by G. A. Henty
Chapter 12: The Defence Of Johore.
Half an hour later, the little party were on their way. They werestiff, at first, from passing the night in a sitting attitude; butit was not long before they were able to break into a trot. Thisthey kept up for an hour then, to their great satisfaction, theforest abruptly ceased, and they saw, at a distance of about a mileand a half, the little town of Johore, lying in cultivated fieldsthat extended to the edge of the forest.
They broke into a walk, for a short distance; and then continued attheir former pace, for they could not tell how close their pursuersmight be behind them. It was not long before they saw men at workin the fields. The interpreter shouted to them that a party of theenemy were not far behind and, throwing down their tools, they alsomade for the town, spreading the alarm as they went. Fresh andfleet footed, they arrived some minutes before Harry's party and,as these entered the place, they found the whole population in thestreet, the men armed with spears and krises.
Asking the way, they soon reached the rajah's palace, whichconsisted of a central house, round which a number of huts werebuilt; the whole surrounded by a stone wall, some eight feet high.The rajah, when they arrived, was questioning some of his people asto the cause of this sudden alarm. He was greatly surprised at thesight of Harry, in his full uniform, attended only by one soldierand a native.
"How comes it that you arrive like this?" he asked, angrily.
"Explain what has happened," Harry said, to the interpreter.
The rajah's brow darkened, as he heard how the escort he had sentdown had been slain, to a man, on the previous day. But hisexcitement increased, when told that a strong force of his enemywas gathered within a few miles of the town; and that an assaultmight be immediately expected.
"Will you tell the rajah that I am used to warfare, and shall beglad to assist him, to the best of my power, in the defence of histown?"
"How many men were there?" the rajah asked.
"I should think there were a couple of thousand," Harry replied."Some of them had matchlocks, but the greater part of them onlyspear and kris."
"And we have not more than five hundred," the rajah said. "Wecannot hope to resist them. What think you?"
"I will at once go round the town, and see," Harry said. "It may bethat, being accustomed to war, I can suggest some means of sostrengthening the defences that we may hold them against theenemy."
The rajah, having heard many tales of the fighting powers of thewhites, said:
"I will go with you. I would defend the place if I could for, ifJohore were lost, I should be but a fugitive. All within it wouldbe killed, and I should have to beg an asylum from those over whomI was once master."
Calling a party of his men to follow him, the rajah accompaniedHarry to the edge of the town. It was already surrounded by apalisade; but this was of no great strength, and its circumferencewas fully a mile and a half.
"Tell the rajah that we could make a first defence, here, but hisfighting men are not numerous enough to hold so large a circuitagainst four times their number. I should suggest that the wholepopulation should be set to work to build another palisade, muchnearer to the palace. All the women and children should be sentinside this, all the provisions in the town be taken into thepalace enclosure, and a large supply of water stored there.
"As soon as the new palisade is finished, all who can be sparedfrom its defence should set to work to throw up a bank of earthagainst the wall; and upon this the fighting men can take theirplaces, and should be able to defend the palace against anyassault."
The rajah listened attentively to the interpreter.
"The English officer's words are good," he said, "but we have notimber for the palisades that he speaks of."
"Tell the rajah," Harry said, when this was interpreted to him,"that there is plenty of wood and bamboos in the huts that standoutside the line of the new palisade; and that if we pull thesedown, we can use the materials. Moreover, in any case it would bewell to level these houses for, if the enemy fired them, it wouldbe almost certain to fire the houses inside the palisade."
The rajah's face brightened. The tone of assurance in which Harryspoke reassured him, and he said to the interpreter:
"Tell the officer that my people shall do just as he tells them, ifhe will point out where the defence must be erected."
Harry was not long in fixing upon the line for the entrenchments.It was some two hundred yards in diameter and, at the rajah'sorders, the whole of the men and women of the town set to work, topull down the huts standing within fifty or sixty yards of this.This was the work of a couple of hours, and the materials werecarried up to the line. The stronger timbers were first planted, inholes dug for them; and the intervals between these were filledwith bamboo poles. On the inside face other bamboos were lashed,with rattans across them. As fast as these were used, more houseswere pulled down, until the defence was completed, the crossbarsbeing some nine inches apart.
