Page 164 - Malay sketches

MALAY SKETCHES

piles joined together by short platforms after the
stands out
accepted Malay pattern, clearly enough,
rather down-stream than opposite the point of
view.
The crimson portent is not visible for long, and
we realise that, whatever it means, it is accounted
for by the segment of a rainbow shining through a
bank of low clouds which obscure the rest of the
"
arch of heaven," and so blur the prismatic colours
that nothing is clearly discernible but a short column
of flame, all the more striking for its dull grey back-
The tradition of ill-omen is of ancient
ground.
origin, but the fact that the Sultan now lies griev-
ously ill gives an air of probability to the gossip of
the prophets.
That evening, as we sat at dinner, we were
suddenly startled by the cry of the banshee. Up
till that moment we had none of us had any personal

acquaintance with the banshee, but this was it sure
A
enough. long-drawn-out distressing wail, as of
a lost child, repeated at uncertain intervals, now
here now there, first on one side of the house and
then on the other, at one moment
unpleasantly close,
and the next a piteous little half-choked sob in the
distance. Without any doubt this was the banshee,
and as the moonlight was now streaming fitfully
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