“Shall we wait no longer for Kati?”
“No—it would be useless,” replied Martin. “But, hilloa!” he exclaimed, “who have we here?”
“A footsore traveler, Martin—that you can easily see by his limp,” said I; but the next minute the stranger, who was a Chinese, and, from his broken Dutch, I thought, of the poorer class of the traders of the Campong, cried:
“For the love of Fo, and their own God, let not the noble youths put off their sampan, till they have heard the sad story of the wretched Si-Ling!”
“I don’t like these Chinese fellows. Shall we push off?” said my brother.
“For shame, Martin! Let us at least hear what he has to say.”
At which the Chinese, taking courage, said:
“Know then, oh noble youth, that thy servant, the miserable and insignificant Si-Ling, two moons since left Batavia to go to Yugyacarta, where he has since lived with his wife and two children; but, alas! the jungle-fever seized and carried his whole family to the yellow stream (i. e., they had died by fever) three days since. Overcome with grief thy servant started this morning at daybreak in a sampan to reach the coast, where he hoped to find some junk or prahu, whose noble captain would take him back to Batavia; but, alas! thy slave chose an unfortunate day, for when within two leagues of this spot he was surprised by robbers, who, enticing him ashore, took from him his worldly goods and sampan—leaving him, as the noble youths may see, with naught but a bag of fruits.” Then, with a deep groan, he threw the latter, which had been suspended by a string round his neck, upon the bank.
“But, Mr. Si-Ling,” said Martin, “you have not told us how you got your living in Yugyacarta; and we must know that; for if, as an honest trader or laborer, we will take you with us; if, as a vagabond—and you look more like that than anything else—well, you will have to sleep under a palm, and tramp it in the morning.”
“Know then, oh noble youth, that Si-Ling is a great scholar, and the son of a scholar; for his worthy parent was a mandarin of letters, and a member of the college of Han-Lin, at Pekin: thus thy servant is learned in history, and having studied that of Java since he has been here, relates stories to the nobles who seek amusement.”