“I see it all. By Jingo, what a clever trick!” and then burst into a louder fit of laughter than Prabu. And well he might: for there upon their knees, with their hands tied and their long tails fastened together, were six Chinese sailors; while Kati stood with a rattan-cane in his hand, threatening to beat them if they did not hold their tongues.
“Now, Kati,” said Prabu, “I have promised to send those fellows ashore a present, by which they may keep our visit fresh in their memories.”
This was sufficient: Kati knew what was to follow; and coupled by their tails, twos and twos, the prisoners were tossed into the sea, and they would have swam well, but every now and then they stopped to quarrel at the violent pulls they gave at each other’s heads.
“A present of game—three brace of Chinamen,” said Martin, laughing. “But, Claud,” he added, “it was foul sailing not to tell me this scheme.”
“My dear Martin, my silence was at Prabu’s desire. He believed it to be necessary for the success of his scheme.”
“It was,” interposed Prabu; “but let the Sahib Martin listen. When,” he continued, “the Sahib Claud told us of the new cave and the nest-robbers, I determined to make it known to the head-man, and ask his aid in searching out the thieves; but when I saw the sahib startle at the sight of my two brothers that are to be, and heard him relate to them an account of his adventures so different from that which he had told us, I felt convinced that they were the robbers. However, to be quite certain, at night—it was the same that the Sahib Martin followed the ‘strong one’ to the seashore—I stole to the Sahib Claud’s bedside, and found from him that my suspicions were correct. I then, of course, guessed that the discovery of the tin-mine was false, and the invitation to accompany them the next day only given in order to get me out of the way, while the Chinese captain and his men could carry the nests from the cave to the ship. My first impulse was to seize the rogues and send them to the Pangeran for punishment; but, then, they were the brothers of the ‘handsome one’ and I resolved only to outwit them; but that I might do that effectually, I desired the Sahib Claud not to divulge even to you anything he knew or might know. Well, having accepted the invitation to accompany the rogues in search of the tin-mine, I left orders with Kati to hide with his men in the jungle, near the shore where the junk was anchored; so that when the Chinese came down with the nests, they could seize and carry them on board the prahu. How well he obeyed these orders you are aware. I did not, however, know of his success until he joined us last night; but learning it then, I at once announced my intention of sailing this morning.”
“How jolly clever altogether!” exclaimed my brother, admiringly.
“Look, Martin, I told you those fellows ashore would soon be madder than me or Prabu,” I cried, pointing landward; for the Chinese had by that time swam ashore and told their tale, and the chief and his sons were screaming, shouting, and flourishing their creeses in the air. Prabu, taking the white linen from round his head, waved adieu, which taunt so exasperated the “strong one,” that he leaped into the sea and begun to swim towards the vessel—a very great piece of folly, by the way, at the rate we were running before the wind, and which he was soon compelled to relinquish.
“But, Prabu,” said my brother, seriously, “won’t you lose your sweetheart? For you know you will not dare show your face among them again.”
“Oh, no!” replied the captain, laughing. “My dear brothers are so mad now that they would ‘run a muck’ if they could get near us; but they will soon cool down, and then they will remember that I have shown them mercy; for they know that did I make their roguery known to the Pangeran, his highness would have the whole family uprooted from the village. Remembering this, the next time I visit them they will receive me with open arms, and laugh at the superior cunning that outwitted them.”