Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/179

 their houses before the darkness fell. And so saying, lie paddled his boat down stream, using the "dove" stroke. Imâm Sidik is a wise man, and his talk is true. He of the Hairy Face spares neither priest nor prince. The girl he killed at Lâbu was a daughter of the Wana-Wan Esah was her name."

"That makes three-and-twenty whom He of the Hairy Face had slain in one year of maize," said Awang, in a low, fear-stricken voice. "He toucheth neither goats nor kine, and men say he sucketh more blood than he eateth flesh."

"It is that that proves him to be the Thing he is," said Ngah.

"Your words are true," said Che' Semian solemnly. "He of the Hairy Face was in the beginning a man like other men-a Semang, a negrit of the woods. Because of his cruelty and his iniquities and the malignity of his magic, his own people drove him forth from among them, and now he lives solitary in the jungles, and by night transforms himself into the shape of Him of the Hairy Face, and feasts upon the flesh of human beings. This is a fact well known and attested."

"It is said that it is only the men of Korinchi who possess this art," interposed Abdullah, in the tone of one who seeks to be reassured.

"They also practise magic of a like kind," rejoined

in the air, and driven into the water and drawn back with great force. It is always used for the finish of a canoe-race. The origin of the term is unknown.
 * The "dove" stroke is a very rapid stroke made with the paddle lifted high

A year of maize-three months; a year of rice six months, a year, without any qualification, is the Muhammadan year of twelve months of thirty days each