Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/392

 like unto this? Ya Allah! Ya Tuhan-ku! I can- not bear to think of that which befell."

Old Tukang Búrok paused in his narrative, and spat disgustedly and with emphasis into the stream below. His lined and wrinkled face was working queerly. IIe had let his tools fall from his grasp, and his hands were trembling. Even after the lapse of many years, the memory of his balked desire, and the thought of his love surrendering herself to a despised jungle man, aroused in him fierce passions of rage and jealousy.

For a minute or two he was silent; then selecting a chisel with care, he set to work to bevel the kamún- ing wood with great delicacy and finish. Presently, after again expectorating emphatically, he resumed his story.

"She dwelt three full days and nights with this accursed Sâkai-may Allah blight him utterly!- ere ever we learned from some of his own folk that she was among the jungle people. Then Che' Mat, her father, and her brethren and her relatives- men knowing the use of weapons-went, and I with them. making great speed, to the Sakai camp. But, alas, Pa' Ah-Gap had fled, and Hodoh had gone with lium. Soute men, however, remained in the camp, and these, by means of the tuas,* we persuaded to

Malays when more elaborate appliances are not available. The victim is placed upon the ground in a sitting position, with his legs extended before him. A slout piece of wood is then placed across his thighs, and a second piece is then passed over the first, and inserted under his buttocks. Next, using the second piece of wood as a lever, at the first piece as the fulcrum, great pressure is exerted, in such a manner that the thighs of the victim are crushed down toward the ground, while the buttocks are puste violently upward, causing acute pain.
 * The tias is a very simple and effective torture in considerable favour amon