“Executed, my boy. Yes, and I appealed to the rajah for mercy; but he gave me so terrible an account of the man’s life that I was silenced at once. Come, you have plenty of time before breakfast. I want you to see my home.”
Ned shivered a little as he gave a glance round at the scene, which looked so beautiful, that it seemed impossible that so great a horror could have taken place there. Then he followed the Resident, and awoke to the fact that they were alone.
“Where are the men who were following me,” he said, and Mr Braine smiled.
“Gone back to their quarters, I suppose,” he said. “They consider you are in my charge now.”
Ned gave him a curious look, which his companion interpreted directly.
“Very well,” he said, laughing; “think so if you like. I suppose I am your guard. Ah, here are your two friends,” for the Tumongong and the other officer came up hurriedly, and made a communication to the last speaker.
“I must put you off, Murray,” he said, turning quickly to the boy. “The rajah is taken ill. You can wander about the place a bit; I daresay I shall be back soon.”
He went off with the two Malay officers, and Ned hesitated for a few moments as to which direction he should take, and ending by making for the river higher up the stream, so as to get right away from the spot that he could not recall without a shudder. This part, too, looked particularly attractive with its groups of palms and large forest trees, some of which overhung the stream, one being covered with white flowers to its very summit.
It was all very beautiful as he neared it, and he began thinking of how delighted his uncle would be with the orchids and other parasitical plants which cling to the boughs; but all at once, as he was looking round, he caught sight of one of his guards, and directly after of the other, for, as if by magic, they had reappeared, and the sensation of being watched again, coming upon the recollections of the morning adventure, seemed quite to rob the place of its beauty.
“I may as well go back,” he thought to himself, after wandering for a short distance among the trees, and stopping at last to lay his hand upon a branch which overhung the river, so that he could lean out and gaze down into the dark clear water, with some vague idea of seeing whether there were any fish.