THE LIGHTS OF CHANGKAT ASAH. 119 



itely assigned to bird, frog, mammal, or insect, 

 suggest a supernatural origin ; and if by chance any 

 of the awful eagle-owls scream uttering an ear-pierc- 

 ing yell, like that of a woman suddenly seized and 

 tortured the nerves of the man are strong who can 

 repress a shudder, and the Malay would be rare who 

 would not think that it was connected in some way 

 with the forest spirits. When night had closed in, 

 and the darkness prevented any possibility of retreat, 

 it cannot but be that Baginda Sutan bitterly repented 

 him of his foolhardiness. 



The lights of the valley below us twinkled brightly. 

 We could see the outline of the village streets, the 

 police-station, and my quarters, while little specks of 

 light marked the scattered houses up and down the 

 river-banks. The unhappy goat, after a few plaint- 

 ive bleats, followed at intervals by heartrending and 

 consumptive coughs which seemed to be directed at 

 us, settled itself to sleep and silence. The moon was 

 in its last quarter, and would not rise until past mid- 

 night. So we sat lonely on our peak waiting for the 

 hours to pass. Suddenly I saw two lights far up the 

 Bernam valley hurrying down towards the village. 

 "Fight among the Chinese in the mines," was my 

 comment; "and here are two men coming down to 

 the police-station to make a report." We watched the 

 progress of the two lights down the valley, seeing 

 them pass the miniature blaze that marked my 

 quarters and go on towards the police-station on the 

 river-bank. Then in an instant the two lights flew 

 up into the air, and rushed straight at us. So fast 

 did they fly, and so directly did they aim at us, that 



