Page 144 - Malay sketches

MALAY SKETCHES

Haji Hawah, and their daughter and son-in-law, the
latter named Haji Sahil.
At daybreak the back door of the house was
opened and the two women came out and went into
the kitchen. In a moment Haji Hawah discovered
that the space beneath the house was full of armed
men, and with a scream she rushed back towards
the door. Ere she could gain it, Haji AH sprang
upon the platform and seized one of her hands,
while her husband, unpleasantly alive to the situa-
tion, caught hold of the other and tried to pull her
within the door, an effort which she seconded with
all her might.
A real tug-of-war was carried on for a few
moments, and Haji Ali was joined by another man.
Local tradition says that Haji Ali experienced
suddenly a feeling that something dire was going to
happen, and he asked his companion to relieve him
of his hold of the woman's hand. The man took
and Haji Musah from the inside making a
it, great
effort drew his wife towards him, and at the same
with a thrust out her with so
time, spear, beyond
true an aim that he transfixed her would-be
captor.
The man released his hold, fell with a groan into
Haji Ali's arms, and Haji Musah, drawing his wife
into the house and believing he had wounded Peng-
128