Chapter 15. A Troubled Night

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_ 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 passionate 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 hoarse barking sounds came from the river, with an occasional faint splash, and then a loud beating noise, as if some monster were thrashing 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--"

"Hush!"

Mr Braine laid his hand upon his old friend's arm, and pointed downwards to the floor, beneath which lay the open space 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-- assured 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 pass 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 impassable."

"Then the other way by that elephant track."

"Farther into the enemy's country. No, sir; there is only one route-- the river; and so far, I can only see violence as the way, and we are too weak to attempt that--too weak, or the rajah is too strong."

"Then do I understand you to mean that you are going to remain prostrate, and bow down your necks for this man to trample upon you?"

"Mr Murray," interposed Mr Braine, "you are too hard. You are losing your temper. Recollect, sir, that we are placed in a position whose difficulties you even now hardly realise."

"Indeed you are wrong, Mr Braine!" cried Murray, hotly.

"Then remember, sir, you are speaking to a gentleman--a father, whose heart is wrung by the position in which he is placed."

"Yes, I am wrong," said Murray, warmly; "but have some pity for me too. Doctor Barnes, you cannot be blind to what I think and feel. All this is agonising to me. Look here, sir; do you think I have not brains enough to see that this man reads me and my sentiments toward your daughter. The scoundrel--the insolent barbarian! he is actually jealous, and under his smiling civility, he is trying to crush me down or to sweep me out of his path. Do you not see what this expedition to-morrow means."

"Ah, I did not think of that!" cried Greig, excitedly.

"But I did," said Murray. "I will not go so far as to say that the wretch means to have me killed, but I do say that as my presence here might interfere with his plans, I am to be either put out of the way, or kept up the country a prisoner, doing his work until such time as he considers it safe for me to return."

"Murray is right," said Mr Braine; "too right, I fear. You must not, you shall not risk the journey to-morrow alone. I must speak plainly now. I would not answer for your life."

"I will not go," said Murray, firmly. "I am a quiet enthusiast, but there is some old Scottish blood in my veins, gentlemen, that can be roused, and I'll fight to the death before I will see this wrong done."

"As we all would," said Mr Braine, warmly. "God bless you, Murray! You will be a tower of strength to us; but this is not a time for fighting. We are weak--the rajah is strong. He is cunning, too, with all the smiling deceit of these people, who throw you off your guard so as to get a better opportunity for striking."

"But we must act and at once, Braine."

"Yes, but it must be with quiet and dissimulation; cunning for cunning. Violence is useless."

"I don't know," said Murray, fiercely. "The future of a lady whom I boldly tell her father I love and reverence so dearly that, though my suit may be hopeless, though she may never look upon me as aught but a friend, I will die in her service to save her from such a fate as threatens her. My life is, I know, menaced now. Well, I had better try to do some good before I go, if it is only to rid the world of this tyrannical scoundrel and--"

Murray stopped short, the doctor darted to a chest and snatched out a revolver, and Mr Braine seized a sword hanging upon a couple of hooks against the wall; for all at once a violent scuffling and panting arose from beneath their feet, telling that two men were contending, and all doubt as to who one of them might be, was set aside the next moment by a familiar voice.

"Ah-hah! would ye--ye thayving baste? Shure, would ye? Take that, and that, and that."

It was plain, too, what the donations were from the sounds which followed them--dull heavy thuds of blows delivered by a sturdy fist.

The struggle was continued as all hurried out into the veranda, and down the steps to plunge below the house into the intense darkness, where all was now silent.

"Who's there?" said the doctor. "Driscol, where are you?"

There was no reply.

"Surely the poor fellow has not been stabbed!" cried the doctor excitedly. "Wait till I fetch a light."

He hurried back, leaving Murray and Mr Braine trying in vain to penetrate the darkness, so as to make out whether any one was near. Then the doctor's steps were heard overhead, and his voice came down so distinctly, that both felt how a listener would hear every word.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "Driscol caught some Malay scoundrel prowling about."

"Where is my husband!" said Mrs Braine.

"Down below with Murray. How is Amy?"

"Calmer now."

"That's right. Back directly."

And then the doctor's step made the bamboo creak as he crossed the room.

"Whoever it was must have heard every word we said," whispered Mr Braine.

Just then the lamp the doctor carried shone down through the steps, and directly after among the posts which supported the house.

