STORY OF COELOGYNE SPECIOSA 141 



All went well. At the time and place appointed, in pitch 

 darkness, a canoe grated softly against the vessel's side — a 

 few whispers passed — and Kilian climbed aboard. But, as it 

 turned out, she was not wearing only a few ornaments and a 

 kerchief All the family jewels, so to speak, hung about her 

 pretty figure. She was swathed in silk, garment over gar- 

 ment. And Nikput handed up several baskets that must 

 have been a very heavy load even for his stalwart frame. 

 They had looted the paternal treasure at the Nakodah's 

 suggestion. 



Next day passed without alarm ; there are only farm- 

 houses and villages, where a trader need not stop, between 

 Langusan and the Brunei frontier. The fugitives remained 

 below in the tiny cabin, amidst such heat and such sur- 

 roundings that those who know may shudder to think of 

 their situation. After dark, however, they came up, and, 

 until he fell asleep, doubtless, Williams heard their murmur- 

 ing and low happy laughter. On the morrow they would 

 be safe. 



A terrible cry awoke him — screams and trampling on the 

 palm-leaf deck ; then a great splash. Dawn was breaking, 

 but the mists are so dense at that hour that the Malays call 

 it white darkness. The sounds of struggle and the girl's 

 wild shrieks directed him ; but at the first movement he was 

 borne backwards and overthrown by a press of men stumbling 

 through the fog, with Kilian writhing and screaming in their 

 midst. They tossed her down into the hold and threw them- 

 selves upon him, his own servants foremost. Perhaps these 

 saved him from the fate of poor Nikput. What could he 

 do .'' — he had no arms. They swore him to silence. But 

 in that bloody realm of Brunei to whom should a wise man 

 complain ? 



All that day and the next Kilian's shrieks never ceased. 

 ' She will go mad,' Williams cried passionately ; the Nakodah 