This work performed, the men, women and children brought up whatprovisions they had, and their most precious belongings. These werecarried inside the wall of the palace. It was two o'clock beforethe work was finished, and there was then a rest for half an hour.
Then all were set to work to dig a trench, three feet deep withperpendicular sides, at a distance of two feet from the palisade. Alarge store of bamboos that had been too slender for use in thepalisade were sharpened, and cut into lengths of two feet; andthese were planted, thickly, in the bottom of the trench. Others,five feet long, were sharpened and then thrust through theinterstices between the upright bamboos; the ends being fixedfirmly in the ground inside, while the sharpened points projectedlike a row of bayonets, at a height of some two feet above the edgeof the ditch.
It was nightfall before the work was finished. The rajah had,himself, been all the time upon the spot; and was delighted when hesaw how formidable was the obstacle that had been raised. One smallentrance, alone, had been left; and through this all the women andchildren now passed, and lay down in the space between the newpalisade and the wall of the palace.
The men were ordered to take post behind the stockade, and a numberof boys were sent out, to act as scouts and give notice if an enemyapproached. The rajah, however, was of opinion that, as the enemywould know that the alarm would have been given by the fugitives,on their arrival, and that the inhabitants would be on their guard,they would not attack till daylight.
Harry had, at his invitation, gone up at midnight to his house, andpartaken of food; which was also sent out to Abdool and theinterpreter. The rajah would have continued the work all throughthe night, had not Harry dissuaded him; saying that, after sixhours' sleep, everyone would work better.
At one o'clock a horn was sounded and, with the exception of a fewmen left at the outer palisade, all set to work again. The men wereemployed in digging a trench, a foot in depth, inside the innerpalisade; throwing up the earth in front of them, so as to lieprotected from arrows and spears, until it was time for them torise to their feet to repel an actual assault. The women andchildren filled baskets with the earth thrown from the outertrench, on the previous day, and carried it inside the wall where,by five o'clock, a bank two feet high had been raised; and on thisa platform of bamboos, three feet high and eighteen inches wide waserected.
The work had scarcely been finished when a horn was sounded,outside the town; and the boys came running in, while the men randown to the outer palisade. As day broke, great numbers of darkfigures were seen, making their way through the fields on threesides of the town.
"The band we saw must have been joined by another. There arecertainly more than two thousand men there. They will undoubtedlycarry the outer palisade. Many of our men will be killed, and manyothers will be unable to join us here. I think that it will be muchbetter to rely on this defence, alone."
Having now great confidence in Harry's judgment, the rajah at onceordered a horn to be sounded and, in a short time, the whole of themen were assembled in their stronghold; and
the entrance closed bybamboos, for which holes had been already dug, close together. Thenshort lengths were lashed across them, and they were furtherstrengthened by a bank of earth piled against them.
Before this was quite finished, yells of triumph were heard as theenemy, finding the palisade unguarded, poured in; expecting to findthat the inhabitants had fled at the news of their approach. Theypaused, however, in surprise, at seeing another line of defenceoutside the palace. Quickly the numbers increased, until a thickline of dark figures was gathered at the edge of the cleared space.
Inside the defence, all was quiet. Not a man showed himself.Doubtful whether the town had not been entirely evacuated, theMalays paused for some little time, while some of the chiefsgathered together in consultation. Then a few of the men advanced,with the evident intention of examining the defences.
They were allowed to approach within ten yards of the ditch, when ashower of arrows flew from the openings in the palisade; and two,only, of the Malays fled back to their companions. The fall of theothers provoked wild yells of anger. A horn sounded, and theassailants rushed upon them from all sides. When within a few yardsof the ditch they hurled their spears, and shot a cloud of arrows.A large proportion were stopped by the bamboos, but such as passedthrough flew harmlessly over the heads of the defenders; whoreplied with a far more deadly shower of arrows.
Leaping over those who had fallen, the enemy dashed forward. Thosein front endeavoured to check their course, on arriving at the edgeof the ditch; but they were forced in by the pressure of thosebehind, and the long spears of the defenders gleamed out throughthe openings of the bamboos, inflicting terrible damage.