"Well?" he said, holding the lamp above his head; "heard any one?"

"Yes," said Mr Braine in a low tone. "You."

"You heard me speaking?"

"Every word you said."

"How unfortunate! But where is my man? There is no one here."

"Thank goodness!" said Mr Braine. "I was afraid the poor fellow had been stabbed. But let's look round."

The lamp's light was directed in all directions, but there was no sign except in one spot where the ground had been trampled, and a climbing-plant torn down.

"We must try to follow the trail," said the doctor; but at that moment steps were heard, and the whisking noise of some body passing through the bushes and shrubs the doctor had collected about the back of his house.

"Who's that?" cried Mr Braine, sharply.

"Only me, sor. Is the master there? Oh, there you are, sor. I wint after him, sor, for he made me a bit mad shticking at me with his kris thing."

"Are you wounded?"

"Only just a bit of a prick, sor. I've put my hankychy round it. In me arm here. It's jist nawthing."

"But who was it? What does it mean?" said the doctor, hastily examining the man's arm, while Mr Braine held the light.

"Who was it, sor? Well, I hardly know. It was so dark, but if I was to guess by the face of the man, I should say it was Mr Tumongong--an' what a name for a gintleman!--and what does it mane? Well, sor, I was having just a little whiff out of me bamboo-pipe, and takking a look round, or a feel round, it was so dark, before going to bed, when I heard a bit of a rustle, and I backed under the house to get away, for I thought it was a tiger; but it was a man, and he kept on coming nearer till he was right underneath here, and close to where we stand, and hiff--!"

"Did I hurt you?" said the doctor, who was binding Tim's wound.

"Yes, sor, thank ye, sor. It did rather, but I don't mind. Well, sor, he was listening to you gintlemen up-stairs; and as I thought it moighty ondacent, I laid howld of him, and nipped him, and we scuffled a bit, and then he pricked me wid his kris, and I hit him two or three cracks wid me fist, for I had no stick. Then he went off in the dark, and I afther him; but there wasn't a chance of catching him, for he went through the trees like a sarpent, and of course, sor, the man who runs has a better chance than the man who runs afther him."

"Did you see where he made for?" said the doctor.

"And is it see on a night like this, sor?"

"No, no. Of course not. There, come into the house, it must have been some scoundrel trying what he could pick up. Come, Braine."

They went back up the stairs into the room where Mrs Barnes and Mrs Braine were anxiously awaiting their coming, and told them that it was only a scare.

"Driscol heard some one about the place, and tried to hold him," the doctor said. "Don't be alarmed."

"But I am alarmed," said Mrs Barnes, excitedly. "I am sure there is some great trouble coming upon us."

"Then act like a true Englishwoman," said the doctor; "help your husband. Don't hinder him by being weak and hysterical."

"I'll try," said Mrs Barnes, speaking firmly.

"That's right. Now Braine, what do you propose doing next?"

"Nothing. We must wait."

"But Amy--my child?"

"I am thinking of her as much as you are," said Mr Braine, "and I see no other course but to stand firm, and to give the rajah to understand that such a thing as he is bent upon is impossible. Mr Murray will stand by us."

"Yes," said Mr Braine, moodily. "But--"

"For Heaven's sake, do not raise difficulties, man," cried the doctor. "We can do nothing to-night, but rest and gain strength for any trouble which may come to-morrow.--My dear," he continued to his wife, "you will stay with Mrs Barnes to-night; she and Amy will be glad, I am sure, of your company."

"Indeed yes," cried the doctor's wife, gratefully.

"I can do no good, Barnes, so I will go on with Murray here, and bring back Frank. You will send to me if there is the slightest need. There, good-night, all. This has been a scare, but it may have had its crisis, and a few days hence, I hope we shall all be laughing at our fright."

He shook hands, and moved towards the door.

"Now, Greig, Murray," he said.

But Murray was standing grasping Mrs Barnes's hand, "Tell her," he whispered, "that some means shall be devised to save her from such another insult as this."

Mrs Barnes pressed his hand; and then hastily shaking hands with Mrs Braine and the doctor, he hurried out into the garden and joined the others, after which the Greigs went to their own place.

"Those boys will think we are never coming," Murray said, speaking more cheerily now.

