count the coins.'
'They might have done that without killing the Chinaman,' I said.
'It is true,' rejoined Râja Haji, 'but it was a more certain way, and, moreover, it
increased their pleasure. But Tûan, the night is very far advanced. Let us sleep.'
Verily, life in an Independent Malay State, like adversity, makes one acquainted
with strange bed-fellows.
Footnotes:[7] Fiery Rhinoceros = Bâdak âpi, a fabulous monster of Malay tradition.