The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-09
At the Court Of Pelesu.
Cstory of the Malay Peninsula In clever
parts.1
PART XI.

| match He knew that after his death the
/ good people of Pelesu would seek 10 Justl-
| fy the murder by the fabrication of some
1 lying story which should attribute to the
event causes wholly disconnected with pol
itics; wherefore il was absolutely neces-
sary, from his point OF view, that true
record of events should, sooner or later,
/ fall into the hands Of those Of his own
people who might hereafter come to gather
up his bones.
| He wrote calmly and steadily, a cigar
cite between his lips, pausing every now
| and again 10 seek the word he wanted, or
! to listen 10 the run" of q sentence. His
mind was working with more than its
usual activity, and he flattered himself
that the dispatch would do him credit,
though at a date when ne would no longer
be at hand to profit by it. The absolute
certainty of his conviction that he had
only a few more hours left him in which
10 live was present at the back Of his mind
during all the time that he sat writing,
but it only served TO throw the other facts
with which he was dealing more clearly
into relief. The knowledge of an inlmi-
nent danger, which is also perfectly GER
tain to end in death, has a curiously
numbing effect upon the nerves. and fear
for the time seems TO stand and gaze in
stead of rushing in with its cruel claws
TO tear and rend the soul.
When the dispatch had been drafted, re-
vised and finally signed, Norris began
letter to his mother. He told her the
facts of the position in which he then
found himself. Of the certainty he felt of
death on the morrow, and wound up with
q few simple words of love and thankful
ness for her sweet love to him. He added
a word or two of sorrow for the grief his
death would bring, but he was conscious
all the time that he reviewed his case
| dispassionately, as though in some unex-
planned way it was that of a third person,
the pathos of whose death had no power
to move him to tears or rentimentality.
Then he wrote a short line TO his little
sister. But here things were different, for
he knew that she had not the strength
| to bear his death with the resignation
which his mother would show though per-
haps the latter loved him the more dearly
! of the two. His words conjured up his
sisters piteous weeping face, and the de-
| spair which his death would bring 20 her
wide soft eyes. He finished the letter with
sob, and from pure inability to go on
with it. For the first time that night he
felt heartily sorroy for himself and for the
distant hearts that loved him.
In a moment, however, he pulled himself
| together, and having placed his papers
in the hollow of bamboo, he hid it care
fully in the thatch of his house. A small
boy, whose tender years would prob
ably serve to save his life, was bid to mark
the spot, so that he might show it to the
white men who would come to Pelesu
! when Norris was dead and gone
All this occupied nearly four hours, and
! at 2 o'clock Jack went TO the bathing plat
! form at the back of his house in order to
take dip in the river before lying down
to snatch a few hours sleep. He was
| just preparing TO undress when one of his
natives came to the door of the kitchen,
which looked out upon the river ana said:
''Tuan, man hath come from the house
of All Ku, praying thee to SO thither
| speedily"
| What is ftp" asked Norris.
"Thy servant knows not" replied the
man.
Norris snatched up a sword, and crying
! to Rail Hail Hamid to follow him. ran
down the street in the direction of Che
| All Kus house. Presently the night wind
bore to him a shrill. despairing keening,
which he knew meant death, and on en-
/ tering Che All Ku's house he found Chik
! PROSTATE across the corpse of her hus-
| band, wailing as only a native woman can
when the horror of death, and the loss Of
one who is very dear, have freshly smit-
ten her. All Ku had died while Chik sat
by and tended minded of the shattered
! vessels in his chest which all Jacks care
had been powerless to heal.
/ Chik screamed and tainted, recovering to
! fall once more upon the corpse, whisper
ing little vain words of love to ears that
could not hear, and showering caresses up
on hands, feet and face that had ceased
] r - IL 49, IL
elaborate burial rites of the Chinese had
been complied with, Chik would refuse to
! leave her dead, and that all thoughts Of
removing her to the colony must, for the
present, be abandoned. He assured him
| self that death had resulted thus oppOr-
| timely without the aid of poison or other
! foul play. Then he turned away with his
! spirit suddenly relaxed from the tension
to which it had been strung all through
/ the night, and with a curious appreciation
! of the pathos with which his adventure
had ended. causing something akin to dis
! appointment in his heart. He knew now
! that the British government would annex
or protect" Pelesu before the year was
out; he felt that he had played his part
unfinchingly, and in his heart was both
pride and some measure of surprise at
what he had done in the hour of danger
had terminated in too unsensational
manner for much credit to be reaped by
him, when such of the facts became
known as the government would eventual
" learn from his own modest report of his
proceedings.
Then on a sudden it was borne in upon
him with something like a shock that his
/ life had been saved in the very nick Of
time, and the fear of death. and of the
peril in which he had stood, a fear 10
which he had been a stranger all the
night, fell upon him unexpe ctedIy, and
shook him with a tremor which made him
ashamed. Presently, he was startled from
MS revere by Raja Hail Hamid. whose
very presence he had forgotten, swearing
softly Under his breath
What is it?' asked Jack
"Ya anah. Tuan," sighed Raja Hail. I
have dreamed the longht night through
that now indeed I should once more see
shrewd blows given, and the red blood
running free, And when I looked upon
the so beast-like body Of this Chinaman.
whose inappropriate death hath robbed
US of our play. and marred the playing. I
could in my wrath have spuraed it with
my foot,"
Jack Norris laughed softly but his ugly
face wore = look OF unwonted tenderness.
and his thoughts were with his little sis
ter far away in sheltered England. into
whose eyes, as he saw them in magma
ton, the light OF youth and happiness had
once more returned.
And thus the British government took
charge of the destinies of the land of
/ Pelesu.
THE END.