"Well, we will soon relieve their anxiety," replied Mr Braine. "Come, that's better. We must not treat this as a panic, and exaggerate the difficulty of our position."

"I do not," said Murray, quietly. "It needs no exaggeration. Look!" he whispered; "we are followed, are we not?"

"I can hardly see for the darkness. Possibly. His men are always on the watch. No European monarch was ever better served by his secret police."

"But tell me," said Murray; "are you going back quietly to your place as soon as you have fetched Frank?"

"Not directly, perhaps, but very soon. We had better separate, and seem to be treating all this calmly, for our acts are certain to be reported to the rajah."

"And what about our words at the house?"

"What? the possibility of them having been heard, and the information conveyed to the rajah?"

"Yes."

"I cannot say. Let us both sleep on it. To-morrow I may have some plan."

"And the boys. Are they to know?"

"As little as possible. Here we are. How quiet and peaceful the place seems! Asleep, I suppose. Tired of waiting."

There was a dim light in the house devoted to Murray and his nephew; and as they reached the steps, the naturalist felt a pang of annoyance at not seeing Hamet start up and challenge them, for, as a rule, he was always in the veranda on the watch.

"It has been a long and weary day," said Murray, with the depression from which he suffered affecting his voice. "Will you go on first?"

"No; you are the master; lead on."

Murray stopped short.

"Look here," he said. "Let the boys sleep. Stop here with me. I will soon make some coffee, and we will sit and smoke and talk."

"No, no," said Mr Braine, hastily.

"But it is hard indeed if we cannot hit out some plan before morning. There, go up quietly. You will stay?"

"No," said Mr Braine, firmly. "You forget what was said when we came away. I must be at my own place in case Barnes wants me."

"Yes, of course," said Murray, quickly. "Then I will come back with you. One minute. Let me see if the boys are sleeping all right, and say a few words to Hamet."

He sprang up the steps lightly, and entered the house, but no Hamet was there to challenge him, neither were the boys in the outer room stretched on the mats, as he expected to find them--asleep.

Murray looked round quickly, and at a glance saw that the guns had been brought in and hung on their slings, the two baskets containing the specimens shot, and the others were hung upon the pegs arranged for the purpose, and the lamp was burning dimly on the rough table.

He caught up the light, and shading it with his hand, stepped lightly over the mats, and looked into the inner room, drew a long deep breath, and stepped back to stand thinking a few moments before he set down the lamp.

He stepped to the doorway.

"Come up," he said.

Braine obeyed.

"Sleeping soundly?"

"Take the light. Look," said Murray, in a low voice.

Mr Braine glanced at him, surprised by his strange manner, and then he caught up the light, and went and looked in the room in his turn.

"Gone!" he said, in a low excited voice. "What is the meaning of this?"

Murray shook his head.

"There was no mistake about the directions? I told Frank to go home with your boy to bear him company, and to wait until I came. Oh, I see. The foolish fellow! He must have misunderstood me, and taken Ned home with him. They are waiting for us there."

"And Hamet? My follower?"

"Gone with them."

"He would not have known."

"Then the boys have been here. Frank was fagged out, and said he would not wait for me any longer, and he has gone home. Your boy and Hamet have accompanied him to see him safely there."

"You are speaking without conviction, Braine," said Murray, sternly. "You say this to comfort me, and you are thinking differently. What does this mean? What desperate game is this man playing? I swear that if harm has come to that poor boy, though I die for it, I'll shoot this rajah like a dog--like the cowardly cur he is."

"Hush! don't be hasty. You know that your threat may have been heard, and will perhaps be reported to the rajah."

"Let them report it."

"Be sensible, man," whispered Mr Braine. "I feel all this as keenly as you do, and I cling to the hope that we may find the boys at my place. Come with me."

Murray made no answer, but went to one of the cases he had brought up the river in the boat, and took from it his revolver and some cartridges, charged the weapon, and then thrusting it into his breast, he turned to the Resident.

"I am ready now," he said, in a low harsh voice. "Come on."

The bamboos creaked, and the house shook with the heavy steps of the two men, as they went down, and conscious all the time that they were watched, and fully expecting to have their way barred at any moment, they retraced their steps, to halt for a minute and listen, as they came opposite the entrance to the doctor's garden. But all was silent there, and the lamps were burning just inside the door.

"Come on," whispered Mr Braine, with his voice trembling with the intense strain from which he suffered.

