Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/347

 The new Dato' Kâya was miserably conscious of his own unfitness for his exalted office, though there was attached to it no duty save that of looking the part, and he accordingly set to work to acquire the elému hulubalang, or occult sciences, which it behooves a fighting man to possess. In peaceful Trenggânu there were few warriors capable of instructing him in the arts he desired to learn, though for a time he apprenticed himself to Tungku Long Pendêkar, who was a skillful fencer. He took, therefore, to haunt- ing graveyards by night, hoping that the ghosts of the fighting men of ancient times would appear to lim and impart to him the lore which had perished with them. But the Dâto' had a wife who was of a jealous disposition, and she persisted in misunder- standing the purity of the motives which caused her husband to absent himself so frequently at night- time. Violent disputes followed, and at last, for the sake of peace, the Dato' abandoned his nocturnal prowlings among the graves and settled down to lead the obscure domestic existence for which nature had intended him.

One day his father, Dato' Bentara Haji, fell sick and was removed to the house of one Che' Ali, who was a medicine-man of some repute. To' Kaya was a dutiful son, and he paid many visits to his father during his illness, tending him assiduously, and in consequence returned to his own home at a late hour on more than one occasion. This was au old cause of offence, and angry recriminations between him and his wife ensued. Their disagreement was