The Rajah of Dah Part 33

The ladies went hurriedly up the steps into the open veranda, and Mr Braine turned to his son.

"Walk home with Ned," he said quickly. "You can stay with him till I come with Mr Murray."

"Yes, father," replied the boy, and the two lads went off together toward Murray's house.

"They're going to have a confab," said Frank, "that they don't want us to hear. I was right; there's going to be a storm."

"But isn't it very strange?" said Ned, eagerly. "What does it all mean?"

"I'm regularly puzzled," cried frank. "It's impossible, of course, but it looks so like it, that I can't help thinking so."

"What do you mean?"

"That I hope I'm wrong, but it looks as if the old boy has taken a fancy to Amy."

"What--an English lady! Impossible!" cried Ned, indignantly.

"'Taint impossible here; if the rajah says he will; but if it isn't so, why did he give Amy Barnes that ring?"

"I don't know. Why did he give you that kris?"

"Oh, that was for a present. I don't understand such things, but I believe when a gentleman gives a lady a ring, it's because he means to marry her."

"But he can't; he has a wife."

"A wife!" cried Frank. "Lots. But that doesn't matter out here."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

A TROUBLED NIGHT.

As soon as Amy entered her home, she let the pent-up agony and fear which she had hidden for hours have vent in a burst of pa.s.sionate weeping, and hurried away to her own room, closely followed by her mother and Mrs Braine, leaving the gentlemen standing in the half-darkened room, silent, agitated, and each waiting for the other to speak. But for some minutes no word was spoken, and the silence was only broken by the creaking sound of the bamboo flooring, as in a violent state of agitation, Murray walked the room from end to end.

Just then a low cat-like cry came from the jungle, repeated and answered from different directions, and influencing Murray, so that he went and stood at the opening, gazing across the veranda at the fireflies gliding here and there like tiny wandering stars, and listening to the cries which told him that on the jungle side they were surrounded by enemies.

As he stood there motionless, strange hoa.r.s.e barking sounds came from the river, with an occasional faint splash, and then a loud beating noise, as if some monster were thras.h.i.+ng the surface of the river with its tail. Then, again, from the forest arose other strange cries, croakings, whinings, and sounds to which it would have been hard to give a name, but all suggestive of the black darkness around being full of danger, and after his experience that day of the forest track, he found himself thinking of how impossible it would be for any one seeking to leave the village to escape in that direction.

Then there was the river.

"Yes," he thought; "that would be easier, for it was a broad highway, swiftly flowing down toward civilisation and safety."

Murray felt a bitter twinge of annoyance at that moment, as he thought of how he had sacrificed everything to his love for science, and as soon as he had found it necessary to accept his position, hardly troubled himself to think of the whereabouts of the boat in which he had arrived, and of where the men who formed her crew had been placed.

"Hamet will know," he thought as, in a vague way, he began to make plans, when he was interrupted by Mr Braine's voice uttering the one word, "Well?"

Murray turned at once and stood close to the other occupants of the room, drawing his breath hard, and longing to plunge at once into the conversation, but shrinking from the emotion by which he was half suffocated.

A silence of some moments succeeded Mr Braine's questioning word, and the faint murmur of women's voices could be heard from the inner rooms.

"Yes; there is no doubt about it now," said the doctor. "I have always dreaded this, but lived on in hope."

"And I," said Mr Braine, sadly.

"The base, treacherous--"

"Hus.h.!.+"

Mr Braine laid his hand upon his old friend's arm, and pointed downwards to the floor, beneath which lay the open s.p.a.ce formed by the house being raised on posts, while the flooring was so slight that anything spoken in the room could easily be heard by a listener below.

"There is not likely to be any one there who could understand us," said the doctor, impatiently. "Man, man, what is to be done?"

There was a few moments' silence, and then Mr Braine said despondently:

"I am at my wits' end. I never felt our helplessness so thoroughly as at the present moment."

Murray drew a long deep breath, and the veins in his temples seemed to throb as he stood listening to his companions' words, and waiting to hear what they intended to do next.

At last he could contain himself no longer.

"We are wasting time, gentlemen," he said. "I have not heard you say a word that promises to help us out of our difficulty."

"Ah, Mr Murray!" said the doctor, "I had almost forgotten you. Yes, it is us indeed. Well, sir, you see now our position; what can we say or do?"

"Surely you are not going to stand still, and see that insolent savage force his attentions upon your daughter."

"Sir, I would sooner see her dead than hurried into such a degrading position, but you know how we are situated, and our utter helplessness."

"But you will send for help. Mr Wilson at his station--Dindong-- a.s.sured me that in a case of necessity he would see that we were protected."

"How would you send the message, sir?"

"By some Malay. He must be bribed heavily. Plenty would be glad to make the venture."

"Where will you find them, sir? Do you know that you would be sending the man to certain death?"

"Surely not."

"The river is closely watched night and day. No boat could pa.s.s down unseen."

"But a man might swim say a few hundred yards," cried Murray. "I would go myself."

"And if you escaped the crocodiles, which is not likely, what would you do then?"

"Land, and follow the stream by the bank."

The doctor uttered a low laugh.

"My dear sir, you do not know what you are saying; the bank for miles inland is utterly impa.s.sable."