"I want to be honest with you, juffrouw. I am thoroughly selfish in asking these things. I want to be known as the man who redeemed Bulungan, even though the real work is yours."
Koyala's face was hidden. Peter Gross saw that her lips pressed together tightly and that she was undergoing some powerful emotion. He looked at her anxiously, fearful that he had spoken too early, that she was not yet ready to commit herself utterly to his cause.
"I came to see you, mynheer, about an affair that happened in the country of the Sadong Dyaks," Koyala announced quietly.
Peter Gross drew back. Koyala's reply showed that she was not yet ready to join him, he perceived. Swallowing his disappointment, he asked in mock dismay:
"Another complaint, juffrouw?"
"One of Lkath's own people, a Sadong Dyak, was killed by a poisoned arrow," Koyala stated. "The arrow is tufted with heron's feathers; Jahi's people use those on their arrows. Lkath has heard that the head of his tribesman now hangs in front of Jahi's hut."
The smile that had been on Peter Gross's lips died instantly. His face became drawn and hard.
"I cannot believe it!" he exclaimed at length in a low voice. "Jahi has sworn brotherhood with me and sworn to keep the peace. We rubbed noses and anointed each others' foreheads with the blood of a fresh-killed buffalo."
"If you choose the hill people for your brothers, the sea people will not accept you," Koyala said coldly.
"I choose no nation and have no favorites," Peter Gross replied sternly. "I have only one desire—to deal absolute and impartial justice to all. Let me think."