The Rajah of Dah Part 24

"What do you mean? Haven't you got a chicken?" cried Frank, wrathfully.

"No, sor."

"I gave you orders to get one for a bait, and if you haven't got one, it's no use for us to go on."

"I did go to get one, sor."

"Well?"

"And the baste at the farthest off house said he'd find one for me."

"Well? Why, you have got it," cried Frank; "I can hear it rustling in the basket."

"That isn't a chicken, sor."

"What is it, then?" cried Frank, impatiently.

"It's what he said was a chicken, sor."

"What is it, then?"

"I belave it's the ouldest hin about these parts, sor. He jabbered away in his haythen dialect, and swore it was a tinder young chicken; but it's an ould hin, that's laid eggs till she's tired, and won't lay any more, and he wants to sell her."

"But is it white?"

"Oh yes! it's white enough, sir."

"That will do, then. I don't suppose the croc can tell whether a bird's tender or tough. Come along."

Frank led on, leaving the palm houses behind, plunging among the trees, and winding in and out, till Ned recognised the spot where he had stopped to watch the river, and there he could see, lying about in the shade, eight or nine of the Malays, most of whom had spears, which stood leaning against the trunks of the trees.

"Now then, you two must talk English. I have got to speak in Malay, for I am going to do all the ordering this time. I say, Ned, you like fis.h.i.+ng," he added, laughing. "You shall hold the line."

"But what are you going to do?"

"Wait a bit and you'll see," cried the lad; and he began to order the Malays about, the men hurrying here and there, and, evidently at his command, keeping right away from the banks of the river.

"Don't want to scare our fish," he said, hurriedly, to Ned. Then, as a man came up with a coil of rope, Frank undid a part of it, and showed that some feet of the end were not twisted, but all loose.

"Want to cutoff that bad bit?" said Ned, producing his knife.

"Bad, eh? Why, that's the beauty of it. I'm going to tie the hook on to it just there."

"But if you fish for a crocodile like that, he'll break away."

"Not he. They never do. If I fished with a hard piece of rope, he'd bite right through it."

"Then he must bite through that loose stuff. What is it--some kind of hemp?"

"No; fibre of the gamooti palm, and his teeth will only go through the loose stuff and bother him."

He asked for something in Malay, and one of the men handed him a curiously-shaped hook, which he attached to the loose fibrous rope, and then took a piece of stout twine from his pocket.

"Now, Tim," he cried, laughing, "give me the worm."

Tim opened the basket a little way, thrust in his hand, drew out the unfortunate hen, which was quite white, and began shrieking and flapping wildly till her wings were held down to her sides.

"Are you going to bait with that?" said Ned.

"Yes. Can't afford to bait with little boys and girls," replied Frank, merrily; "they come expensive, and the mothers don't like it."

"But you are going to kill it first?"

"Kill it? What for? We shouldn't get a bite if we did."

"But it's so horribly cruel."

"Is it? Well, I suppose it is, but if it wasn't killed this way, it would have been killed directly to make into a curry. This is a better end for it, for we shall save people's lives."

"If ye catch him, Masther Frank," said Tim.

"Oh, we shall catch him, Tim. You'll see. There, hold still."

As he spoke, Fred was busy tying the twine round the hen with ingenious knots, till the poor bird looked as if it had been put in harness; while, firmly secured in amongst the string bandages, and hidden by one of the wings, the hook lay ready for the reptile, if it did not prove to be too cunning to touch the bait.

"There!" cried Frank, at last; and he then said something to the Malays, from whom a murmur that was a chorus of approval, arose.

"Are you going to throw it into the river close by where I saw the monster!" whispered Ned.

"Throw it in? Why, it would drown the bird."

"Of course."

"Oh, I see you don't understand croc fis.h.i.+ng," continued Frank, securing a piece of the fibre twine to one of the legs of the hen, and another to a stout peg of wood, leaving about five feet clear for the bird to move about.

These preparations made, Frank took the bird under his arm, twisted the rope twice about the hand which held the peg, and then, sticking a short stout staff in his belt, he stooped down, and, keeping the tree in which Ned had seen the monkey, between him and the water, he crept silently forward, dragging the rope after him, till he was close up. Then, taking the peg to which the hen was tethered, he drove it quickly and firmly down into the ground, as near to the edge of the bank as he could reach.

Ned watched him excitedly, and as he recalled his own adventure, he was in dread lest the reptile should make a rush at the gaily-clad figure, so occupied in his task that he would have been quite at the monster's mercy.

Similar thoughts evidently troubled the Malays, for five of the men took their spears from where they leaned, and stood some thirty feet behind the lad, ready to rush forward to his help. But there was no need.

Frank worked quickly and well, driving the peg down into the ground with the club, sufficiently tightly to keep the hen from getting free, but not hard enough to prevent its being drawn by the reptile, supposing that the twine did not break.

It was only a minute's work before the club was thrust back into his waistband, and a quant.i.ty of the rope hauled down to the bank. Then the lad trotted rapidly back, leaving the hen walking disconsolately up and down with the hook beneath its wing, and dragging the loose rope here and there; while, so little was the poor thing troubled, that it began to scratch and peck about beneath the tree by the time Frank was talking eagerly to the Malays, who now lay down again with their spears ready.

"Shall I howld the rope, sor?" said Tim.

"No. Mr Murray likes fis.h.i.+ng," replied the lad, with a grin; "and he shall hold the line till there's a bite. Better tie that other end, though, to that little tree."

Tim obeyed, and then seated himself in the shadiest place he could find, and took out his pipe again.