Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1898-09-27
A MILD ORIENTAL.

Al yOu Consluor the circumstances q
the case, 1t was tho only thing that II,
could do But Pambe Serang had bee,
hanged by the neck till he was dead
and nobody cared whether he was riRh
or wrong.
Three years ago, when the Elsass
Lothringen steamer Saarbuok was coal
Ing at Alden and the weather was YER,
hot indeed, Eurkeed the big fat Zanzi
bar stoker who fed the second riuhl
furnace 30 feet down IN tho hold. 20,
leave to go ashore He departed Z
"Seedee boy" as they call the stokers
he returned the full bloodod sultan Of
Ianzibar-his royal highness Sayyid
Burgash-with n bottle in each hand.
then he sat on tho foro hatch grating
eating salt flsh and onions and singing
the songs Of far country. The food be.
longed to Pambe, the serang, or head
man Of the lascar sailors. He had Just
cooked 1t for himself, turned 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, far above n stoSer, though the
stoker draws bettor pay. He sets the
chorus of "Hya, hullal Heeah, heh, -
when the captains gig is pulled up tc
the davits. He hoaves the lead, too, and
sometimes, when all the ship is lazy.
he puts on his whitest muslin and q
big red sash and plays with the passen-
gers children on the quarter deck.
Then the passengers give him money,
and he saves it for an orgie at Bombay,
Calcutta or Pulu Penang.
''Ho, you fat, black barrel, you're
eating my foodl" said Pambe in the
other lingua franca which begins where
the Lovant tongue stops and runs from
Port Said eastward till east is west and
the scaling brigs Of the Kurile islands
gossip with Hakodate junks.
"Son Of Eblis, monkey face, drie 4
sharks liver, pig man, am the Sultan
Sayyid Burgash and the commander Of
all this ship Take away your garbage, "
and Nurkeed thrust the empty pewter
rice plate into Pambe's hand. Pambe
beat 1t 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 fore
deck with his blood.
Only the big white moon saw these
things, for the officers were looking
after tho coaling aud the passengers
were tossing in their close cabins. "All
right, said Pambe, and went forward
10 tie up his leg, 'we will settle the
account later" Ho was Malay, born
In India, married once in Burma,
where his wife had cigar shop ou the
Shwe Dagon road; once In Singapore to
D Chinese girl and once IN Madras TO
woman who sold fowls.
The English sailor cannot, owing ts
postal and telegraph facilities, marry
10 profusely as he used to do, but ma
i've sailors can, bOing uninfuenced by
he barbarous inventions of the western
Iavage. Pambe was q good husband
when he happened TO remember tho ex-
stenco Of wife, but he was also very
rood Malay, and it is not wise to offend
| Malay, because he does not forget any
hing. Moreover, in Pumbe's case blood
lad been drawn and food spoiled. Next
Nurkeed rose with n blank
mind. He was no longer sultan Of Zan.
ibar, but very hot stoker. So he went
II deck and opened his jacket to the
norning breeze till a sheath knife came
ike a flying fish and stuck into the
woodwork of the cooks galley, half an
nch from his right armpit. lie ran down
lbow before his time, trying to remem-
,er what he could have said to the
,wner Of the weapon. At noon, when
III the ships lascars were feeding, Nur
reed advanced into their midst, and be.
ng q placid man with large regard
or his own skin he opened negotiations,
aging: "Men Of the ship, last night /
NOW that / behaved unseemly TO somo
ne or another of you. Who was that
nan, that may meet him face to face
md say that ! was drunk.
Pambe measured the distance 20
Jurkeed's naked breast. If he sprang
It him, he might be tripped up, and a
lind blow at the chest sometimes only
means cash on the breast bone. Ribs
re difficult TO thrust between unless
he subject is asleep SO he said moth
ng, nor did the other lAsoars. Their
aces Immediately dropped all express
ion, as Is the custom Of the orientals
yhen there is killing on the carpet or
ny chance Of trouble. Nurkeed looked
ong at the white eyeballs. He was
nly an African and could not read
hsracters A big sigh, almost a groan,
roke from him. aud he went back to
he furnaces. The lascars took up the
conversation where he had interrupted
/. They talked Of the best methods a
oolcin0 rice