In vain the assailants endeavoured to climb out of the ditch. Thebayonet-like line of bamboos checked them; and the arrows of theconcealed defenders told, with terrible effect, on the strugglingmass. At last, at many points, the ditch was literally filled withdead; and the assailants were enabled to leap upon the line ofbamboos which had so long checked their passage.
The advantage was but slight. The slippery poles were some sixinches apart and, slanting as they did, afforded so poor a footholdthat the Malays were forced to stand between them, on the narrowledge between the palisading and the ditch. Here they thrust theirspears between the palisade; but these were wrenched from theirhands, and scores fell from the blows of kris, spear, and arrow;until at last their leaders and chiefs, seeing how terrible was theslaughter, and how impossible it was to climb the bamboo fence,called their men off; and they fell back, pursued by exulting criesfrom the women, who were standing on the platform behind the wallof the palace, watching the conflict, and by the yells of thedefenders of the stockade.
Of these but few had fallen, while some five hundred of theassailants had perished. The rajah was almost beside himself withjoy, at this crushing defeat of his enemy.
"I do not suppose it is over yet, Rajah," Harry said, through hisinterpreter. "There are still some five times our number, and theywill surely not retire without endeavouring to avenge their defeat.But I hardly think they will attack the stockade again. Possiblythey will try fire, next time; and it will be harder to fight thatthan to keep men at bay."
The rajah looked serious.
"Yes," he said, "they cannot return to their homes, and say thatthey have left five hundred dead behind them. What do you advise?"
"They will hardly attack again today, Rajah; therefore I shall havetime to think it over. But at present, it seems to me that our onlycourse is to shoot down as many of those who bring up firebrands aspossible. We have still a number of long bamboos left, and withthese we might thrust away any burning faggots that might be castagainst the palisade."
The rajah nodded.
"That might be done," he said, "and with success, no doubt."
"With success at many points, Rajah; but if they succeed, at onlyone point, in establishing a big fire against the stockade; we mustretire within the wall. They cannot burn us out there, except atthe gate; and against that we must pile up earth and stones. But Ishould certainly recommend that the roofs of all the buildingsinside should be taken off unless, indeed, you have sufficienthides to cover them. Still, we need not do that until we are driveninside the wall. It takes but a short time to take off the broadleaves with which the roofs are covered."
During the fight, Harry had taken no active part in the conflict.He had divided the circle into three, and had taken charge of onedivision, Abdool taking another, and the rajah a third. They hadeach encouraged the men under them, and had gone where the pressureof the attack was most severe.
On leaving the rajah, Harry joined Abdool.
"They will try again, Abdool; but I don't think they will try tocarry the stockade by assault again."
"They will try fire, sahib."
"That is just what I am afraid of. The archers will shoot down agood many of them, but in such numbers as they are, this will makelittle difference; and we must calculate that, at at least a dozenspots, they will place blazing faggots against the palisade."
Abdool nodded.
"I have been telling the rajah," Harry went on, "that the men mustprovide themselves with long bamboos, which they can thrust throughthe openings in the stockade, and push the faggots away. But evenif we do so, we must calculate upon the enemy succeeding, in someplaces, in setting the palisades on fire."
"That would be very serious; but of course we should go in behindthe wall."
"I do not want to do that, as long as we can possibly stay here. Ithink that, when night comes, we ought to make a sortie."
"But are we not too few, sahib?"
"Too few to defeat them, Abdool, but not too few to beat them up.You see, the wind always blows, in the evening, up from the sea. Inoticed it last night. It was quite strong. What I should proposewould be to pull up enough bamboos for four men to go out,together, on the side facing the wind. Two hundred men should firstsally out; remaining, as they do so, close to the ditch. When allare ready, they should crawl across the cleared ground and then, ata signal, attack the enemy who, taken by surprise, would be sure togive way, at first.
"As they attack, fifty men with torches should rush out and followthem, and set fire to as many huts as they can. As soon as they haddone their work, all should run back, when the signal is given.
