Page 275 - Malay sketches

A PERSONAL INCIDENT
said so, but the man assured me it was true, and
added as a that the Lela had sent
proof Maharaja
Mr. Birch's own boat to Blanja to prove to Ismail
the truth of his statement. Ismail, he said, had
declined to receive the boat, telling the men who
brought it that as the Maharaja Lela had killed
Mr. Birch he had better keep his boat, and the
messengers had accordingly left with it only two
hours before our arrival.
At Ali's first words Mahmud had
Haji Raja
caught up his kris, and was now tightening his
waist-belt and preparing for instant trouble.
The Haji completed his information by con-
me that the Lela and his
siderately telling Maharaja
people had staked the river right across at Pasir
Salak, making it impassable for boats, that they
knew I was returning, and were waiting for me, it
being their belief that when once they had got rid
of Mr. Birch and myself they would have no further
interference from white men, as no one else knew
the country. He concluded with an invitation from
the ex-Sultan to go and see him on shore.
I thanked and to rid of him asked him
him, get
to go back and say that I was coming.
As soon as he had left the boat I held a hasty
consultation with Raja Mahmud, who said it would
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