Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/265

 brought them down simultaneously on the lead and body of their enemy. Kûlop's limbs stretched them- selves slowly and stiffly, his jaw fell, and blood flowed from him in twenty places. No cry escaped him, but the trembling Sakai looked down upon his dead face, and knew that at last he had paid his debt to them in full.

They carried off none of his gear, for they feared To be haunted by his ghost, and Kúlop at the last had nothing edible with him, such as the jungle- folk find it hard to leave untouched Money had no meaning for the Sâkai, so the silver dollars, which ran in a shining stream from a rent made in his linen waist pouch by a chance spear thrust, lay glinting in the moonlight by the side of that still, gray face rendered ghastly in death by the pallid lip split upward to the nostrils. Thus the Sakai took their leave of Kúlop Sumbing, as he lay stretched beside the riches which he had won at so heavy a cost.

If you want some ready money and a good kris and spear, both of which have done execution in their day, they are all to be had for the gathering at a spot in the forest not very far from the bound- ary between Pahang and Pêrak. You must find the place for yourself, however, for the Sâkai to a man will certainly deny all knowledge of it. Therefore it is probable that Kûlop of the Harelip will rise up on the Judgment Day with his ill-gotten property intact.