On Far Malayan Shores

by Tara Haigh

  ‘Precisely.’ Jones held out his hand. ‘I wish you all the best. Do look after yourself,’ he said, before extending his hand to Amar to bid him farewell too. Then he flagged down a rickshaw and climbed aboard.

  ‘We mustn’t lose any more time. Bujang will be waiting for us by the lake, and I still need to fetch my things from the boarding house,’ said Ella.

  Amar’s eyes suddenly grew wide, and only when she followed his gaze did she understand why.

  Compton was offering Marjory his hand to help her into her coach, and from what Ella could make out at this distance, Marjory swore at him and pushed his hand away. Where was Raj? That was normally his job. Ella scanned the forecourt, but he had vanished without trace.

  Compton seemed to say something to Marjory, and then climbed up onto the coach box. Before he drove off, he looked at Ella. Even from afar, his vengeful glare sent an icy shiver down her back.

  ‘If he’s driving her home then that will give us more time,’ Amar remarked.

  Ella hoped he was right.

  Back at the boarding house, Ella found it strange that Lee wasn’t at the reception desk. Perhaps she was in one of the rooms. At any rate, leaving without saying goodbye was out of the question. She decided to fetch her other suitcase first, in the hope that Lee might reappear in the meantime. The key to Ella’s room was hanging from one of the hooks behind the counter, so she took it and climbed the stairs.

  Amar followed her – but then halted abruptly mid-step and gestured for her to stop too. Ella could also hear the creaking on the staircase. Although it was probably just Lee pottering around upstairs, she found the noise unnerving all the same. If there was somebody walking around on the top floor, their footsteps would be audible too – but there was only this creaking, as if somebody were trying to avoid being heard.

  Amar listened intently, then moved forward again and reached the door to her room.

  Ella followed him, but hesitated to unlock it. Her sense of unease lingered.

  Amar gave her a meaningful look and nodded as if to say that she could go ahead.

  Everything moved very quickly after that. A hooded figure shot out of her room and slammed his fist into Amar’s stomach. He crumpled to the floor in pain. Before Ella could go to his aid, a second attacker rushed down the stairs and snatched Rudolf’s document case from her hands, before dragging her into the bedroom and throwing her on the bed.

  Only now did she realise that these weren’t native men. Their heads were wrapped in cloth, but the skin around their eyes was white. They had to be Compton’s thugs.

  Ella heard the sounds of a struggle in the corridor. She tried to sit up so she could see what was happening, but the masked man threw himself on top of her, his hands seizing her throat like a vice. She desperately tried to defend herself, but the fingers around her neck gripped tighter and tighter. Straining to reach the lamp on the bedside table, she turned to shift her position. Managing to grasp it at last, she swung the heavy iron lantern against her assailant’s head with all the strength she could muster. The man let go of her and rolled sideways. He lifted his fingers to the spot where she had hit him and grimaced in pain.

  Ella leapt up from the bed, intending to hurry out to the corridor to help Amar, but the man recovered and launched himself at her once more.

  She fell to the floor, but managed to free herself from his clutches, shaking him off and climbing to her feet. Then she felt a hand grasping at her ankle. The attacker was trying to drag her back down to the floor.

  Ella gripped the doorframe and managed to keep her balance. By now, she could see Amar and the other masked attacker wrestling each other. Amar’s hand was clamped around the wrist of his assailant, who was pointing a knife at his chest.

  The attacker’s second attempt at overpowering her proved successful. Thinking quickly, she rolled onto her back, and before the man could throw his full weight on top of her, she kicked at his torso with all her strength – but to no avail. He kneeled astride her. Ella scrabbled with her hands and feet to prevent him from pinning down her arms.

  Just then, she heard more footsteps on the stairs. Somebody was rushing up to join the fray. More of Compton’s men, presumably. From the corner of her eye, she saw only a dark shadow.

  Her attacker likewise glanced at the corridor in confusion. Ella took advantage of the distraction and lashed out at him with all her might. Her fist landed squarely in his face. He tumbled backwards, colliding with the iron bedframe, and lay in a daze.

