"And what is my reward, kapitein? What is my reward? To have some Amsterdamsche papegaai (parrot) put over me." His fist came down wrathily on the arm of his chair. "Ten thousand devils! It is enough to make a man turn pirate."
Van Slyck's cynical face lit with a sudden interest.
"You have heard from Ah Sing?" he inquired.
"Ah Sing? No. Drommel noch toe!" Muller swore. "Who mentioned Ah Sing? That thieving Deutscher who runs the schooner we had in port over-night told me this not an hour ago. The whole of Batavia knows it. They are talking it in every rumah makan. And we sit here and know nothing. That is the kind of friends we have in Batavia."
Van Slyck, apprehensive that the impending change might affect him, speculated swiftly how much the controlleur knew.
"It is strange that Ah Sing hasn't let us know," he remarked.
"Ah Sing?" Muller growled. "Ah Sing? That bloodsucker is all for himself. He would sell us out to Van Schouten in a minute if he thought he saw any profit in it. Ja! I have even put money into his ventures, and this is how he treats me."
"Damnably, I must say," Van Slyck agreed sympathetically. "That is, if he knows."
"If he knows, mynheer kapitein? Of course he knows. Has he not agenten in every corner of this archipelago? Has he not a spy in the paleis itself?"
"He should have sent us word," Van Slyck agreed. "Unless mynheer, the new resident, is one of us. Who did you say it is, mynheer?"