The man smiled and nodded, and the Doctor added a few words in the Malay tongue; while the woman now sprang up and began to talk volubly in her own language, uttering short, sharp sentences, which the Doctor punctuated with nods and:
“Yes—yes—I see—I see—exactly. But, hang it all, my good woman!” he exclaimed in English, “don’t talk so fast. I only know a smattering of your tongue.—She puzzles me, my dear. It’s all tongue.—Who the British Dickens wants to know that your little one is quite well again and strong, at a time like this?”
He spoke again in Malay, and the woman nodded and began to gesticulate again, in company with a fresh flow of words.
“Yes, yes, yes,” said the Doctor; “I am very glad, of course.—Now, my dear, this is not like you,” he continued. “Remember you are a doctor’s wife.—Did you ever see such a woman, Archie?”
“Never, Doctor,” replied the lad, coming forward out of the darkness to take Mrs Morley’s hand and kiss it.
“There, I am quite firm now, Henry,” said Mrs Morley; and drawing the native woman towards her, she kissed Dula on both cheeks.
“Now let’s have a few quiet words together,” said the Doctor.—“No, no, Archie; what are you going to do?”
“I thought I ought to go and tell the Major, sir, at once.”
“Not yet. Wait a bit, my lad. We must have a consultation here. I feel as you do, my dear boy; I want to rush back with these people at once. But this is a ticklish affair, and we must do nothing rashly. You see, we have learned this. It’s been a bad case, and we must run no risks. We have learned this—for certain now. It was Suleiman’s men who carried Minnie off and nearly killed you, and, with all the native cunning, he sent his people here to fetch me to doctor him for his so-called tiger scratch. By Abernethy! if I’d known, I’d have poisoned it so that it wouldn’t have got well for a year.—No, I wouldn’t,” he grunted. “I am getting a tongue as bad as that woman’s. But steady, steady! We know for certain that he carried her off; and this man, being a fisherman, has been living at a spot up the river where our poor darling has been taken and kept hidden. And just think of it, Archie: how clever a blackguard needs to be when he’s going to do anything wrong! Talk about Fate! See how busy the old girl has been here! The blackguard, with all his crafty cunning, hides her somewhere close to the place where two of my best patients live, and they have had an eye upon her ever since, and just when we were in our most despairing time come and tell us of her fate.”
“Yes, sir; and now—”