Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/258

 had already paid too heavy a toll to the Dâto' to have any desire to see his honest earnings further diminished by other similar exactions. If he took his way homeward through country inhabited by Malays, he knew that at every turn he would have to satisfy the demands of the barons and chiefs and headmen whose territory he would cross on his journey, and the progressive dwindling of his hoard which this would entail was a certainty that he would not face. On the other hand, he held the Sâkai iu utter contempt, and as at this stage of the proceedings he was incapable of feeling fear, the Dâto's estimate of the risks he was running did not move him. A sinister grin distorted his face as he listened to the chief's words, for he regarded them as a cunning attempt to induce him to penetrate more deeply into Pahang in order that he might thereafter be plum- dered with greater ease. Accordingly, he declined to accept the advice offered to him, and a couple of days later he set out upon his return journey through the forests.

He knew that it would be useless to attempt to persuade any one to accompany him, so he went, as he had come, alone. The dollars into which he had converted his loot were hard and heavy upon his back, and he was further loaded with a supply of rice. dried fish, and salt; but his weapons were as bright as ever, and to him they still seemed the only com rades which a reasonable man need hold to be essen- tial. He travelled on foot, for single-handed he could not pole a raft against the current, and he fol-