  She heard bangs and crashes coming from the corridor, so she sat up and looked through the door.

  Amar’s attacker lay lifeless on the floor. A pair of dark hands were still wrapped around his head, which now sat on his shoulders at an unnatural angle. The hands belonged to Raj. He dropped the man and rushed into her bedroom.

  Ella’s attacker came to his senses and fumbled for the knife on his belt.

  Raj stormed in, disarmed him and slammed his fist into his face. The masked man slumped motionless to the floor.

  ‘We need to leave. Quickly,’ Raj told them, and gave Ella his hand to help her to her feet.

  She was unable to move. Only when Amar entered and she saw that he was unhurt did her paralysis wear off.

  There was now a corpse lying in the corridor outside her room, and as soon as the other attacker regained consciousness, the manhunt for her and Amar would begin in earnest.

  Ella and Amar hurried downstairs while Raj carried their bags down for them.

  ‘Where’s Lee?’ asked Ella, terrified that the assailants might have harmed her. It had dawned on her that Compton’s minions must have needed to get Lee out of the way, and she had to know if the boarding house owner was still alive before they left. Perhaps they had overpowered her and locked her in one of the bedrooms or in the kitchen. Ella checked the latter first. The door to the passageway leading to her brother’s restaurant kitchen was unlocked.

  Lee was behind it, lying bound and gagged on the floor.

  Amar hurriedly grabbed a knife from a wooden chopping board and cut through her bonds, while Ella untied the gag and removed it.

  Lee gasped for air and took a moment to compose herself.

  ‘It happened so fast . . .’ she stammered, before clambering to her feet and examining Ella from head to toe. ‘You’re unhurt,’ she declared in relief.

  ‘You need to go to the police and say you were attacked. Ask for Officer Puteri. Tell him that one of the men died in the struggle,’ Ella instructed her.

  ‘He fell and broke his neck,’ Amar explained. Lee didn’t need to know that Raj had killed him in the heat of the moment.

  Lee nodded. Ella knew she could rely on her.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Lee. I never thought they would try to ambush us here,’ she said.

  ‘It’s all right,’ Lee said valiantly. ‘Good luck,’ she added.

  Although Amar was tugging impatiently at her hand to pull her outside, Ella refused to leave before she had given Lee one last farewell hug. She owed her so much.

  Ella wasn’t in the least surprised that Raj had asked to come with them. He had joined their cause, and was now driving their cart towards the meeting point by the lake. One of the attackers was still alive and would be able to describe Raj, which meant that he now faced arrest and the death penalty. Ella didn’t need to ask him why he had rushed to their aid at Lee’s boarding house, for he volunteered an explanation during the journey.

  ‘I heard Compton talking to two of his men. He mentioned a document and ordered them to go to the boarding house to retrieve it. Whatever the cost,’ he told them.

  ‘Why are you helping me?’ Ella demanded to know.

  ‘Miss Foster has already left home. There’s no reason for me to stay any longer. Mrs Foster will have to answer for what she has done, and when that happens, where will that leave me?’ he answered.

  ‘Heather is safely on her way to the east coast?’ Ella asked.

  ‘I took her to the harbour myse
lf. You don’t need to worry about her,’ he said.

  Ella wondered whether she ought to ask any further questions, but she lacked the strength just then. Besides, Raj’s attention was focused on the road, the houses and the patches of impenetrable greenery they were driving past, which grew thicker the further they travelled and might conceal all kinds of dangers. He kept his knife close at hand.

  Amar was also plainly afraid that they might encounter a checkpoint before they reached the lake. He sat tensely on the back of the cart.

  No sooner had they turned onto the narrow path leading through the jungle than Amar’s face visibly relaxed. Within five minutes, it was clear that they had successfully completed the first stage of their escape.

  A robust-looking wagon was standing by the lake in the middle of the forest, laden with all kinds of food and supplies and harnessed with two horses. A third horse was also standing beside it, laden with saddlebags.

  Bujang noticed them approaching and waved – but his smile froze when he saw they were accompanied by an unknown man.

