SERVANTS ON DUTY.
The trio of travellers rose early the next morning, as the steamer was advertised to leave at seven o'clock, and the dock was a long distance from the hotel. Their baggage was piled in a small cart drawn by a bullock, and started off some time ahead of them, so as to be at the steamer before they reached there in the more expeditious garri. When they had swallowed their morning coffee and came out of the hotel, they found a group of servants waiting near the door to ask for money, as a reward for their services. Frank said the only energy the fellows displayed during his acquaintance with them was in this final act of begging; it was far from an easy matter to get any service out of them, as their chief occupation was gambling, and they were too much engrossed in it to pay any attention to common things.
The steamer sailed promptly on her advertised time. During the last half-hour of their stay at the dock, the passengers were amused by the antics of a lot of men and boys who dived for money. They were in small boats close to the steamer, and whenever a coin, silver or copper, was thrown into the water, a dozen of the fellows plunged over in search of it. Generally they caught it before it had gone far below the surface, and sometimes there would be a struggle between two of the divers for the possession of a coin. The loser would appeal to the passengers to throw over a piece which could be his special property, and he very often succeeded in inducing them to do so.
The Doctor told the boys that the quarrel over the money was a clever bit of acting, as the fellows were associated, and the result of the day's work was divided equally among them. Sometimes they refuse to dive for copper coins, and will only go over for silver. If any coppers are thrown they decline to move, and say it is impossible to see copper at the bottom of the water. Consequently their harvest is in silver; and if any copper has been dropped, they dive for it after the ship has gone.
SCENE ON THE SUMATRA COAST.
The route of the steamer proved to be very picturesque. The numerous islands that lie at this part of the Straits of Malacca were visible in whatever direction our friends turned their eyes, and away to the right was the coast of Sumatra, thickly clothed in tropical verdure. The islands were so many, and lay so irregularly, that the steamer was obliged to change her course every few hours, and Fred thought before noon that they must have steered to every point of the compass since they left Singapore.
The sky was clear, and the heat of the sun poured fiercely down on the triple awning that covered the stern of the ship's deck. But it was less severe than the boys had expected to find it; and they both agreed that the Gulf of Siam was quite as uncomfortable as the Java Sea near the equator.
Our young friends were full of excitement at the prospect of going into southern latitude. They were frequently studying their maps and looking at their watches, so as to be on the lookout for the equator at the moment of crossing it.