"There will be two advantages: in the first place, the suddenattack will disconcert the enemy, and render them less willing toexpose their lives, by storming a place so desperately held; in thesecond place, the wind will carry the flame over the whole town,and I hope the burning fragrants will carry the flames over all thefields where the crops are dry; thus causing them much moredifficulty in obtaining dry wood for faggots, and they will beexposed to our arrows, much longer, before they throw them againstthe stockade."
"It would be excellent, sahib; but do you think the men would go?"
"Just at the present moment, they would do anything; they are halfwild with excitement and triumph."
Harry presently went with the interpreter to the rajah's house.
"I have a plan to propose to you," he said, "that will render itmuch more difficult for the enemy to set fire to the stockade;" andhe then explained his scheme.
The rajah's eyes glistened with excitement.
"Nothing could be better," he said; "and there is but one fear, andthat is, that the enemy will follow us so hotly, that they willenter through the breach before we can close it."
"I have thought of that," Harry said, "and the order must be that,when the signal is given, the men must throw down their torches;and then each man must run, not for the hole in the stockade, butto the nearest point, and keep along outside the ditch, and enterby it. In that way the point at which they entered would not beknown and, moreover, they would be able to enter more rapidly, andwith much less confusion, than if they all arrived together in acrowd. A party would, of course, be left at the breach when theysally out and, the moment the last man entered, would replace andlash the bamboos in their position.
"If, h
owever, we are hotly pursued, you and I, with your ownguards, should remain outside, and keep them at bay until all thebamboos but one are replaced. This will leave an opening sufficientfor one man, and we must fall back fighting. They certainly wouldnot venture to follow us through so narrow a passage."
Two hundred and fifty of the men were brought inside the wall, andthe rajah explained to them the duty upon which they would beemployed. He told off fifty of them as torch bearers; explained toall, carefully, the plan Harry had devised; gave strict orders thatno sound, whatever, must be made until they reached the houses and,at Harry's request, impressed upon them the absolute necessity fornot allowing their ardour to carry them too far; but that torchesmust be thrown down, and everyone run back, as soon as the hornsounded.
There was no doubt that the order was a satisfactory one. The menraised their krises and spears, and shouted with joy. In theirpresent mood, nothing could please them more than the thought of anattack upon their assailants.
All remained quiet, on both sides, until darkness fell; then thecrash of falling huts showed that the enemy intended to use fire,and were about to begin the work of making faggots.
"They will attack an hour before daybreak," the rajah said; "ormay, perhaps, wait till the sun is up for, in the daylight, thosewho carried the torches would not be so conspicuous, but wouldadvance in the midst of their whole force."
"At what time are they likely to sleep?"
"Many will sleep early," he said, "in readiness for the fight.Others will sit up and talk, all night; but those who intend tosleep will probably do so, in a couple of hours."
"Do you think that they are likely to place guards?"
"No; they will not dream that we should have the boldness to attackthem."
"Let us give them three hours," Harry said, "the sea wind will beblowing strongly, then."
The greater portion of the men who were to remain behind were to bestationed on the side on which the sortie was to be made, so as tocover the retreat of the others, by showers of arrows. The rajah'sprincipal officer was placed in command here. His orders were that,if the enemy came on too strongly, he was to issue out with ahundred men, and aid the party to beat back their assailants.However, Harry did not think it likely that this would be the case.The Malays would be scattered all over the town--some, perhaps,even beyond the outer palisades--and before they could assemble inforce, the party ought to be safe within the palisade again.
Just before ten, the two hundred men who were to make the attacksallied out. They were led by the rajah, while Harry was to leadthe firing party. He chose this part, because he would not be ableto crawl across the open space as noiselessly as the Malays coulddo.
During the day, a number of hides had been hung on the palisades,so that the enemy should not notice that a gathering of men, withtorches, was assembled there; and in order that the light might notbe conspicuous at this spot, fires had been lighted at otherpoints, in order to give the impression that the defenders wereholding themselves in readiness to repel another attack. Thebamboos had been removed, ten minutes before the party issued out.So noiseless was their tread that Harry, though close to theentrance, could not hear it; and when he looked out, as soon as thelast man had passed, he could neither see nor hear anything. Themen had all thrown themselves on the ground, as soon as they hadpassed out, and were crawling forward without a sound beingaudible.
