In Court and Kampong Part 5

To' Kaya, pa.s.sing up the path, met a woman named Ma' Chik--a very aged, bent, and feeble crone--and her he stabbed in the breast, killing her on the spot. Thence he went to the compound of a pilgrim named Haji Mih, who was engaged in getting his property out of his house in case the fire spread. Haji Mih asked To' Kaya how the fire had originated.

'G.o.d alone knows,' said To' Kaya, and so saying, he stabbed Haji Mih through the shoulder.

'Help! Help!' cried the pilgrim, and his son-in-law Saleh and four other men rushed out of the house and fell upon To' Kaya, driving him backwards in the fight until he tripped and fell. Then, as he lay on his back, he stabbed upwards, striking Saleh through the elbow and deep into his chest. At this, Saleh and all the other men with him fled incontinently. To' Kaya, then picked himself up. He had not been hurt in the struggle, for Saleh and his people had not stayed to unbind their spears, which were fastened into bundles, and, save for the slight wounds in his hand and on his back, he was little the worse for his adventures.

He next went to the Makam Lebai Salam--the grave of an ancient Saint--and here he bathed in a well hard by, dressed himself, and eat half a tin of Messrs. Huntly and Palmer's 'gem' biscuits, which he had brought with him. Having completed his toilet, he returned to Haji Mih's house and cried out:

'Where are those my enemies, who engaged me in fight a little while agone?'

It was now about 3 A.M., but the men were awake and heard him.

'Come quickly!' he shouted again, 'Come quickly, and let us finish this little business with no needless delay.'

At this, ten men rushed out of Haji Mih's house, and began to throw spears at him, but though they struck him more than once they did not succeed in wounding him. He retreated backwards, and, in doing so, he tripped over a root near a clump of bamboos and fell to the earth.

Seeing this, the men fancied that they had killed him, and fear fell upon them, for he was a Chief, and they had no warrant from the Sultan.

Thereupon they fled, and To' Kaya once more gathered himself together and returned to Lebai Salam's grave, where he finished the tin of 'gem'

biscuits.

At dawn he returned to Haji Mih's house. Here he halted to bandage his wounds with the rags of cotton that had been bound about some rolls of mats and pillows, which Haji Mih had removed from the house at the alarm of fire. Then he shouted to the men within the house to come out and fight with him anew, but no one came, and he laughed aloud and went on down the road till he came to Tungku Pa's house. Tungku Pa and a man named Semail were in the verandah, and when the alarm was raised that To' Kaya was coming, Tungku Pa's wife rushed to the door, and bolted it on the inside, while her husband yammered to be let in.

When To' Kaya saw him, he cried to him as he would have cried to an equal:

'O Pa! I have waited for thee the long night through though thou earnest not. I have much desired to fight with a man of rank. At last we have met, and I shall have my desire.'

Semail at once made a bolt of it, but To' Kaya was too quick for him, and as he leaped down, the spear took him through the body, and he died.

Then Tungku Pa stabbed down at To' Kaya from the verandah and struck him in the groin, the spear head becoming bent in the muscles, so that it could not be withdrawn. Now was Tungku Pa's opportunity, but instead of seizing it and rushing in upon To' Kaya to finish him with his _kris_, he let go the handle of the spear, and fled to a large water jar, behind which he sought shelter. To' Kaya tugged at the spear, and at length succeeded in wrenching it free, and Tungku Pa, seeing this, broke cover from behind the jar, and took to his heels. To' Kaya was too lame to attempt to overtake him, but he cried out:

'He, Pa! Did the men of old bid thee fly from thy enemies?'

Tungku Pa halted and turned round. 'I am only armed with a _kris_, and have no spear as thou hast,' he said.

'This house is thine,' said To' Kaya. 'If thou dost desire arms, go up into the house, and fetch as many as thou canst carry, while I await thy coming.'

But Tungku Pa had had enough, and he turned and fled at the top of his speed.

'Hah! Hah! Hah! Ho! Ho! Ho!' laughed To' Kaya. 'Is this, then, the manner in which the men of the rising generation fight their enemies?'

Seeing that Tungku Pa was in no wise to be tempted or shamed into giving battle, To' Kaya went past the spot where the body of Ma' Chik still lay, until he came to the pool of blood which marked the place where Tungku Long Pendekar had come by his death. Standing there, he cried to Tungku itam who was within the house:

'O Tungku! Be pleased to come forth if thou desire to avenge the death of Tungku Long, thy cousin. Now is the acceptable time, for thy servant has still some little life left in him. Hereafter thou mayst not avenge thy cousin's death, thy servant being dead. Condescend, therefore, to come forth and fight with thy servant.'

