UP A TREE IN THE JUNGLE 199 



midst of the turmoil, what passed as a water-chain. 

 The natives grabbed buckets and ran to the river, 

 returning at full speed, waving their buckets and 

 getting in one another's way. I doubt if a single 

 bucket reached the fire with more than a cupful 

 of water in it. It was so funny that I had to hide 

 where no one could see me laughing. I heard later 

 that the old Sultan laughed until he was weak. 



He feared only that the wind might change and 

 bring the fire on his palace ; and he sent Mahommed 

 Yusuf to find me and ask my advice. Yusuf and 

 I decided that, if the wind showed any signs of 

 changing, it would be best to tear down some of the 

 village, to make a protecting strip. I went back 

 across the river to my house for dynamite to aid 

 in the work of demolition. However, the wind did 

 not change, and, in exactly a hundred minutes after 

 I saw the first smoke, the fire had run its course. 



In that time, a hundred and twenty-five houses 

 had burned to the ground, but no lives had been 

 lost. And so it was not a serious calamity, since 

 house-building in that section of the country is a 

 simple matter. The Malays thought it a great joke 

 that the stores that were destroyed belonged to 

 the Chinese; for the Chinese were always cheating 

 them. By the time evening came, it was as if 

 the fire had been arranged to give the population 

 an exciting and amusing holiday. 



That night, Ali, after indulging in some elo- 

 quence on the subject of my express rifle, brought 