Harry and Abdool had both armed themselves with a kris and spear.Behind them were the torch bearers, arranged four abreast.
It seemed an age before the sound of a horn rose in the air.Instantly they dashed through the opening, followed by the men and,at full speed, crossed the cleared ground. Already the sound ofshouts, violent yells, and the clashing of blades showed that therajah's men were at work.
Scattering as they reached the houses, the torch bearers ran fromhut to hut; pausing for a few seconds, at each, till the flame hadgained a fair hold. In less than a minute, sixty or seventy houseswere in flames. Harry had the man with the horn with him and, assoon as he saw that the work was fairly done, he ordered the signalto be blown. The torches were thrown down, and their bearers ranback at full speed and, half a minute later, the rajah's men pouredout from the town. There was no pursuit, and the whole bandre-entered the stockade before, with yells of fury, numbers of theenemy ran forward.
As soon as they did so, arrows began to fly fast from the stockadeand, knowing that they could effect nothing, without means ofbreaking through, the Malays retired as rapidly as they hadadvanced.
Short as was the interval that had elapsed since the first signalwas given, the town was, at the point where the attack was made, asheet of flame, which was spreading rapidly on either hand. Thehubbub among the enemy was tremendous. Upwards of a hundred hadbeen killed, by the rajah's party--for the most part before theycould offer any resistance--and not more than five or six of theirassailants had received severe wounds.
Loud rose the shouts of exultation from the defenders, as the firespread with ever-increasing rapidity; flakes of fire, driven by astrong wind, started the flames in a score of places, far ahead ofthe main conflagration and, in half an hour, only red embers andflickering timbers showed where Johore had stood. Beyond, however,there were sheets of flame, where the crops had been dry and readyfor cutting; and the garrison felt that their assailants would haveto go a long distance, to gather materials for endeavouring to burnthem out.
While the position had been surrounded by a zone of fire, the rajahhad, at Harry's suggestion, sent the whole of the men and women tocast earth over the dead; piled, at four or five points, so thicklyin the ditch.
"If the matter is delayed another day," he said, "the air will beso poisoned that it will be well-nigh impossible to exist here."
The rajah admitted this; but urged that his men would want to cutoff the heads of their fallen enemies, this being the generalcustom among the Malays.
"It may be so, Rajah, but it could not be carried out, here,without great danger. Our own lives depend upon getting themquickly buried. We have no such custom of cutting off heads, in ourcountry, but that is no affair of mine. But the bodies now lie inwhat is, in fact, a grave; and a few hours' labour would be themeans of saving the town from a pestilence, later on.
"When the enemy depart, I should advise you to build a great moundof earth over the trench. It will be a record of your grand defenceand, by placing a strong stockade along the top, you wouldstrengthen your position greatly. I should recommend you, in thatcase, to clear the space within it, as far as the wall, of allhouses; and to build the town entirely outside it."
There was great dissatisfaction, among the natives, at beingprevented from taking what seemed to them their natural trophies.But when the rajah informed them that the order was given inconsequence of the white officer's advice, they set about the workreadily and, before morning, the dead were all hidden from sight bya deep layer of earth.
The next day passed without incident. At nightfall a sharp lookoutwas kept, not only on the palisade but from the top of the rajah'shouse. It was thought that the enemy, of whom considerable numbershad been seen going into the forest, would bring up the faggots asclosely as possible, before lighting them. Still, it would benecessary to carry brands for that purpose and, now that the groundwas cleared of huts, some at least of these brands could be seen,even if carefully hidden.
With the exception of the guards, all slept during the day; as itwas necessary that they should be vigilant at night, for the enemymight, on this occasion, approach at an earlier hour, hoping tofind the garrison unprepared. Harry and Abdool paced round andround on the platform of the wall but, although a few fires burnedamong the fields, no glimmer of light could be seen where the townhad stood.
"I wish I knew what they were up to, Abdool," Harry said, aboutmidnight. "I don't like this silence."
"Perhaps they have gone away, sahib."
