Page 78 - Malay sketches

MALAY SKETCHES

saw what took place in that hut in the forest,
whither the unsuspecting Sahit had been lured
with his wife under the escort of Mat Aris.
That witness was a Sakai man who had been
collecting gttah (gutta-percha), and, attracted by
the firelight, noiselessly approached the hut and,
whilst wondering at the unusual sight of these
in his wild and he
strangers sleeping lonely jungle,
saw Mat Aris get up and stab to death the man,
who stood between him and the woman he had
determined to possess.
The Sakai saw more than that, but when once
he had disclosed what he knew, Pah Patin was
found and induced to tell his tale, and other Sakais
completed the narrative.
It will be remembered that Sahit and his wife,
Mat Aris and the Sakai Pah Patin had built a
shelter where they proposed to spend the night. A
fire was lighted, food was cooked and eaten, and
the four lay down to sleep. On one side of the
fire Mat Aris, next him Salamah, and then Sahit;
on the other was the Sakai.
The man and his wife slept, the other Malay
pretended to sleep, and the Sakai fell into that
state which passes for sleep with creatures that are
always on the alert for possible danger.
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