Page 265 - Malay sketches

A PERSONAL INCIDENT

he found that Mr. Swettenham had unfortunately
left, to return by the river a few hours previously ;
owing to the rapidity of the current, the boats
should have reached Pasir Salak by the following
day. I have sent detectives, both Chinese and
Malay, to inquire into the matter, and to obtain,
if the remains of these unfortunate
possible,
officers."

I came across the above in a Blue
passage Book,
and I will explain why Captain Speedy had every
reason to believe in the certainty of my death, and
how it was that my remains were not to be collected
just then.
In the preceding sketch I mentioned that I left
Bandar Bharu at noon on the 28th October with
two boats, and intended, if it were possible, to
meet Mr. Birch at Pasir Salak about the 3rd
November.
Besides the I had with me a
Malay boatmen, very
celebrated Selangor chief named Raja Mahmud, a
man whose whole life had been passed in jungle
warfare, and as he had come through it scathless he
was regarded by Malays as invulnerable and re-
His had been
spected accordingly. latest exploit
to take command of a body of Malays in an engage-
249