One Maid's Mischief Part 97

The other searcher made a little demur, when the other became more pressing.

"They could not have wandered up so far as this," he said; and the tall Malay reluctantly acquiescing, the two boats were turned, a man placed a paddle over the stern for steering purposes, the other paddles were laid in by the weary rowers, who, leaving the boats to descend the swift stream, settled themselves in easy att.i.tudes, pulled out their betel boxes and leaves, and each man, after smearing a sirih leaf with a little paste of lime, rolled up in it a fragment of the popular betel-nut, and sat back with half-closed eyes, chewing, as if that were the be-all and end-all of existence.

The boats sped rapidly down-stream, past the glorious panorama of tropic vegetation spread on either side: but it was not noticed once save by the tall Malay, who sat back in the prow with his bamboo pole balanced in his hands, lazily peering out of his half-closed eyes.

As they approached the huge tree, beneath whose shade the two weary girls lay resting, the Malay's dark eyes opened slightly, as if he were again carefully observant of the place. Then they half-closed once more, then quite closed, and he seemed to go fast asleep.

Then the two boats rapidly glided down with the current and disappeared.

The sun, which had before been shining straight down upon the river, had gone westward, and had begun to cast shadows across the foaming stream, when once more a boat appeared, but only propelled by one man, who, armed with a long pole, stood in the stern, as he kept close in under the trees, and thrusting the pole down in the bubbling water, forced the little vessel along at a rapid rate.

He did not look either to right or left, but aimed straight for the great tree, and even then pa.s.sed it, but only to alter the course of the boat a little, and let it glide back right beneath the branches and close in sh.o.r.e, where he silently secured it, and then stepped out to where the Malay girl still lay sleeping.

He stood looking at her for a few moments before kneeling softly down at her side, when, with a light, firm touch, he placed one hand upon her right wrist and the other upon her lips.

The girl started into wakefulness, and would have shrieked, but the hand across her lips stayed her. She would have seized the kris with which she was armed, but her wrist was pinioned.

She gazed with fierce and angry eyes straight into her captor's face, and thus for some moments they remained till he raised his hand.

"Well," she said, "you have taken me."

"Yes; at last," he replied, in the same low voice as that in which the captured girl had spoken.

Involuntarily the Malay girl's eyes turned towards her companion, but she closed them directly, believing that Helen had not been seen.

"Yes, she is there," he said, in a low whisper. "I saw her before I saw you."

"And now you are going to drag us back to Murad?" said the girl, adopting his tone. "How proud Hamet must feel now that he has become a slave-catcher!"

"I did not say I was going to take you back to Murad," he said, laughing. "Do you wish me to take you back to have the kris?"

The girl shuddered, for she knew that this would be her fate; but with true Eastern spirit she recovered herself.

"What matter?" she said, indifferently. "I do not mind."

"You do mind," he said; "and you want to live."

"Yes: then let me go," she replied.

"No; I was sent to take you, and I have found you."

"But you do not mean to take me back to Murad?" she cried, angrily.

He laughed again.

"It is for you to decide," he continued, in a low voice. "I, Hamet, have loved you long now--ever since Murad grew tired of you and cast you off. You know it."

"Yes," she said, sullenly, "I know it. You have told me before; and if I had told the Sultan he would have had you slain."

"Both of us," said the tall Malay, coolly. "But now we are away from him and free. Will you listen to me?"

"I must," she said, scornfully. "I cannot help it."

"Yes; you could help it," he said; "but you will not. I am obliged to take this opportunity, and I do, for I could not bear to see you hurt."

"And yet you came to seek me?"

"Yes, and to save you. Two boats have been searching for you this afternoon, but only my eyes saw you. Had it been any others, you would have been in Murad's power by now."

"Did you come and see us sleeping?" she said, eagerly.

"Yes. How else could I have known that you were here waiting to be caught?"

"And now that you have caught me," she said, indifferently, "what does Hamet mean to do?"

"Is it Hamet, Murad's officer--or Hamet your friend?"

"How can I tell?" she said, indifferently. "You are a catcher of slaves, and you have taken two. Are you happy?"

"No," he said, earnestly. "Make me happy."

"How? Tell me what are your plans?"

"To save you if I can; but either you become my wife, or you go back to Murad. My orders are to take you."

The girl remained perfectly silent for a few minutes, during which the tall Malay watched her intently.

"If I say I will be your wife, and go with you now back to your place, will you let her go free--where she will?" said the girl.

"Yes," he said, eagerly. "I will not see her; she may go where she will."

The girl hesitated for a few moments, and then tried to rise, but the Malay held her tightly by the wrist.

"I shall not try to run," she said, scornfully. "Loose my arm."

The Malay hesitated, gazing full in her eyes. He then tossed the girl's arm lightly from him.

"I will trust you," he said; and then he looked on curiously, as the Malay girl stooped softly over Helen, and just brushed her hair with her lips so gently that the sleeping girl did not stir. Then, turning to the Malay:

"Are you alone?" she asked.

"Yes: quite. I saw you before; but I did not want to capture you for Murad. Now, is it to be as I say? Will you come?"

The girl glanced once more at Helen; then placing her hand in that of the Malay, she let him lead her a few paces along the bank, and a.s.sist her into a seat, where, taking his place in the prow, he silently loosened the boat, guided it softly past the boughs, so that there was not even the rustle of a leaf; then, letting the pole dip into the water, he gave one powerful thrust, and the sampan darted out into mid-stream, and then rapidly glided out of sight, just as the shadows were deepening across the river and an orange glow began to tinge the surface of the leaves.

VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER ELEVEN.