After a space he became calmer, for though the thought of his troubles is often
present to the mind of a Malay râja, the paroxysms, which the memory
occasions, are not usually of long duration. Presently he began chuckling to
himself, and then spoke again:
'I remember once, when I was for the moment rich with the spoils of war, I
gambled all the evening in that same house at Klang, and lost four thousand
dollars. It mattered not at all on which quarter of the mat I staked, nor whether I
staked ko-o, li-am, or tang; I pursued the red half of the dice as one chases a dog,
but never once did I catch it. At last, when my four thousand dollars were
finished, I arose and departed, and my liver was hot in my chest. As I came out
of the Farm, a Chinaman, whom I knew, and who loved me, followed after me,
and said, "Hai-yah, Ungku, you have lost much to-night. That man with whom
you gambled was cheating you, for he has a trick whereby he can make the red
part of the dice turn to whichever side of the mat he wills." "Is this true?" I
asked, and he said, "It is indeed true."'
'Then I loosened the "Chinese Axe" in its scabbard, and turned back into the
Farm. First I seized the Chinaman by the pig-tail, and my followers gathered up
all the money in the bank, near seven thousand dollars, so that it needed six men
to carry it, and I then departed to my house, none daring to bar my passage.'
'When we had entered the house, I bade the Chinaman be seated, and told him
that I would kill him, even then, if he did not show me the trick whereby he had
cheated me. This he presently did, and for near two hours I sat watching him,
and practising, for I had a mind to learn the manner of his art, thinking that
hereafter I might profit by it. Then, when the dawn was breaking, I led the
Chinaman down to the river by the hand,—for I was loth to make a mess within
my house,—and when I had cut his throat, and sent his body floating down-
stream, I washed myself, performed my ablutions before prayer, prayed, and
went to my bed, for my eyes were heavy with sleep.'
'Kasîh-an Chîna!' I said, 'I am sorry for the Chinaman!'
'Why are you sorry for him?' asked Râja Haji, 'He had cheated me and it was not
fitting that he should live; besides, he was a Chinaman, and we counted not their
lives as being of any worth. In Kinta, before Mr. Birch went to Pêrak, they had a
game called Main China, each man betting on the number of the coins which a
passing Chinaman carried in his pouch, and whether they were odd or even.
Thereafter, when the bets had been made, they would kill the Chinaman and