Page 158 - Malay sketches

MALAY SKETCHES

refuge would be found in those inhospitable depths,
the Penglima and his little band lay close in their
concealment and longed for sheltering night.
All day long the Shabandar's boats passed hither
and with the
and thither, nightfall many appeared to
abandon the search and returned on the rising tide.
Then an hour or two of the new-born moon, and
after that thick darkness.
The Penglima and his friends had regained their
about the tide
boat, and as, midnight, began to ebb,
the vessel was pushed noiselessly out into the river
and bracing themselves for a final effort the rowers
gripped their oars, stiffened their backs and put
their whole strength into the work before them.
The river as it approaches the sea grows wider
at every bend, the searchers were exhausted and
or had returned the
asleep, already up-stream,
night was dark and the fugitives were unmolested
until, between 4 A.M. and 5 A.M., in the last reach,
saw a line of boats the river's mouth.
they guarding
There were wide intervals between each vessel,
but even in that uncertain light it was impossible
for a boat to run this blockade without being seen.
At this final juncture the Penglima's Familiar did
not desert him.
Of course the earth ought to have opened and
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