JUNGLE HUNTER 251 



abashed in the presence of a standing potentate so 

 distinguished. Thereafter my portly host oblig- 

 ingly, though, I felt sure, regretfully sat down, 

 thus somewhat concealing the prideful feature of 

 his anatomy, which had come so near to disturbing 

 the entente cordiale between us. It must take 

 quite a lot of rice and fish and a number of years 

 to develop a bay-window in Sumatra ; that is why, 

 I suppose, my good-natured native friend had such 

 frank pleasure in the completed product. 



The old gentleman had also quite a retinue of 

 kris and spear and betel-nut bearers ; but, next to 

 the bay-window, the joy of the old gentleman's 

 heart was his son, who had made a trip to Singa- 

 pore several years before my arrival, and had ever 

 since shone preeminently in the country there- 

 abouts on the glory of that visit. He was about 

 twenty or a few years older, with excellent fea- 

 tures, and a white jacket bearing silver buttons 

 which he had ingeniously manufactured from 

 pieces of coin acquired on that memorable trip. 

 But what he valued most, and invariably wore on 

 special occasions, was a pair of patent leather 

 shoes from which he had cut all the leather save 

 just the toe, thus making a pair of slipper-like 

 shoes whose rat-tat-tat of heel, as he slapped along, 

 sounded strangely aggressive among the bare- 

 footed, noiseless steps of all the others. The son 

 proved to be as kind to me as the father. 



