Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/402

 with which the man sick of the palsy complied with the divine command, "Take up thy bed, and go unto thine house," was the major part of the miracle; and this impression was confirmed by a picture in the old family Bible, in which the whilom invalid was represented staggering away under the weight of a vast four-poster. It was not until I came to the East that I realized how simple a matter is the sleep- ing gear of the average Oriental. My "bed" con- sisted of a native mat of plaited mengkuang palm leaves, a narrow flock mattress, half an inch in thick- ness, and a couple of European pillows. The whole thing did not weigh more than twenty pounds, unless it was saturated with rain water, when it tipped the scale at about double that figure. It had the additional advantage of possessing no sharp corners of projec- tions calculated to gall the bearer's back, and con- sequently it was the most popular piece of my bag- gage, and was usually annexed by the strongest and most violent-tempered of my men. The unyielding despatch box generally fell to the lot of the man among my followers who was least capable of stick- ing up for his rights and who was accordingly the least fit to bear the burden.

It was a bright, cool morning when we started with a little ribbon of cloudlike mist showing above the treetops as one looked up the valley of the Lipis, marking faithfully the windings of the river. The birds were noisy and a few gayly feathered paroquets fluttered from bush to bush as we made our way through the low scrub jungle near the bank of the