'Why are you sorry for him?' asked Râja Haji, 'He had cheated me and it was not fitting that he should live; besides, he was a Chinaman, and we counted not their lives as being of any worth. In Kinta, before Mr. Birch went to Pêrak, they had a game called Main China, each man betting on the number of the coins which a passing Chinaman carried in his pouch, and whether they were odd or even. Thereafter, when the bets had been made, they would kill the Chinaman and count the coins.'
'They might have done that without killing the Chinaman,' I said.
'It is true,' rejoined Râja Haji, 'but it was a more certain way, and, moreover, it increased their pleasure. But Tûan, the night is very far advanced. Let us sleep.'
Verily, life in an Independent Malay State, like adversity, makes one acquainted with strange bed-fellows.
Footnotes:
[7] Fiery Rhinoceros = Bâdak âpi, a fabulous monster of Malay tradition.
THE BATTLE OF THE WOMEN
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Woman is the lesser man, and all her passions matched with mine, Are as moonlight unto sunlight, and as water unto wine. |