“Will the sahib go ashore at Pugar? From thence it will not be difficult to get back to Batavia, to Mynheer’s house, if he wills it; nay, he shall have two of the best of the prahu’s men as guides,” replied Prabu, but this time with a serio-comic manner, that showed he understood my brother to be bantering him; but Martin, now in turn most serious, answered:
“Do you mean that Pugar is the end of your voyage?”
“No, it is not half-way.”
“Then look you, Prabu, as I won’t do anything by halves, I will just go the whole length with you, for ‘one may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.’”
“A bad proverb, and one that encourages the weak in vice, Master Martin,” said I.
“Oh, bother, you old wiseacre! But, Prabu,” he added, addressing our companion, “just lend us a couple of guns, and we will soon replace the game lost by our simplicity and the rogue of a Chinese.”
“Sahib Martin,” he replied, “it is not possible; we have a good wind now, and shall lose it by staying here longer.”
So, after all our adventures in search of fresh food, we had to continue our voyage with but one pig: however, that was better than none.
Upon our reaching Pugar, the last province to the east of Java, we anchored at the mouth of the river, while Prabu, taking with him a couple of boats, and several chests and casks of arms, proceeded into the interior to have an interview with, and take fresh instructions from, the Pangeran, his master. During his absence, which lasted eight days, Martin and I amused ourselves by going ashore and killing small game; for Prabu had given us two muskets—he possessed neither rifles nor fowling-pieces. When he returned to the prahu, he appeared in excellent spirits, and admitted us into his confidence so far as to tell us that he was charged with a mission to the Rajah of Blilling, a large sovereignty in the island of Bali, to whom, upon certain conditions, he was to deliver arms, although what those conditions were he would not tell us.
We had a good, brisk wind nearly all along the coast, but as we entered the straits which cut off the island of Bali from Java, we fell in with a dead calm, which would have been monotonous indeed but for Prabu, who would for hours sit and interest us with many particulars about the island.