The distance was very short, not many yards on in the direction of the rajah's place, and here they crossed a carefully-tended garden toward the veranda, about whose creepers the fireflies were gleaming.

But there a low fierce voice challenged them from the darkness, and Murray's hand flew to his breast.

"I, Yussuf," said Mr Braine, quietly; and then, in Malay, he asked if the boys had come, and received his answer.

"Not here, and they have not been," he whispered to Murray.

"No. There is some other meaning to it," said Murray, sternly. "The rajah has had them seized. To-morrow I was to have been sent out of the way, but this is a fresh plan. Is it in consequence of what was overheard at Doctor Barnes's?"

"It is impossible to say," replied Mr Braine. "I am beginning to feel bewildered. But we must be calm. No great harm can have befallen them. It is part of some plan to force Barnes to consent to this hateful marriage."

"Then we must take time by the forelock, and go."

"It is impossible, I tell you."

"There is no such thing in a case like this, man," cried Murray, angrily. "Have you not thought of what I feel?"

"Sir," retorted Mr Braine, bitterly, "have you not thought of what I feel?"

"Forgive me," said Murray, humbly. "I am half mad with rage and excitement. But, for pity's sake, propose something upon which I can act. If I could be doing something, I could bear it better."

"I can propose nothing," said Mr Braine, sadly. "We are so surrounded by difficulties, so hedged in by danger, that we cannot stir. You must remember that any premature action on our part might hasten the catastrophe we want to avert."

"But he would not dare--"

"Murray!" replied Mr Braine, with energy, as they stood there in the intense darkness, the speaker conscious that several of the rajah's spearmen were close at hand, "he would dare anything in his blind belief that he is too powerful for the English government to attack him."

"Then he must be taught."

"And I," continued Mr Braine, as if not hearing the interruption, "have been for years doing what seems now to recoil on my unhappy head, strengthening his belief in himself by training his people for him, and turning savages into decent, well-drilled soldiers, who have made him the dread of the country for hundreds of miles round."

"Come on and tell Doctor Barnes," said Murray at last, and they hurried back, almost brushing against two sentries standing among the trees, men who followed them silently, and then paused as they entered the gates, where they were joined by three more, looking shadowy and strange by the fireflies' light.

As they reached the foot of the steps, the doctor stepped forward, and then said that he would descend.

"She is asleep at last," he whispered. "Thank you for coming. You need not be so anxious now. Go back, and I promise you both that I will send Driscol on if there is the slightest need of your help. There is not likely to be anything but a quiet insistence on his part, and this must be met firmly."

"There is likely to be something more than quiet insistence, Doctor Barnes," said Murray, sternly. "We have come to bring bad news. Those two lads have been spirited away."

"What!" cried the doctor, excitedly. "No, no; surely not. They were favourites with the rajah. Some accident or some prank. They are only boys; perhaps my man Driscol has--No, no, no. He is here in the house. But think again; had they any idea of trying some kind of night fishing, or shooting? Yes, of course. I heard Frank tell my child that he was going to sit up and watch with a Malay--of course--in the jungle, to try and trap or shoot a specimen or two of the argus pheasant for you, Mr Murray.--That is it, depend upon it, Braine."

"No," said the Resident, despondently. "He would not have gone to-night after such a weary day, and he would not have gone without telling me his plans. He told me everything, even to his trifling fishing trips on the river. There is something more--an accident, or he has been carried off."

"What! by the crocodiles?" said Murray, suddenly.

"No, no; I don't fear that. Come, man, we must be up and at work now."

"What are you going to do?" asked Murray, eagerly, for he was quivering with the intense desire he felt to be in action.

"I am going to the Tumongong. He has always been my friend."

"The man who was watching and listening to-night!"

"It could not have been the chief. He is too much of a gentleman at heart. Your servant was mistaken. Come on, Murray. We will come and tell you when we have been. He must know what has been done."

"He will not betray his master's secrets," said Murray, bitterly. "It is more than his life is worth."

"I shall not ask him to do that," said Mr Braine, slowly; "but I think he will set our hearts at rest as to the safety of our boys. Will you come?"

"Yes," said Murray, thoughtfully, "I will come. No: I cannot think of anything else having happened to them. It must be the rajah's doing. Come on then, and let us know their fate." _

Read next: Chapter 16. Prisoners

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