"No, I can hardly think that. I believe we shall have anotherattack, before morning. They may bring
ladders with them, forclimbing the palisade; they may try fire; but I am convinced thatthey will do something.
"The position is not so strong as it was. If we had had morebamboos, I should have set our men to dig another ditch, and defendit like the first; but they are all used up, now. I wish we hadsome rockets; so that we could send up one, from time to time, andsee what they are doing."
Another hour passed, and some of the Malays declared that theycould hear a sound as of many men moving. Harry listened in vain,but he knew that the Malays' senses were much keener than his own.
He went at once to the rajah. The chief had been up till midnight,and then retired; leaving orders that he was to be called, directlyan alarm of any sort was given. He was seated with two or three ofhis councillors, talking, when Harry, with the interpreter,entered.
"Your people say they hear sounds, Rajah. I can hear nothing,myself, but I know their hearing is keener than mine. I am uneasy,for even they cannot see the faintest glow that would tell that afire is being brought up. In my opinion, we had better leave onlytwo hundred men at the palisade, and bring the rest in here. We canlead them out, at once, if any point is hotly attacked; and itwould prevent confusion, if the stockade were suddenly forced. Theenemy may be bringing up hundreds of ladders and, in the darkness,may get up close before they are noticed."
"Do as you think best," the rajah said and, at once, went out andsent officers to bring in three hundred of the men; and also, atHarry's suggestion, to tell the others that, when the rajah's hornsounded, all were to leave the stockade and make at once for theentrance through the wall.
Another half hour passed. Even Harry was conscious, now, that therewas a low dull sound in the air.
"I cannot think what they are doing," the rajah, who was nowstanding on the wall, close to the gate, said to Harry. "Howevernumerous they may be, they should have moved as noiselessly as wedid, when we went out to attack them."
"I don't think that it will be long before we know, now, Rajah."
He had scarcely spoken, when there was a loud shout from thepalisade in front of them. It was on this side that the men hadbeen posted so thickly, as it was of all things necessary to defendthis to the last, in order to enable those at other points to maketheir way to the gate. The shout of alarm was followed, almostinstantly, by the sound of a horn and, immediately, a tremendousyell resounded on all sides.
It was answered by the shouts of the garrison and, a moment later,a score of balls composed of matting, dipped in oil or resinousgum, were thrown flaming over the palisades. These had beenprepared the previous day, and the men charged with throwing themhad each an earthenware pot, containing glowing charcoal, besidethem. Their light showed groups of men, twenty or thirty strong,advancing within twenty yards of the palisade.
"They are carrying trees, to batter down the stockade, Rajah!" saidHarry.
Behind the carrying parties was a dense crowd of Malays, who rushedforward as soon as the fireballs fell, hurling their spears andshooting their arrows, to which the defenders replied vigorously.
"The stockade will not stand a moment against those trees," hecontinued. "'Tis best to call the men in, at once."
The rajah ordered the native beside him to sound his horn and, intwo or three minutes, the men poured in at the entrance. As soon asthe last had come in, the bamboos were put in the holes preparedfor them, with some rattans twined between them. Scores of men thenset to work, bringing up the earth and stones that had been piledclose at hand.
In the meantime, the three hundred men on the walls kept up ashower of arrows on the enemy. The battering rams, which consistedof trees stripped of their branches, and some forty feet long andten inches thick, did their work and, by the time the entrance wassecure, the Malays poured in with exultant shouts.
A large supply of the fireballs had been placed on the platformsand, as these were lighted and thrown down, the assailants wereexposed to a deadly shower of arrows as they rushed forward. Atthis moment the rajah's servant brought up four double-barrelledguns.
"They are loaded," the chief said, as he handed one of these toHarry.
"How long is it since they were fired?" the latter asked.
"It is three months since I last went out shooting," the rajahreplied.
Harry at once proceeded to draw the charges.
"I should advise you to do the same, Rajah. A gun that has not beenfired for three months is not likely to carry straight, and is moredangerous to its owner than to an enemy."
The rajah called up two of his men, and one of these at once drewthe charges of the guns, and reloaded them from the powder horn andbag of bullets the servants had brought.
