AZ him, he might bo tTipped up, and q
bllnd blow ut the chest sometimes only
means a cash ON the breast bone. Ribs
.ara difiicult to thrust between unless
1ho subject IS asleep So he said moth
Ann. non did tho other lascars- Their
1hoos Immediately dropped all expires
kIcn, as is lbp custom of the orientais
whom there is killing on the carpet or
Anr chance OF trouble. Nurkeed looked
long at the white eyeballs he was
onl5 an African and could not read
chtracters. A big sigh. almost groan'
|ttke from hirn. and he went back TO
the furnaces The lascars took up the
oontersation where he had interrupted
A They talked of the best methods OF