The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-01
At the Court of PeIesu,
(Story of the Malay Peninsula In ter
parts.)
PART III.

CUDDIE HEADRIGG.
| A week or two before the mouth OF the
river was finally closed for the year by
the threatening of the monsoon, Jack
| Norris lay stretched upon his mat with
cigarette between his lips and a novel in
his hand. He was a short, very dark
youngster of about three or four and
| twenty years of age. He was thick set.
and very powerfully built, with sturdy
legs. and arms on which the biceps stood
up in knots. His features were rather
broad and fiat, and the logged strength
of a dominant race in every hard line
! which responsibility and an eastern ell
mate had drawn upon his ugly face. He
was clothed after the manner of Europe
ans in the Malay Peninsula during their
| hours of ease-in a short linen Jacket,
| with sleeves reaching to the elbows, in
short linen drawers, and a broad native
| skirt or sarong, which might be huddled
up about his waist, or suffered to drop to
his ankles. or over his feet If the mos
| QuitOes were annoying in their attention,
| at their owners win.
| It was evening, and the room in which
Norris lay was dimly lighted by a stink
ing oil lamp which stood on the matted
! floor at his elbow. One or two Malays
| squatted at one end of the room, near
the curtained door, chewing guilds of
| areca-nut and talking together in low
murmurs. Through the narrow, open win
dOws the moon light strove to penetrate,
in spite of the quasi lamplight, and the
hum of a thousand busy insects, varied
by the occasional clear note of a night-jar
was borne upon the pure night air. The
surroundings in which he found himself
had grown so familiar TO Jack Norris,
that Thackeray's brilliant description of
| 2 he fa+a ar tub oh
| dear Becky scored her glittering, short
lived triumph, in the book that Norris
| was reading for the hUndredth time,
struck no note of incongruity in his mind.
One-half of his brain unconsciously assim-
Hated the trivial talk Of the Malays near
the doorway, while the other half took in
the familiar words of his book.
| Presently some one came to the door
and said few words in low voice TO
one of the Malays who was seated near
it.
There is a Chinaman who would come
into thy presence, Tuan,' said the latter,
turning to Norris.
bid him enter" said Jack, sitting up
and laying his book down beside him.
The curtains in the doorway were put
aside and an old Chinaman entered. He
saluted Norris, and then seated himself
cross-legged on the floor near the foot of
the bed. He was a long-boned, sunken-
checked, deeply-wrinkled old creature,
with n slender pigtan composed almost
entirely of silk hanging from the sparse
grey hairs on his scalp. His shoulders
were bowed by a permanent stoop, and he
brought with him that peculiar smell of
roasted coffee and chocolate which. COM
bined with a. strange closeness of the at
mosphere that surrounds him. always de-
| cd oroi1 ornO
What is the news?" asked Jack, speak
ing in Malay, and employing the usual
native interrogative greeting.
THE news is good,' rejoined the Wis
itor, speaking in the same language and
making use of the formal reply, which
is as empty of meaning as the Quite
well. thank you," of the confirmed in
valids.
These greetings over, the Chinaman
shook himself, glanced over his shoulder
at the Malays near the door, and said
uneasily:
There is thing that would say unto
thee, Tuan.'
Speak on" said Norris; these men
are mine own people Have no fear"
81 come to thee. craving aid. Tuan,"
| resumed the Chinaman. q am exceeding
ly troubled I have wife"
81 pity thee!" interposed Norris SYM
patheticaIly.
"She is a good woman, very fair to see,
and moreover she is virtuous,'' contin-
ued the Chinaman.
That is strange! It is difficult to find
such a one said Jack, who knew some
thing OF Oriental morals. Speak on
YES" assented the Chinaman-"yes, it
is strange that she is what she is; the
more so, seeing that her beauty is indeed
| ha 40 hal
is in this wise. She was married to me
some four years agone. and have had by
her two children, boys, and she and are
happy living together in love. Does 1t
seem strange to thee, Tuan, that one who
Is young and beautiful should love me.
who am neither the one nor the other?
Yet she who is my wife loves me, and
will have naught of the king or his pres
ents. The Tuan knows the ways of the
king. He dwells often in the house Of
his concubine, Che Layang, the which
adjoins mine own. Upon a certain day
the king peeping through the waited
walls which divide my house from that
of his concubine, espied my wife playing
with the men-children. my sons, and from
that time he has sought many means to
| seduce her from me He sent first an
aged crone of his household to make
known to her his passion; but she, on
hearing the words Of an old woman, rails
ed so great a tumult of angry SCREENINGS
that the bag fed in fear of me. Then.
later. the king sent diamonds and fine
raiment, such as women love, by the
hands of certain CT his armed youths.
choosing for the purpose an hour when
l was absent from my house. But she,
my wife. received the youths with evil
words, and threw the kings gifts forth in
to the mire of the street, so that the silks
were soiled and the very lustre of the da-
monds was dimmed
Therefore. my wife boarded up the
crevice in the wall through which the
king was wont to watch her; but in the
night the boarding was torn away.
Thou askest, Tuan, why the king has
not seized her by force as he seized the
| wife of Ahmad OF Pulsn Aur. and the wife
Of Chi on, the KEN trader. Tuan. men
speak Of thee as the penawar putch-the
white antidOte-and but for that medicine
many man had suffered death and worse
in Pelesu since thy coming. And 7. also.
but for thee. had lost either life or honor.
It is thy presence. and the fear Of those
who sent thee hithsr, which causes the
/ king 70 employ stealth and stratagem
where. in past days he was won't TO use
force. Now come hlther 70 thee crying
| and weeping. secretly, and by night. hop
/ ing that thou wilt aid and protect me.
and the woman my wife. and the men
! children. ny two little sons. Both ! and
| my wife are British subjects Long have
| We dwell in Pelesu, but our birthplace
Is in the colony. We. therefore. are thine
I own people, and we trust in thee with a
| thousand. thousand hopes"
| --
Demands $1,000 for One Kiss
As a price for 4 single kiss. SI20o seems
| "a Thar high This amount hnwaNar Sc