Page 130 - Malay sketches
P. 130

MALAY SKETCHES

            you doing  in  my  house at this time? Come down on
            to the ground."
              Mat Nuh was alone and  Megat Raja  was accom-
            panied by  two other men,  but the  youth  unsheathed
            his kris and went down  ready  to  accept  the chances
            of a hand-to-hand struggle.
              Seeing  that Mat Nuh would defend himself, and
            knowing  that he was no  contemptible adversary,  the
            three men hesitated. What was of more account in
            their minds was  that Che Nuh    belonged  to  a
                            and  his  father was one  of the
            powerful  family,
                    chiefs in the         There was, there-
            principal           country.
            fore,  the  certainty  of retaliation should  they  kill  him,
            and the  uncertainty  of his  guilt,  for Meriam was not
            the only woman in the house.  As the men stood
            mutually  on the  defensive, Megat Raja  asked him
                                    and Che Nuh        that
            whom he had come to see,            replied
            it was a  girl  in the house.  Thinking  to assure him-
            self on this  point,  the husband entered the house
            and  questioned  one of the  servant-women, but dis-
            satisfied with what he heard he dashed out  again
            determined to attack Che Nuh.
              The  latter  had, however, taken  advantage  of
            Megat Raja's momentary absence to  get outside the
                of the         and once there he shouted for
            gate      palisade,
                and was soon surrounded
            help                        by his friends.
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