  ‘This is Raj. He saved our lives. He’s coming with us,’ Amar explained laconically.

  At that, Bujang gave Raj his hand.

  ‘You can leave your cart here. My mother will collect it tonight and tend to the horse,’ Bujang announced.

  Ella was impressed that he had thought of every last detail. That improved their odds of successfully escaping to the east coast.

  To begin with they made rapid progress thanks to the flat paved road, which Ella hoped they would be able to stay on for as long as possible. However, she soon realised that the vegetation on either side was becoming more dense and the road was growing narrower. Suddenly, their way was blocked by a tree trunk that had been felled by a lightning strike. But Bujang had thought of that too, and had packed suitable equipment – an axe and a saw.

  Bujang also knew exactly where the checkpoints were and was confident that he could safely bypass them. He rode ahead, for a wagon could be heard approaching from some distance away, whereas his horse could travel through the jungle alongside the road.

  That didn’t allay Ella’s fears, however. After the incident in the boarding house, there was no way Compton could believe that she would be naïve enough to turn up at the harbour to collect her tickets for the steamer to Hamburg – let alone take Amar with her.

  ‘What if Compton has warned the checkpoints?’ she wondered aloud.

  ‘The only way that could happen would be if British soldiers overtook us on the road.’ Amar’s point made sense to Ella.

  ‘But he might have sent word to them anyway. Compton is a shrewd man. Perhaps he never expected you to board the steamer. And this route is the only way to reach the east coast,’ remarked Raj.

  ‘But how would he know where we were going?’ Ella objected.

  ‘By the same logic Otto used when he came up with the plan. German freighters call at Penang too, but it would take us far too long to get there. We should be very careful,’ said Amar.

  Bujang returned barely a minute later.

  ‘Three soldiers. All armed,’ was all he said.

  Ella had been hoping that they wouldn’t encounter the first checkpoint until much later. Here they were with a wagon that could travel over rough terrain, and yet they would have to leave it behind before they reached the most difficult part of the route, for there was no way they could drive it through the jungle. Unfortunately, Bujang hadn’t known that there would be four of them. They had only three horses, so they had no choice but for two of them to ride together.

  Raj’s bulk meant he needed a horse to himself, so Amar and Ella were forced to share.

  Food, blankets and the essentials for their overnight camp now had to be divided between the three horses – but the saddlebags were big enough to store everything inside.

  It took them another half hour to drag the wagon into the forest, since they couldn’t just leave it in the middle of the road. Between them, the three men managed to haul it around thirty feet before its wheels stuck fast in the mire. Bujang and Raj covered it with ferns and leaves to prevent any passers-by from noticing it, while Amar used some branches to sweep over the tracks left by the wheels on the road. Then he mounted one of the horses and helped Ella up onto it.

  Bujang rode ahead, as before. Ella and Amar followed and Raj brought up the rear.

  Rapid progress was now out of the question, even without their wagon. The ground was heavily rutted and criss-crossed with thick tree roots, while ferns proliferated over everything and made it difficult to judge the terrain. There was no road – not even a dirt path – and their route led steeply uphill. They had no option but to rely on Bujang’s instincts and those of their horses in order to avoid stumbling. He assured them that before long they would cross a hunting trail used by locals looking for quarry, and that this would lead them to the summit of the hill. He soon found it, but it proved even more challenging than the rest of the route so far. It led ever more steeply upwards, while the vegetation grew thicker around them. They forced their way through an endless tangle of branches and scrub. Spiderwebs hung from twigs and creepers. With every step, Ella heard the voices of the rainforest grow louder – a surreal cacophony of bird calls and howling monkeys.

  Although they had passed the checkpoint by now, there was no way to get back to the road without heading even more steeply downhill, and the horses wouldn’t be able to cope with the descent. It would be another half hour before they reached the summit.

  An acrid stench rose to Ella’s nostrils. It grew more and more insistent until they reached a stream that lay around thirty feet below them. The plants on its banks had been trampled.

  Bujang raised his hand and signalled for them to halt, then listened intently.

