The record-union., 1899-02-12
THE DEATH-MARCH or kULOP

| face was broad and ugly, and a pecu-
I liarly sinister expression was impaired
| to it by hare lip, which left his gums
| exposed. 1t was to this latter embel-
| lishment that he owed at once his
vicious temper and the name by which
| he was known. 1t is not difficult to
understand why, for women did not
love to look upon the cash in his lip.
and his nickname of Sumbing-which
means 1.-The Clipped One''-reminded
him of his calamity whenever he heard
/ it,
He was a native of Perak, and he
made his way into Pahang through the
untrodden Sakai country. That is prac-
| tically all that is known concerning his
origin.
Kulop Stumbling probably held suffi-
GENTLY cynical opinion as to the nature
of his countrywomen, who are among
the most venal of their sex. He knew
that no girl could love him for the sake
Of his marred, unsightly face, but that
many would bestow their favors upon
him if his money bags were well lined.
Therefore he determined to grow rich
with as little delay as possible and
i with this end he looked about for some
one whom he might plunder. For this
purpose Perak was played out. The
law of the white men could not be
bribed by a successful robber, so he
turned his eyes across the border to
Pahang, which bore an evil reputation,
as land in which ill things were done
with ilnpunity, while the doer throve
| exceedingly.
So Kulop kicked the dust of his law
restrained Perak from his bare brown
soles and set out for the Sakai country
and the remote interior of Pahang,
where the law of God was not and no
Flaw of man held true.
He carried with him all the rice that
| he could bear upon his shoulders, two
! dollars in silver, little tobacco, a
handsome kris, and a long spear with
a broad and shining blade. His sup
plies were to last him until the first
Sakai camps were reached, and after
that his food, he told himself, would
rest at the tip of his dagger He did
not propose to really begin his opera
tions until the mountains which fence
the Perak boundary had been crossed,
so was content to allow the first Sakai
villages to pass unpillaged. He i'm
pressed some of the naked, frightened
|
supplies of food as he needed, and the
Sakai, who were glad to be rid of him
SO cheaply, handed him on from village
to village with the greatest alacrity.
The base of the jungle-covered mount
aims of the interior was reached at the
end of a fortnight, and Kulop and his
] Sakai began to drag themselves up the
steep ascent by means of roots, trailing
| Ia.n cJo
Upon certain day they reached the
summit of a nameless mountain and
threw themselves down painting for
breath upon the round bare drumming
ground of an argus pheasant. Where
Kulop and his Sakai lay the trees were
thinned out. The last two hundred feet
of the ascent had been a severe climb,
and the ridge which formed the summit
stood clear of the tree-tops which grew
halfway up the slope. AS he lay pant
ing Kulop Stumbling gazed down for the
first time upon the eastern slope of the
peninsula. the theater in which ere long
| he proposed to play very daring part.
During the next day or two Kulop
! Stumbling and his Perak Sakai made
their way down the eastern slope of the
mountains and through the silent for
ests, which are given over to game and
to the equally wild jungle-folk, who fly
at the approach of any human beings,
| precisely as do the beasts which share
with them their home.
| Kulop and his people passed several
deserted camps belonging to these wild
Sakai, but the instinct of the savages
tells them unerringly that strangers are
at hand and never once were any
| of these folk caught sight OF by the
| travellers.
| Kulop Stumbling, of course, took very
| little interest in them, for they possess
| no property, and nothing was therefore
to be gained by harrying them. So he
pushed on through the wild Sakai coun-
try until the upper waters of the Be
tok. the principal tributary of the Jelai,
were reached.
! Bambocs were felled, a raft was con-
| strueted, and the Kulop Stumbling dis
missed his Sakai, and began his descent
! of the unknown river which led he
knew not where, alone, save for his
weapons, but full of confidence in his
ability to pillage this undiscovered
| country single-handed
! 1t was at noon upon the second day
| that Kulop sighted large camp of
| the tanner Sakai in a clearing on the
| right bank of the Betok. The sight of
a Malay coming from such an unusual
quarter filled the jungle people with
superstitious dread, and in a few min
| utes every man, woman and child had
| fled screaming to the forest.
| Kulop went through the TEN or fifteen
| squalid huts which stood in the clear
| ing, and an occasional grunt attested
| that he was we'll satisfied with the
stores of valuable getah lying slowed
away in the sheds. He calculated that
there could not be less than seven pikul,
and that would mean S600 in cash-a
small fortune for any Malay. But then
difficulty presented itself. How was
| this precious sum to be carried down
stream into Pahang? His raft would
hold about one pikul-he knew that the
Sakai would not interfere with him if
to leave the rest But the sight of the
remaining six pikul was too much for
| him. He could not find it in his heart
| to abandon it. and he began TO feel
angry with the Sakai, who. he almost
persuaded himself, We're defrauding him
of his just rights.
| He rolled his quid of betel nut and sat
down to await the return of the Sakai.
and as he thought of the injury they
were likely to do to him If they refused
to aid in the removal of the rest of the
getah, his heart waxed very hot within
him.
| Presently two frightened brown faces,
SCARED with blue tattoo marks on
cheek and forehead, and surmounted