The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-06
At the Court of Pelesu.
(story of the Malay Peninsula. In elevel
parts.)

| HAhl Will
When blood runs slowly. when limbs
| wax weak,
When life is ebbing away,
| When lips, that Of old were swift to
speak,
Are silent forever and aye;
When the passing pain racks the wearied
brain,
When the death-rattle tears the chest,
A man may rejoice at AzraePs voice,
And be glad TO go to his rest.
But when on the brink of the grave we
reel,
Tho the soul to the body clings,
And never a pang or pain we feel,
And our joy in all mortal things
Is as keen as OF old, yet the hours fore
told
For our death by our foes decreed,
! The longing for life makes furious strife
And to die may be hard, indeed
Norris set off for the mouth of the river
as soon as he learned that a ship had
arrived. He travelled in a long. narrow,
| open boat. taking the steer-oar himself,
| while sixteen of his men bent 10 the pad
| dies, to the accompaniment of a per-
! feet tempest of shrill shouts and yells.
| The boat SKINNED quickly over the water,
and in an hour Jack found himself climb
| ing UP the port side of dirty little steam
| tramp" and being received by the Malay
captain and Chinese Chin-chu, or super
| cargo, at whose hands she ran many
risks, and suffered terrible things every
| time she put to sea- AS he boarded her,
he saw certain of the kings men scram-
! bling into a boat moored on the star
board side, and he knew from this that
the people OF Pelesu had already done
their best to prevent the ship from accept
| ing All Ku and his people as passengers.
| This suspicion was soon amply confirm
! ed for the Malay captain and the Chi
nese supercargo both fatty refused to run
the risk of taking out of Pelesu persons
whom the king desired to keep within his
country. Norris had anticipated this, how
ever, and he proceeded to calmly explain
that if the refusal to carry All Ku and his
| family was persisted in, the good ship
! Bang All Hong would shortly forfeit her
/ license to carry passengers and would
meet with stern disasters exceedingly I'M
| pleasant to her owners. After some fur
Their arguments the captain of the vessel
gave in, and when Jack had exacted a
promise that the vessel should not put
TO sea, until he gave her permission to do
so, he once more returned up stream TO
the capital.
afternoon calls. First he visited the Ungku
Sunda, the kings brother, who was on
good terms with Norris, and on exceed
ingly bad ones with the ruler of Pelesu.
| To him Raja Norris explained that on
| the following morning he proposed to take
| Che All Ku and his family out of Pc
! lesu.
DO not so,' cried the Ungku Sunda
The king will never permit 1t. If thou
dost persist thou wilt be slain, and when
thou art dead, l, too. will perish at the
hands of the king"
Norris laughed, and said that the Mug
ku Sunda had better lend him his aid in
the removal of All Ku, since if that fail
! ed, they were both, 1t would seem, like
to be dead men before long. The Ungku
Sunda, however. only reiterated his en-
treaties TO Norris to abandon his project
and bewailed the evil fate which ne fore
saw was like to overtake him and all
connected with him.
What can one do?" said Norris, phil
osophically. My words have gone forth.
1 have said that l would do this thing
and now behold the time is at hand"
Norris left the Ungku Sunda moaning
over his evil fortune with tears and flu
| tile wringing of the impotent, irresolute
hands, and betook himself to the Benda-
hara.
There will be trouble if thou dost at
tempt to remove An Ku," said this chief
there will be trouble, and thou and
thine will be slain. But pray thee leave
a record behind thee that so the white
men may know that 1 was ever thy
friend"
The frank selfshness of this proposal
set Norris laughing once more. He was
!
his voice and manner showed no signs
of excitement, and the humors of the
situation pleased him.
IF thou art my friend" he said, when
the trouble comes all men will know it,
for thou wilt stand by me. Therefore,
there will be no need of writing or record
TO prove my friendship"
But I am a man devoid of power and
authority" whined the Bendahara Il
can not aid thee, but indeed 1 am thy
friend"
He who is not for me is against me-"
translated Norris, and so saying he took
mis- departure.
He next visited Tumenggong. another
great chief, who was famed for his pru-
dence, but this worthy, having scented
trouble in the air, had departed up
stream to snare turtle-doves, thus to
dNOIu al connection Win whatsoever
might occur.
Norris next went to see Tungku In
dut, the eldest son of the king who was
at this time a. enmity with his father,
and to him he repeated that at dawn on
the following day he proposed 10 remove
All Ku and his family.
Hast thou we'll considered this plan?'
asked the prince.
Yes said Norris. graveIy-'I have
considered it even to the end
And thy mind is made up" asked the
prince-"even though thou art aware that
the king will visit thy action maybe with
force"
yes returned Norris. my mind is
made up, and my word has gone forth"
Then, if thou wilt follow my advice,
remove An Ku by night, so that no man
may know the hour of his departure"
That l may not do" said Norris: at
am 10 thief, removing by night the prop
erty Of the king. thy father. An Ku and
his people are British subjects and all
such come and go as il pleases them.
At daybreak tomorrow take them forth.
and l come hither 20 tell thee my inten-
ton that ali may be open, and that no
man may say that 1 acted secretly or
by stealth"
Then. ] have no further word to say
said Tungku Indut; do that which thou
thinkest right. but verify there will be
trouble. and thy life viii pay the penalty
OF thy desire TO oppose the king"
s.-
One and Two Iiuars