had sprung into the air from his tail up, and dropped back into his wallow with a
resounding thud. In another instant he was off the slippery bank and within the
security of the mud-colored water.
I saw that my companion had more to tell me, possibly a native tradition of the
fabled riches that were concealed within the heart of the historic mountain that
was for the moment framed in a setting of green, directly ahead. I put a fresh
cartridge into the barrel, and leaned back in my deck chair.
The Chief Justice extracted a manila from his case and handed it to me.
“In the days when Tunku Ali III. ruled over Maur, from Malacca to the confines
of Johore, the Portuguese came, and Albuquerque with his ships of war and
soldiers in iron armor sought to wrest from our people their cities and their
riches. My ancestor was a dato,—our laksamana, high admiral, of his
Highness’s fleet. His galley was built of burnished teak, the lining of its cabin
was of sandalwood,—algum wood your Koran calls it,—and the turret in its
stern was covered with plates of solid gold. You will find record of it to this day
in the state papers of Acheen.
“For fully a hundred and forty years did the Emperor of Johore and his valiant
allies, the King of Acheen and the Sultan of Maur, seek to retake Malacca from
the Portuguese. The Dato Mamat was the last laksamana of the fleet. With him
died the war and the secret of Mount Ophir.”
“The secret!” I questioned, as the Tuan Hakim paused.
“For one hundred and forty years were we at war with the invaders. Three
generations were born and died with arms in their hands. No work was done on
the land, save by women and children. Still we had plenty of gold with which to
fit out fleet after fleet, with which to arm our soldiers and feed our people.
“It came from yonder mountain. Not even the Sultan knew its hiding-place. That
was only trusted to one family, and handed from father to son by word of mouth.
“Long before the days of Solomon the Wise did my family hold that secret for
the state. It was one of them that gave the four hundred and twenty talents to the
laksamana of Huram’s fleet. Your Koran has made record of the gift. He did not