The enemy did not press their attack, but retired behind thepalisades and, from this shelter, began to shoot their arrows fast,while a few matchlock men also replied.
"It would be as well, Rajah, to order all your men to sit down.There is no use in their exposing themselves to the arrows, andthey are only wasting their own. We must wait, now, to see whattheir next move will be. Fire will be of no use to them, now; andthe wall will take some battering before it gives way and, brave asthe men may be, they could not work the battering rams under theshower of spears and arrows that would be poured upon them.
"I should send the greater part of your men down to get off theroofs of the huts. Those up here must place a man or two on watch,at each side, and throw a fireball occasionally."
In a few moments the enemy ceased shooting their arrows, for thelight of the fireballs showed them that the garrison was inshelter.
"There is no occasion for you to stay here, any longer, Rajah. Iwill look after matters until morning, and will send to you, assoon as there is any stir outside."
In half an hour, the huts were stripped of their most combustiblematerial. This was heaped up under the platforms, where it would besafe from falling arrows. The women drew pots of water from thewell, and a hundred men were then left in the courtyard, withorders to pull up or stamp out any flaming arrows that might fall.But as the time went on, it was evident that the assailants had notthought of providing themselves with the materials requisite, andthe greater part of the garrison lay down quietly and slept.
Harry had waited until he saw the work in the courtyard completed;and then, with the interpreter, entered the rajah's house. The roomhe generally used was empty. Some lamps were burning there, and helaid himself down on a divan, while the Malay curled himself up onthe floor.
Harry had slept but a short time when he was awakened by a lighttouch on his shoulder and, springing up, saw a woman, with a boysome six years old, standing beside him. The woman placed herfinger on her lips, imploringly. Harry at once roused theinterpreter. Through him, the woman explained that she was thewidow of the late rajah, and that her son was the lawful heir tothe throne.
"I have come to you, brave white lord," she said, "to ask you ifyour people will grant us protection."
"That would be impossible," Harry replied; "my people are busy withtheir own wars in India and, even were they not so occupied, theycould not interfere in a domestic quarrel between the Malaychiefs."
"Why are you fighting here, then?"
"I am fighting in my own quarrel. I was attacked, and my followerskilled, by the rajah now assailing this place. I, myself, shouldhave been murdered, had I not made my escape; and should certainlybe killed by him, if he were victorious.
"I think it likely that, before very long, there may be an Englishtrading station at Singapore and, if you and your son were to gothere, you would certainly be well received. I shall, of course,relate your story, which I have already heard, on my return toCalcutta; and on my explaining that your son is entitled to thethrone of Johore, it may be that some sum would be granted for yourmaintenance; for it may well be that, in time, the throne may againbecome vacant, and that the people, tired of these constant wars,will unite to accept your son as rajah. I may tell you that I amsure the tumangong will grant us a trading station, and possiblythe whole island; but as he is
not the Rajah of Johore, although atpresent independent of him, we should like to have his assent tothe cession. It is for this purpose I have come here although, upto the present time, I have not said anything about it to therajah, as we have both been much too busy to talk of such matters.
"It may be years before the English come to Singapore; but myreport will certainly be noted and, assuredly, an asylum would begranted you, and you would be kindly received. I can say no morethan that."
"Thanks, my lord, I could have hoped for no more. Forgive me forhaving thus disturbed you but, as all in the house save ourselvesare asleep, I thought that it was an opportunity that would notoccur again. I will teach my son that the English are his friendsand, should aught happen to me, and should he ever become rajahhere, he will act as their friend, also."
When this had been interpreted to Harry, she and the boy left theroom, as noiselessly as they had entered. Harry was well pleasedwith the interview. Probably the present man would, when the resultof this struggle became known, regain much of the power he hadlost. Assuredly, as long as he remained rajah, he would now beready to grant anything asked for and, as Singapore was virtuallylost to him, his assent would be given without hesitation. If, onthe other hand, he were dethroned, or died, it was likely that thisboy would in time become rajah and, in view of this possibility,doubtless the Governor would order that if, at any time, he and hismother arrived at Singapore, they should be well received.