Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/48

 be the most noted master of jungle-lore in the Peninsula, and two young men from the Jělai Valley in Pahang. They had come to search for gutta in the forests of the Tělom, and for loot in the Sâkai camps.

With the frankness which distinguishes Malays, and a lonely man's craving for sympathy, Kria forthwith related to these strangers the story of his married life and all the ignominy which was his, at the same time asking their advice as to the action which he might most fittingly take. Kûlop Rîau was cynical.

"She is only a Sâkai," he said. "Why do you not kill her and thereafter seek a wife among the maidens of the Jělai Valley? That were more proper than to suffer yourself to be thus villainously entreated by this jungle-wench."

Kria hung his head. He could not bring himself to reveal the shameful secret of his love; but Kûlop Rîau, whose experiences were not confined to the forest, looked at him and understood.

"These jungle hussies," he declared with the dogmatic assertion proper to an expert, "these jungle hussies are often deeply skilled in witchcraft, and it is plainly to be discerned that this wench has cast a glamour over you. Brother, I apprehend that it would be wise to slay her, for your soul's sake, as speedily as may be, else surely you will be a thrall to her magic in life, and in death you will most unquestionably go to stoke the fires of the Terrible Place. Therefore, it were wise and