ambition, but the Admiral would not give the command, and they dare not
disobey.
“Day after day went by while the great man hung like a pariah dog on the words
of his haughty captive. She scorned his words of love, laughed at his prayers,
and sneered at his devotion. Day after day the sun beat down on the burnished
decks of the war praus. Night after night the evening gun in the besieged fort
sent forth its mocking challenge: still the Dato made no motion. Oh, but it was
pitiful! One by one the praus slipped away,—first those from Acheen, and then
those from Johore,—but the valiant Laksamana saw them not. He was blind to
all save one. Then she spoke: ‘If thou lovest me as thou boastest, and would win
my smiles, send me to my father; then go and bring me of this gold of Ophir,—
for the Dato had laid his heart bare before her,—enough to sink yon boat. The
daughter of a Braganza does not unite herself with a pauper. When the moon is
full again, I will expect you.’
“So did the Laksamana, to the everlasting shame of Islam. When the moon was
full he returned in his shining prau before the walls of Malacca, He brought
from Ophir, of gold more than enough; of the pearls of Ceylon he brought a
chupah full to the brim. He robbed his great palace, that he might lay at the feet
of the Portuguese a fortune such as Solomon only ever saw. And yet the captains
of his fleet cared not for the gold, so long as the mighty Dato saved his honor.
When he left for the quay, on which stood the Governor, his daughter, and the
priests of their religion, they said not a word, for he passed by with averted face;
but each man grasped the jewelled handle of his kris, and swore to Allah under
his breath that should but one hair of the mighty Admiral’s head be lacking when
he returned, they would cut the false heart from the woman and feed it to the
dogs.
“So spoke the captains; but ere the breath had passed their lips their chief was a
prisoner, and the guns from the fort hurled defiance at the betrayed.
“It was pitiful! Allah was avenged.
“Fiercely raged the battle, and when there was a breach in the walls, and the
captain besar had ordered the attack, the Portuguese held the mighty Laksamana
over the walls, and reviled the allied fleets with words of derision.