DISCOMPOSE THE ESCORT. 97 



weapons held upright in their hands before them. 

 We could not, however, afford to linger here, as it 

 was necessary to be under cover before the afternoon 

 rain set in, so at eleven o'clock we mounted again, 

 and regaining the road, galloped up from the valley 

 onto some open downs covered with long waving 

 alang alang. 



We here tried to break up the formality of the 

 march a little, and suddenly charging the two 

 spearmen who rode about a hundred yards a-head, 

 succeeded in passing them, to their affected dis- 

 comfiture, but great apparent enjoyment. The 

 Widono seemed to consider himself bound to keep 

 as near behind us as he could, and we had a regular 

 race occasionally, till the blowing of our horses 

 called us to pull up, and the spearmen regained 

 their places. Even the grave old Widono seemed 

 at last unable to resist the fun of the thing, and 

 burst into a hearty laugh, while all his attendants 

 dismissed their seriousness at once, and we pro- 

 ceeded amidst frequent roars of laughter. The 

 young Bukkel especially, the Widono's next officer 

 or lieutenant, assumed an animated spirited look, 

 and his black eyes began to sparkle as we spoke to 

 him of field sports, through Hill's interpretation, 

 and I have no doubt he would, on a little acquaint- 

 ance, have proved an excellent companion in the 

 field. We crossed one or two brooks, running to 

 the south, as we approached Malang, and got upon 

 a broad excellent road, that seemed one of the 



VOL. II. h 



