Page 181 - Malay sketches

THE KING'S WAY

" " in his own
and, though the Defender of the Faith
country, he observed none of its outward forms. It
cannot, therefore, be said that he was i*1 good odour
with the priesthood and yet one of his firmest friends
for a time was the priest of the neighbouring vil-
lage who, whenever a witness was needed to support
the King in any action or statement, was ready both
to vouch to supposed facts and prove his master's
case by the authority of Muhammadan writings.
The constant appeal to the priest for justification
and the persistence with which this man found
methods
excellent reasons for the King's peculiar
was a little discouraging ; but there came an
The the
estrangement. King, accompanied by
and visited a neighbouring British
priest others,
there some and at the
possession, stayed days,
moment of his return was faced by a serious
indignity. It appeared that someone in this place
who did not understand the King's peculiarities had,
or thought he had, sold to His Highness a tricycle
and a musical-box for which he could not obtain
payment, and, having ascertained that the King was
going and did not care about the things, this mis-
guided individual somehow obtained a sumrr~.,o
His to before a local
against Highness appear
tribunal and answer to the plaint.
165