“Bah!” cried Than Khan. “What nonsense, I wish we had her here; now she is off. Where can she have got to?”
“Yes,” replied Liem King, “that is the question, where to look for her. But come along, let us hurry back or else we may find the other bird flown too. There is something, you know, that tells me we have made a good catch in him.”
So the two rascals got back to the hut, and found Ardjan lying there quietly enough, just as they left him. He had not been able to stir hand or foot. As soon as he saw that the Chinamen came back alone his eye brightened.
“Where is Dalima?” he exclaimed, most anxiously.
The Chinamen made no answer.
“Has she got away?” he asked again.
Than Khan shook his head. It was enough, there was something so doleful in that gesture that Ardjan did not, for a moment, doubt. Dalima had escaped. Now he could breathe more freely. If only he had been equally fortunate. He had tried all he could to get rid of these accursed ropes; but, alas! his arms hurt him so frightfully he thought they were broken, and he had to give up the attempt in despair. Where might the dear girl be now? He felt but little anxiety on that score. She had managed, perhaps, to run to Kaligaweh, where her parents lived—the distance was not great—she must, by this time, be close to the dessa. Perhaps, she had taken the way to Santjoemeh, where lived the family of the Resident, as she was in his service as nurse. In that case, she would have a long journey before her, and she could not reach it before daybreak. If only then she could at once tell her whole story—then, yes, who knows, then he might even yet be rescued.
But all such reflections were roughly interrupted by Liem King, who asked him, “Where did you come from on so wild a night as this?”
“I?” said Ardjan, “why, I have come from Santjoemeh, to be sure. I intended to take Dalima to her father at Kaligaweh. The nor’-wester drove us out to sea, I rowed with might and main to get to the Moeara Tjatjing.”
“What do you mean?” grinned Than Khan. “What business had you at the Moeara? Oh, now I see, you wanted, no doubt, to pay us a visit here! That is it—is it not?”