But Tungku itam, like Gallio, cared for none of these things, and To'

Kaya, seeing that his challenge was not answered, cried once more:

'If thou will not take vengeance, the fault is none of thy servant's,'

and, so saying, he pa.s.sed upon his way.

The dawn was breaking grayly, and the cool land breeze was making a little stir in the fronds of the palm trees, as To' Kaya pa.s.sed up the lane, and through the compounds, whose owners had fled hastily from fear of him. Presently, he came out on the open s.p.a.ce before the mosque, and here some four hundred men, fully armed with spears and daggers, were a.s.sembled. It was light enough for To' Kaya to see and mark the fear in their eyes. He smiled grimly.

'This is indeed good!' cried he. 'Now at last shall I have my fill of stabbing and fighting,' and, thereupon, he made a shambling, limping charge at the crowd, which wavered, broke, and fled in every direction, the majority rushing into the enclosure of Tungku Ngah's compound, the door of which they barred.

One of the hindermost was a man named Genih, and to him To' Kaya shouted:

'Genih! it profits the _Raja_ little that he gives thou and such as thee food both morning and evening! Thou art indeed a _bitter_ coward.[10] If thou fearest me so greatly, go seek for guns and kill me from afar off!'

[Footnote 10: _Pen-akut pahit._]

Genih took To' Kaya's advice. He rushed to the _Balai_, or State Hall, and cried to Tungku Musa, the Sultan's uncle and princ.i.p.al adviser:

'Thy servant To' Kaya bids us bring guns wherewith to slay him.'

Now, all was not well in the _Balai_ at this moment. When the first news of the _amok_ had reached the Sultan, all the Chiefs had a.s.sembled in the palace, and it had been unanimously decided that no action could be taken until the day broke. At dawn, however, it was found that all the Chiefs except Tungku Panglima, To' Kaya Duyong, Panglima Dalam, Imam Prang Losong, and Pahlawan, had sneaked away under the cover of the darkness. Tungku Musa, the Sultan's great uncle, was there to act as the King's mouthpiece, but he was in as great fear as any of them.

At last the Sultan said:

'Well, the day has dawned, why does no one go forth to kill To' Kaya Biji Derja?'

Tungku Musa turned upon Tungku Panglima, 'Go thou and slay him,' he said.

Tungku Panglima said, 'Why dost thou not go thyself or send Pahlawan?'

Pahlawan said, 'Thy servant is not the only Chief in Trengganu. Many eat the King's mutton in the King's _Balai_, why then should thy servant alone be called upon to do this thing?'

Tungku Musa said: 'Imam Prang Losong, go thou then and kill To' Kaya.'

'I cannot go,' said Imam Prang, 'for I have no trousers.'

'I will give thee some trousers,' said Tungku Musa.

'Nevertheless I cannot go,' said Imam Prang, 'for my mother is sick, and I must return to tend her.'

Then the Sultan stood upon his feet and stamped.

'What manner of a warrior is this?' he asked, pointing at Tungku Panglima. 'He is a warrior made out of offal!'

Thus admonished, Tungku Panglima sent about a hundred of his men to kill To' Kaya, but after they had gone some fifty yards they came back to him, and though he bade them go many times, the same thing occurred over and over again.

Suddenly, old Tungku Dalam came hurrying into the palace yard, very much out of breath, for he is of a full habit of body, binding on his _kris_ as he ran. 'What is this that men say about To' Kaya running _amok_ in the palace? Where is he?' he cried.

'At the Mosque,' said twenty voices.

'Ya Allah!' said Tungku Dalam, 'They said he was in the palace! Well, what motion are ye making to slay him?'

No one spoke, and Tungku Dalam, cursing them roundly, sent for about forty guns, and, leading the men himself, he pa.s.sed out at the back of the palace to Tungku Chik Paya's house near the mosque, where To' Kaya still sat upon the low wall which surrounds that building. When he saw Tungku Dalam, he hailed him, saying:

'Welcome! Welcome! Thy servant has desired the long night through to fight with one who is of n.o.ble birth. Come, therefore, and let us see which of us twain is the more skilful with his weapons.'

At this, Mat, one of Tungku Dalam's men, leaped forward and said, 'Suffer thy servant to fight with him, it is not fitting, Tungku, that thou shouldst take part in such a business.'