  Ella could just make out a deep, guttural growl; then she saw the blood in the water. The hindquarters of a dead animal protruded from behind a bush. Ella had heard that there were tigers in Malacca, and there was evidently one nearby.

  Raj instantly drew his machete and scanned the forest for signs of the animal, while Bujang calmly dismounted and reached into his saddlebag. He pulled out something that resembled a bamboo stalk, though it seemed to be hollow.

  The predator’s intimidating growl rang through the jungle again, more clearly this time. The tiger must have drawn nearer. Everything around them fell silent. A flock of parrots fluttered from the treetops and disappeared into the sky.

  Bujang held his blowpipe in one hand and carefully pushed a dart inside it.

  The horses grew increasingly nervous, beginning to stamp their feet.

  ‘It’s trying to reach its prey,’ Bujang whispered to them.

  If he was right and the tiger was approaching from the other side of the stream then it might not see them through the scrub.

  The vegetation on the other side of the creek rustled, and it wasn’t long before Ella saw the tiger’s stripy back. Her heart pounded in her throat. She clung onto Amar.

  ‘We’re upwind. It can’t smell us,’ he whispered to her.

  Bujang clambered adroitly into a tree. One of its thick branches extended almost all the way down to the stream, where the cat was advancing with smooth, sleek movements. It walked straight up to the dead animal and dragged it out from behind the bush. At first glance, it looked like a wild boar, with black flanks and a white belly. Its neck gaped with a bloody wound. The creature had a small trunk on its face, and Ella recalled the travel books she had read during the crossing – the carcass had to be that of a tapir.

  The tiger ripped another chunk from its prey’s body – but then it suddenly froze and seemed to listen for a moment. Its huge skull pivoted to face them directly, and its muscles tensed, ready to pounce – but before it could do so, an object struck the tiger in the throat, and it roared and bared its teeth. A second projectile followed, and only then did Ella realise there were two darts protruding from the animal’s neck. The tiger scrabbled at them with its paws. It seemed to know w
here its attacker was, and with a single bound it reached the tree Bujang was sitting in. Then it tried to climb the trunk.

  Bujang yelled at the tiger, presumably to goad it into climbing higher so that it would tire more quickly.

  The tiger roared and made one final attempt to reach the upper branches. Its claws clutched at the trunk, but then it slipped down once more. Suddenly it seemed to lose all its strength and, unable to make a second attempt, the animal began to totter to one side. Its left hind leg gave way.

  ‘The poison in the darts works slowly,’ said Amar.

  The tiger looked up and seemed to notice them. It staggered to its feet and lumbered in their direction. Bujang’s horse bucked and whinnied in fear while Amar and Raj struggled to keep their own horses calm.

  Raj gripped his machete firmly, ready to strike.

  Ella could already smell the tiger’s breath – but it was too weak to cover the remaining distance. Both its hind legs collapsed, and the animal began to slide down the slope, its limp body tumbling back to the stream.

  Bujang climbed down from his tree. ‘It can’t hurt us now,’ he said.

  ‘Will it die?’ asked Ella.

  ‘Probably not. It would take more poison to kill an animal of that size. Three or four darts . . .’ explained Bujang.

  Ella now understood why they didn’t have any guns with them. Since Mohan’s arrest, she knew that the resistance had access to firearms – but shots could be heard from miles away, whereas blowpipes were silent.

  She felt certain that the horses wouldn’t be able to cope with the descent once they reached the top of the hill, for thick rainforest lay before them as far as the eye could see. It was only thanks to Bujang’s local knowledge that they managed to safely find their way back to the road. He continued to ride ahead to keep a lookout for further checkpoints, although there weren’t normally any guards stationed on this section of the route.

  With the onset of dusk, it made no sense to go on any further. Ella wouldn’t have been able to do so, anyway. The exertions of the day’s ride had taken their toll and she ached all over. The constant strain of keeping her balance on her horse as it moved over the uneven ground had placed demands on every muscle in her body. Her companions evidently felt the same, for none of them said a word beyond what was absolutely necessary as they prepared their dinner, handed out their tin plates and set up camp.