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 
