followed To’ Gâjah and those of the King's Youths who had been deputed to
cover their Master's shame.
At Kuâla Tĕmbĕling, where the waters of the river of that name make common
cause with those of the Jĕlai, and where the united streams first take the name of
Pahang, there lies a broad stretch of sand glistening in the fierce sunlight. It has
been heaped up, during countless generations, by little tributes from the streams
which meet at its feet, and it is never still. Every flood increases or diminishes its
size, and weaves its restless sands into some new fantastic curve or billow. The
sun which beats upon it bakes the sand almost to boiling point, and the heat-haze
dances above it, like some restless phantom above a grave. And who shall say
that ghosts of the dead and gone do not haunt this sandbank far away in the heart
of the Peninsula? If native report speaks true, the spot is haunted, for the sand,
they say, is 'hard ground' such as the devils love to dwell upon. Full well may it
be so, for Pâsir Tambang has been the scene of many a cruel tragedy, and could
its sands but speak, what tales would they have to tell us of woe and murder, of
valour and treachery, of shrieking souls torn before their time from their sheaths
of flesh and blood, and of all the savage deeds of this
race of venomous worms
That sting each other here in the dust.It was on this sandbank that To’ Gâjah and his people pitched their camp,
building a small open house with rude uprights, and thatching it with palm
leaves cut in the neighbouring jungle. To’ Gâjah knew that Imâm Bakar was the
man with whom he really had to deal. Imâm Prang Sâmah and Khatib Bûjang he
rated at their proper worth, and it was to Imâm Bakar, therefore, that he first sent
a message, desiring him once more to answer as to who was his Master and who
his Chief. Imâm Bakar, after consulting his two friends, once more returned the
answer that while he acknowledged the Bĕndăhâra as his King and his Master,
his immediate Chief was no other than 'His Highness To’ Râja.' That answer
sealed his doom.
On the following day To’ Gâjah sent for Imâm Bakar, and made all things ready
against his coming. To this end he buried his spears and other arms under the
sand within his hut.
When the summons to visit To’ Gâjah reached Imâm Bakar, he feared that his
time had come. He was not a man, however, who would willingly fly from
danger, and he foresaw moreover that if he took refuge in flight all his