"One. His next younger brother. They became separated in the baba, and he returned home alone. It was he who found the body, he and Lkath."
"Ah!" Peter Gross exclaimed involuntarily. "Then, according to Dyak custom, he will have to marry his brother's wife. Are there any children?"
"One," Koyala answered. "They were married a few moons over a year ago." Pensively she added, in a woman's afterthought: "The woman grieves for her husband and cannot be consoled. She is very beautiful, the most beautiful woman of her village."
"I believe that I will go to Sadong myself," Peter Gross said suddenly. "This case needs investigating."
"It is all I ask," Koyala said. Her voice had the soft, purring quality in it again, and she lowered her head in the mute Malay obeisance. The action hid the tiny flicker of triumph in her eyes.
"I will go to-morrow," Peter Gross said. "I can get a proa at Bulungan."
"You will take your people with you?"
"No, I will go alone."
It seemed to Peter Gross that Koyala's face showed a trace of disappointment.
"You should not do that," she reproved. "Lkath is not friendly to you. He will not welcome a blood-warrior of Jahi since this has happened."