"Dr. De Normanville, I owe you my life. If ever the opportunity arrives you will not find me ungrateful. It was a near escape, was it not? I shall have to change my servants if they cannot see that their prisoners are unarmed."
I was about to reply, but was interrupted by the arrival of a second batch of litigants, who were followed by a third. They were all natives, for, as I discovered later, there was not one single instance on record, in the history of the island, of the white population having found it necessary to resort to law to settle their differences. A more peaceable, happy, and law-abiding community could not be found. One thing was very noticeable in each of these cases, and that was the pacific reception of, and the resignation with which, the decisions of their ruler were received. She spoke to them, chided them, sympathised with them, and smoothed down their ruffled feathers just as if they had in reality been what she had called them—her children. And as a result, in each case plaintiff and defendant went off together, their differences settled and their former animosity quite forgotten. When the last case was concluded, Alie put on her large white hat, which throughout the legal business had been lying beside her, and we were in the act of setting out for the village, accompanied by the dog, when an incident occurred which was fraught with as much interest to me, in my study of her extraordinary position and character, as anything else I had so far met with during my stay in the island.
We were descending the long stone steps before described, when a young and attractive native woman hove in sight, carrying in her arms a bundle, which on her nearer approach proved to be a baby. Arriving at the steps she halted and knelt at Alie's feet, kissing the hem of her dress, and at the same time saying something to her in the soft native tongue I have so repeatedly admired.
When she had finished Alie turned to me and said:
"Doctor, this is your first case; and a sad one. Will you tell me if you can do anything for this poor creature's child?"
Turning to the woman I signed to her to let me look at the infant. The poor little thing was in the last stage of confluent small-pox, and presented a sickening appearance.
"Is it a hopeless case?" Alie asked, with almost an entreat in her voice, a note that had certainly not been there a quarter of an hour before, when she had sent Kwong Fung to his doom.
"Quite hopeless," I answered; "but I will endeavour to make death as painless as possible. Will you tell the poor soul to bring the child to me in half an hour in the village?"
Alie translated my speech and must have given the mother some encouragement, for she fell at my feet, and in the deepest reverence kissed my boots. Then with an obeisance to my companion she passed down a side path and disappeared among the trees.
Alie turned to me and said, with a deep sigh: