"But where is Felix?" demanded Mrs. Blossom."But where is Felix?" demanded Mrs. Blossom.Page 161.
Page 161.
As soon as his mother released him from the bondage of her loving arms, Louis hastened to Miss Blanche, and she grasped his hand as he approached. No loving expressions passed between them, but what they might have said that could be classed under this head was seen on their telltale faces.
"But where is Felix?" demanded Mrs. Blossom, who had been looking for him since Scott came into the room. "Where is he, Mr. Scott?"
"I am sorry to say that he was swallowed by a big boa-constrictor one hundred and sixty feet long, and twelve feet in circumference," replied the captain of the Blanchita, as seriously as though there had been such a monster snake in existence.
The poor lady was impervious to a joke; she screamed once, and then dropped in a sitting posture on a divan. Nearly all the rest of the party laughed heartily. At this point the head of Felix dropped down a foot through the skylight over the centre of the room. He had made his way to the upper deck, and stationed himself where he could see and hear all that passed in the apartment.
"Good-mahrnin' to ye's all this foine avenin'!" he shouted. "Don't ye's make a row, Aunty. The schnake was a bit troubled wid indigestion of the brain, and, faix! I was too much for him! Loike the sodjers surrounded by the inimy, Oi cut me way out, and here Oi am."
"I don't believe you were swallowed by a snake," protested Mrs. Blossom.
"Don't you believe that Jonah swallowed the whale, Aunty?" demanded Felix.
"Of course I believe that because it is in the Bible. If you had told me that you had swallowed the snake, I might have believed that," added the good lady.
At this point General Noury came forward, and grasped the hand of Scott, passing from him to Louis and Morris, and then doing the same with Felix, who had dropped down from his perch at the skylight. As soon as Mrs. Blossom saw him on the floor, she rushed towards him with outspread arms; but the Milesian warded off the assault, and took her right hand.
"Don't hug me, Aunty, for the snake swallowed me clothes and all, and you may get some of the poison on you," said he.
For some time longer there was a general handshaking, and Louis was kissed by the Princess Zuleima.
After the welcome of the Bornean hunters had spent itself in kissing and handshaking, the question came up as to why the "Big Four" had abandoned their explorations after one week in the island instead of three, the time arranged for them to remain there; and they had fixed the time themselves.
"I thought three weeks was a rather long time for you to be in the island," said Captain Ringgold after the question had been opened for discussion.
"We fixed the time before we knew anything about the island," replied Louis. "But I want to say, in order to counteract the impression which appears to prevail in this company, that our trip was not a failure; for we had a fine time, and enjoyed our trips on the rivers."
"If you had a good time, why did you cut it short by two-thirds of the period allotted to the excursions?" asked Uncle Moses.
"We went up the Sarawak, the Sadong, and the Simujan, up the last to the mountains, passing through Lake Padang, and we have shot an orang-outang, and might have killed more of them, to say nothing of other game," replied Louis, whom Scott had requestedto do the talking. "We visited three Dyak villages, sailed the Blanchita through a forest, and killed a good many crocodiles."
"You seem to have had sport enough," added Uncle Moses. "Why did you give it up in the cream of the thing?"
"I believe you like a good dinner, Uncle Moses; such a dinner as you always have on board of the Guardian-Mother," continued Louis, who was evidently pluming himself to make a point.
"I do like a good dinner, and enjoy one very much," replied the worthy trustee of the young millionaire. "But I doubt if I am any more devoted to such a banquet as we get every day than my beloved friend, Brother Adipose Tissue, and all the rest of the voyagers all over the world."
"I plead guilty to the charge of Brother Avoirdupois; and I acknowledge myself to be a worshipper at the shrine of Mr. Melancthon Sage, and I invoke a blessing upon the head of Monsieur Odervie, the chief cook. Our life on the ocean wave is a constant promotive of the appetite. If the proof of the pudding is not in the eating of the bag, it is in the eating of the dinners; and I think we pay an abundant tribute to the talent of Mr. Sage, the prince of stewards, in the quantity of the well-cooked food he causes to be placed before us."
"We get through dinner about seven o'clock. I see that the accomplished chief steward is standing at the door," continued Louis. "Now, Mr. Sage,would it be possible and convenient for you to have another dinner on the table, say at eight o'clock, an hour after the first feast had been finished?"
"Quite possible, and even convenient; the only persons to complain of such an arrangement would be the cooks and stewards," replied Mr. Sage.
"Captain Ringgold, might I so far presume upon any influence I may have with you as the owner of the Guardian-Mother to request you to order a second dinner to be served at eight in the evening, beginning, say, with to-morrow evening?" asked the young millionaire, looking as serious as though he was about to preach a sermon, though the party were generally laughing.
"As I have always told you, I take my orders from the owner; and if you desire such a dinner, I shall certainly give Mr. Sage an order to that effect," replied the commander.
"But who is to eat the dinner after it is provided, an hour after the passengers have gorged themselves at the table?" demanded Dr. Hawkes. "Is this a conspiracy to make more work for the surgeon?"
"Not at all," protested Louis. "It is to give the gentlemen who question so closely an opportunity to have an abundance of a good thing."
"But we could not eat the dinner," said Uncle Moses. "We are not hogs."
"Oh, you are not!" chuckled the owner.
"But what has all this to do with hunting and exploring in Borneo?" inquired Mr. Woolridge.
"Well, sir, after we had taken a full dinner in Borneo, Uncle Moses and the commander ask us why we did not eat another dinner immediately on the top of it, as I observe that they are not disposed to do on board of the ship," returned Louis.
Some of the party had penetrated to the conclusion of Louis's argument, but most of them did not see the point of his illustration till he made his last remark; then Mr. Woolridge began to clap his hands, and the whole company applauded vigorously.
"I suppose the interpretation of the whole matter is, that the hunters in Borneo were gorged with hunting," said Captain Ringgold; "and that when they stipulated for three weeks of the sport, they overdid the matter."
"That was precisely the situation, Mr. Commander; and if you had been with us on the waters of Padang Lake, you could not have defined it better," replied Louis.
"But it is almost incredible that a quartet of such Nimrods should have become disgusted with their favorite sport in a single week," added Captain Ringgold.
"We are not hogs, as Uncle Moses gently suggested, and we could not eat a second dinner on top of the first so soon. If we had gone to Borneo a second time, after a reasonable interval, I am confident we should have enjoyed a second week of hunting, even along the muddy rivers and inundated jungles," Louis explained.
"In other words, you bit off a bigger mouthful than you could swallow," said the commander with a hearty laugh; for he had predicted that three weeks of hunting at one time was too much. "But we understand the situation now up to the time of the departure of the Nimrods from their happy hunting-ground. It was a rather daring enterprise to make a voyage of nine hundred miles in an open boat; and I should like to ask who was the originator of the idea."
"If there is any blame for this trip, we were all in the same boat, and we share the responsibility," answered Louis. "Captain Achang Bakir was with us; and he has sailed in all the seas of the Archipelago in an open boat, and we had his advice. Then we sailed all the way to the entrance of the Gulf of Siam in company with the steamer Delhi, whose captain agreed to stand by us, and to supply us with coal if we came short."
"That puts a new face on the matter."
"It was in the head waters of the Simujan that the plan was discussed, and Captain Scott was the originator of the idea," continued Louis. "I was in favor of it first because it would save the Guardian-Mother the voyage from Saigon back to Kuching, about a thousand miles."
"Where is Kuching?" asked Dr. Hawkes.
"It is the native name for Sarawak."
"I am heartily glad you have come to us, Louis, for the reason you have given," added the commander.
"How did the steam-yacht work, Mr. Belgrave?" asked the rajah.
"Exceedingly well, sir; nothing could have done any better; but Mr. Scott can answer you better than I can, sir."
The third officer of the ship, late captain of the Blanchita, described the working of the yacht, and gave her liberal praise. He related in what manner she had beaten the Delhi in the race, and that he had carried sail all the way nearly from the start. He gave the party the routine of the boat,—how they had taken their meals, and how they had slept on board.
"But I think it is time for us to return to the Blanche," interposed Captain Sharp, as the clock struck eleven.
"I must make an announcement before you go," said Captain Ringgold. "We shall not be able to sail for Saigon to-morrow morning, as arranged before. We have to clean the Blanchita in the morning, and she has to be put on the upper deck of the Blanche. As the Nimrods have come to Bangkok, I wish to give them a day on shore to see the temples, and call on the king if they are so disposed. We will sail on Tuesday morning on the early tide."
"But we have not had any account of the adventures of the Nimrods in Borneo," suggested Uncle Moses.
"We shall do so at eight o'clock in the morning; and you will all assemble for the purpose at that time. The lecture on Siam and Cambodia has beenpostponed till all hands could hear it; and if General Noury is ready, that shall follow the adventures," replied the captain.
"I will be here at the time stated, for we all desire to know what the Nimrods have been doing," replied the general, as the party from the Blanche retired from the music-room.
The rest of the company went to their staterooms, while the commander gave his orders for the work of the morning. All hands were called at daylight; and the young adventurers shook hands with the officers they found on deck, and spoke a pleasant word to the seamen on duty. The latter were hoisting the coal, provisions, and stores of the Blanchita on board of the ship; and by breakfast-time the yacht was as clean as a Dutch chamber.
At the appointed time the company, including the party from the Blanche, were seated in the arm-chairs of Conference Hall; and Louis went through his narrative of the adventures of the Nimrods in Borneo. During the morning, Achang had placed the stuffed orang-outang on a shelf the carpenter had erected at the head of the platform, with the proboscis monkey on one side, and the argus-pheasant on the other. The Bornean had had some experience as a taxidermist, and Dr. Hawkes declared that he had done his work well.
Louis explained these specimens, and gave the measurements of the orang. The proboscis monkey and the bird were also described. When he said hehad not been disposed to shoot monkeys and other harmless animals for the fun of it, the audience applauded. He had killed a specimen of several animals, and several pigs, deer, and one bear, most of the latter for food. The cook had packed the last of the fish in the ice, so that it had kept well, and it had been served for breakfast that morning. Everybody had praised it. The surgeon called it the gourami, and said that some successful attempts had been made to introduce the fish in American waters.
The audience laughed heartily when Louis related in what manner they had killed and sold one hundred and eight feet of crocodile for about forty dollars. He told what he had learned about the Dyaks, and described the long-house they had visited, and the head-house, and gave the story in full of Rajah Brooke, and their visits to his nephew and successor, the present rajah. He might have gone on with his narrative till lunch-time if he had not known that General Noury was waiting for him to finish his account.
"Did you see the Dyak women, Louis?" asked his mother.
"Plenty of them. The older ones reminded me of the French women; for when they begin to grow old, they wrinkle and dry up. The morality of the Dyaks is much higher in tone, even among the laboring-classes, men and women, than in civilized countries. They are all honest; and they steal nothing, even in Kuching, though the Malays and Chinamen do it for them."
"Were the young women pretty, Mr. Belgrave?" inquired Mrs. Woolridge.
"To a Dyak gentleman I suppose they are; but I was not fascinated with them, though I saw some on the Simujan who were not bad looking. The prettiest one I saw was at a village near the mountains. But the general is waiting for me to finish, and I must answer no more questions at present," replied the speaker, as he bowed, and hastened from the rostrum.
Then it was found that Mr. Gaskette had not hung up the map of Cochin China, for Achang and the carpenter had taken up the space before appropriated to it. Mr. Stevens, the carpenter, suggested a way to get over the difficulty; but it would take him half an hour to put up a frame in front of the orang.
"I shall not be able to get half through Cochin China before lunch-time," said General Noury, consulting his watch.
"I am afraid your audience will be scatterbrained, General, there is so much going on about the decks. Perhaps we had better postpone the lecture till after we have sailed to-morrow morning, especially as the Nimrods will be on shore this afternoon," suggested the commander.
"I approve the suggestion; let it be adopted."
The Blanche party lunched on board, and spent the afternoon there.
While the carpenter and the second officer were busy making a place for the large map of Cochin China, the returned hunters from Borneo were invited to the cabin of the commander. They were pleased with the change of scene from the mud and water of their week in Borneo; though they felt that they would like to go there for another week—not more than that—at another time.
"After lunch you will visit the city of Bangkok, and spend the afternoon there; for you ought to see the place, as you are here," said Captain Ringgold. "It is a large city."
"How large is it, Captain?" asked Louis.
"That is more than anybody in Siam, or anywhere else, can tell you. In these Oriental countries, when they count the people, they do not include the females in the enumeration, so that we get but half an idea of the whole number. Chambers puts it at 300,000; the 'Year Book' does not give it at all; Bradshaw puts it down at 500,000; Lippincott the same. Probably the larger number is the nearer correct, and the authorities quoted are issued the present year."
"I see no end of Chinamen flitting about the river," said Scott.
"They compose about one-half of the population of the city; and most of the trade of the place is in their hands, as you have found it to be, though to a less degree, in other cities you have visited in the East. The Celestials are taxed three dollars when they come into Siam, and pay the same amount every three years. But there is the lunch-bell. If you have no objection, Professor Giroud will go on shore with you."
"I should be delighted to have his company," replied Louis; and the others said the same thing.
The conversation at the table related more to Borneo than to anything else, and the Nimrods had all the questions they could answer put to them; and some of the ladies wished they had remained there a few days.
"If I had supposed the Nimrods would stay there only a week, I should have been quite willing to remain at Sarawak that time," added the commander.
"We fixed the time at three weeks because we thought it would take you all of that time to see Siam and Cambodia, and get back to Sarawak," replied Scott.
"I think it would have been delightful to sail on those rivers, and see the uncivilized people of the island," added Mrs. Belgrave. "But I suppose we should have been in the way of the hunters."
"Not at all, madam," answered Scott. "We hada sampan, in which we could have done our hunting, while you were examining the long-houses and the head-houses. I don't know but that we should have wished to remain the whole three weeks if the ladies had been with us."
"Gallant Captain Scott!" exclaimed the lady.
"We did not go up the Rajang River as we intended, and we should have done that if you had been with us. I am very sure the Dyak ladies would have been delighted to see you, more than you would have been to see them," replied Scott.
"The steam-yacht must have been very delightful on the rivers and lakes; but the crocodiles, the snakes, and the savage orang-outangs would not have been pleasant to us."
"But with eleven Winchester repeating-rifles ready for use, you would have had nothing to fear."
Captain Ringgold rose from the table; and this terminated the conversation, and the party went on deck.
"Captain Ringgold said you had offered to go on shore with us, Professor Giroud," said Louis, as he joined the instructor. "We shall be delighted with your company."
"Thank you, Mr. Belgrave. I have been on shore every day, with or without the party, and have learned something about Bangkok. I may be of service to you," replied the professor.
"I am sure you will," said Scott.
The first cutter was in the water when theyreached the gangway, with the crew in their places. They went on board, and the bowman shoved off. Stoody, the coxswain, gave the orders, and the boat was immediately under way. She was steered towards the shore till she came abreast of the various craft moored there, and then headed up the river.
"Where are you going, Stoody?" asked Scott.
"Captain Ringgold told me to take the party up the river, to show them the boats and houses," replied the coxswain.
"That is a good idea, Mr. Scott," added the professor.
"The houses here are all afloat," said Morris. "They are three or four deep."
"Everybody is not allowed to build his house on shore; for that is a royal privilege, doled out to a few of the highest nobility," said the professor. "I suppose there is not room enough in the city for much besides the palaces and the temples, but beyond its limits we shall find plenty of land-houses."
"But I should think these floating houses would be smashed to pieces in a heavy blow; and I see there are plenty of steamers and tugboats in the river, which might bump against them," Morris objected.
"You see that the middle of the river is kept open, though it is very crooked; and these things regulate themselves."
"These houses are no better than card-boxes.They seem to be built of bamboos, with wicker-work and plants. Each of them has a veranda in front, which is a nice place to sit and read, with a kind of ell at each end. I think I should like to live in one of them for a week or two," continued Morris.
"You would not like it," said Achang, who had come with them to act as interpreter.
"This is a walled town, with six miles of fortifications around it."
"A little less than two miles across it; and we shall not have to take any very long walks, for I have read that carriages are seldom seen except among the palaces, and probably belong to the nobility," said Louis; "but we are good for six miles this afternoon."
"The river is the great thoroughfare for business and for pleasure. It is covered with boats of all sorts and kinds. The walls of the city are from fifteen to thirty feet high, and twelve feet thick; but I suppose the heavy guns of modern times could knock them down in a very short time," added the professor.
"What is that opening into the river?" asked Felix, who had kept his tongue very quiet so far.
"That is a canal," replied Achang, as the professor did not reply. "I have been here three times, and once I went up that canal. There are only a few good streets in the city, and inside business is carried on by the canals."
"As Paris is to France, and Paris is France, so Bangkok is Siam; and that is the reason why the commander goes no farther. Now we have come to the wall, and you can see the outside town."
"The houses here are all on stilts, as in Sumatra and Borneo," observed Scott. "Some of them are built over the water."
"It is said here that the city suffered terribly from the ravages of cholera; and when the king found out that the disease was caused by the bad drainage of the houses, he ordered his people to build on the river, where the drainage would dispose of itself," said Professor Giroud. "This story was told me by a Frenchman here, but I cannot vouch for the truth of the statement."
"Can you tell me, Achang, why they build their houses on piles in this country?" asked Morris.
"Because they have waterations here."
"Have what?" demanded the questioner, while all the party laughed except the Bornean. "I never heard of waterations before."
"When the water rise up high," Achang explained.
"Inundations, you mean."
"Yes; thunderations," added Achang.
"Inundations!" roared the Bornean's preceptor.
"That's what I say; and that's the first reason. The second is that there are many snakes"—
"Then, it's the place for me!" exclaimed Felix.
"Many snakes and wild beasts; the stilts help to keep them out of the house."
"But most snakes can climb trees," Scott objected.
"Fixed so that snake can't get off the post into house," the Bornean explained.
"The little corn-houses in New England and other places are protected in the same way from rats. Four posts are set up for it to rest on, with a flat stone, or sometimes a large tin pan turned upside down, placed on the post. When the building is erected with the corners on the large, flat stone or the pans, rats or other rodents cannot get over these obstructions, and the corn is safe from them," continued Louis, illustrating his subject with a pencil for the post, and his hand for the stone or the pan.
Scott, who was an officer of the ship, ordered Stoody to take the party to the landing nearest to the Temple of Wat Chang, as the professor requested.
"The religion of Siam, like that of Burma, is Buddhist, in whose honor most of the temples whose spires you can see are erected," said the professor, as he pointed to several of them.
"We don't care to see them in detail, even if we had the time," suggested Louis. "I know they are magnificent pieces of architecture, and wonderful to behold; but we have had about enough of that sort of thing."
The party landed, and walked to the temple. It looked like an exaggerated bell, the spire being the handle, and the lower portion looking like an enormous flight of circular stairs for the roof. It wasover two hundred feet high. Attached to it in the rear was a structure with a pitched roof. They bought photographs of it at the stand of a native who spoke a little French. At this point Achang procured a guide who spoke French, and he conducted them to the Temple of the Sleeping Idol.
"It is not much of a temple compared with the one we have just visited," said the professor. "We must go into it."
They entered, conducted by the guide. The building looked like three pitched-roof structures set together, the middle one into the largest at the bottom, and the smallest into the middle one. It contains an enormous figure of Buddha, one hundred and sixty feet long, which about fills the interior of the temple. It is constructed of brick, plastered and then gilded, so that it looks like a golden statue in a reclining posture. The feet are sixteen feet long, and the arms six feet in diameter.
The party looked in at another temple, which contains a brass statue of Buddha fifty feet high, with other smaller statues, and a variety of objects that were unintelligible to the visitors. Various other temples were examined hastily on the way to the royal palace, but they were only a repetition of what they had often seen before.
The palace was a magnificent building, or series of buildings, for a half-civilized country. The tourists were permitted to enter at the gate, though the guide was excluded. They saw a squad of the royalguards who were drilling on the pavement, and they regarded them with great interest. They wore a Zouave uniform, though with a short frock-coat buttoned to the chin, with round caps in cylindrical form, and visors. They were armed with muskets, and commanded by native officers.
"This palace is a big thing," said the professor, "and is a mile in circumference, surrounded by walls."
It contained, besides the palace of the king, the public offices, temples, a theatre, barracks for several thousand soldiers, and apartments for three thousand women, six hundred of whom are the wives of the king. But what interested them more than most of the sights was the famous white elephant. He is said to be of equal rank with the king, and is treated with all possible deference and respect. He has a palatial stable; and being a king, he lives like one. His servants and attendants are all priests. But he is not a pleasant sprig of royalty, and the visitors were warned not to go too near him.
But it was time to return to the ship, and they found the boat in the canal which Achang had indicated. At dinner the conversation was concerning the city, and the party mentioned many things the Nimrods had not seen. On Tuesday morning the ship sailed on her voyage to Saigon.
The ship sailed at six o'clock in the morning, but nearly all the passengers were on deck as soon as the screw began to turn. They were still in the Torrid Zone; and they saw the sun rise, though the days had become a trifle longer. The Menam River is the great thoroughfare of Bangkok, and the floating houses lined the river three or four deep for a considerable distance below the city. The party found plenty of objects to engage their attention as the steamer slowly made her way towards the Gulf. Breakfast was served at the usual hour; and as soon as the pilot was discharged, the company gathered at Conference Hall for the lecture.
The siamangs and the baby were still great favorites with all on board; and Mr. Mingo, Mrs. Mingo, and Miss Mingo, as they had been named, had made great progress in civilization. All of them were regular attendants at the meetings in Conference Hall, and always behaved themselves with the greatest propriety. The mother usually occupied one of the arm-chairs, while the baby was held in the lap of one of the ladies. They looked at the speaker just as though they understood what he was saying.They joined in the applause when the lecturer presented himself before his audience with their "Ra, ra, ra!" finishing with the squeak which was a part of their language.
General Noury took his place on the platform after he had shaken hands with Mrs. Mingo, who gave him an encouraging smile as he mounted the rostrum. The Sumatra lady looked at him very earnestly, and Miss Blanche declared that she understood everything that was going on. Mrs. Noury, the Princess Zuleima, had the baby; and the little siamang seemed to take as much interest in the proceedings as her mother. Mr. Mingo was not literary, and perched in the fore-rigging.
The great map seemed to have been drawn and colored with even unusual care, perhaps because Mr. Gaskette had had more time to attend to it. It was displayed on the new frame which the carpenter had built for it, and included the entire peninsula east of the Burmese possessions, and south of China and the Shan States. When the applause which greeted the general had subsided, he directed the pointer at the map.
"Perhaps some of you will be considerably confused by the various names of the territory we are engaged in visiting at the present time," he began; and Mrs. Mingo gave a louder squeak than usual as a special greeting to the distinguished gentleman. "Cochin China, I think, is the most common name, though Indo-China is very generally used. It is also calledFarther India and Annam. Its various divisions are the Shan States, tributary to Siam, taking their name from a race of people who are of the same descent as the natives of China. You observe that there are more of these states in the territory of Burma, to which they are subject. These states tributary to Siam contain a population of about two millions.
"Next south comes Siam proper. Lying east of the Shan States and Siam is a territory called the Little Lao States, which are subject to the several countries around them. On the east, bordering on the China Sea, is Annam, a part of which is sometimes labelled Cochin China. A part of Annam is Tonquin, in the north, next to China. What is called Cambodia, next south of Siam, and appearing to be a part of it, is an indefinite factor of Cochin China, and may properly enough be counted in with Siam. What is called Independent Cambodia, if it is independent, is a triangular country south-east of Siam. French Cochin China occupies the most southern portion of the peninsula.
"Nearly the whole of the territory of Cochin China is under the protection of France; and in my judgment, which you can accept for what it is worth, the whole peninsula will eventually become French, under whatever form it may be accomplished. Very recently the relations between France and Siam were very much strained over a disputed boundary question. France had ships of war at the mouth of the Menam, and sent some of the smaller craft up theriver. It looked very much like war; but before the ships bombarded Bangkok, Siam yielded, and gave up the portion of territory claimed; and no doubt it will be the same story told over again from time to time, until Siam exists only as a dependency of France.
"Though you see mountains laid down on Mr. Gaskette's map, the elevations hardly deserve that name; for nearly the whole of Cochin China is low ground, almost flat. The Mekhong River is the largest in the peninsula, being 2,800 miles long. It rises in Thibet, and is navigable only in its lower waters. On account of the low level of the country there are many canals, or bayous as you call them in Louisiana, which connect many of the rivers. Let us now return to Siam. By the way, I find the latest map I have seen of this region in Chambers's, published last year; and it is quite different from the one before you."
"But not from the one that will be before you in half a minute more," interposed Mr. Gaskette, as he unrolled and hung up a smaller one which he had just completed. "I made this one this morning, after the commander had shown me the one to which you allude; and you can see that it is a very crude one."
"I thank you, Mr. Gaskette, for the new map; and though you took it from a book not more than a year old, I am afraid that it is not entirely correct for to-day. You observe, my friends, that Siamoccupies nearly the whole of the peninsula east of Burma. Annam is cut down to a very thin slice on the China Sea; and Tonquin, where France has kept many soldiers employed for several years, is swelled into a considerable territory. I doubt if the last change in the boundary of Siam is shown before you. The limits of Cambodia are closely defined.
"Nearly the whole of the peninsula was included in the ancient kingdom of Cambodia, existing at the Christian era; and Buddhism is believed to have been introduced into it in the fourth century. Some remarkable ruins, with interesting sculptures, have been found as testimonials to the greatness of this ancient country. The Temple of Angkor had 1,532 columns, and the stone for the structure was brought from a quarry thirty-two miles distant. Massive bridges, so solidly built that they have resisted the ravages of time and the inundations of more than a thousand years, are still to be seen. One of them is four hundred and seventy feet long, and has thirty-four arches. An account of these wonders was given by a Chinese traveller of the thirteenth century, and they seem to bear some comparison with the works of the ancient Egyptians.
"The native name of Siam isMuang Thái, which you will please to remember; and I mention it only to tell you that it means 'The Land of the Free,' and it must be a first cousin of your country, Mr. Commander; but I suppose you will not accept the relationship because 'The Home of the Brave' isnot included. Siam has an area of about 250,000 square miles, as estimated by geographers; and one authority gives it a population of 6,000,000, and another 8,000,000, but they agree in giving it 2,000,000 Siamese, and 1,000,000 Chinese. The rest of the number is made up with Malays, Laosians, and other tribes.
"The Menam River is six hundred miles long, and it has several branches. On the banks of these streams very nearly all the people live, for the regions away from them are a wild jungle which is not cultivated. The country is healthy enough for a tropical region, though malarial fevers are very trying to European residents and visitors. The wet season is from May to November, when it rains about every day; and the rest of the year it does not rain at all. The average rainfall is fifty-four inches a year, and the average temperature 81°, though the glass goes up to 94° in April; but New York beats that in summer.
"Agriculture stands at a low ebb; but the abundant rains and the rich soil produce very large harvests of rice, the principal crop, and all the productions of the Torrid Zone thrive. The labor of Siam is done by Chinese coolies; for the native workers are hampered by a law which requires them to give one-fourth of their labor to the state. Domestic elephants are used in hauling timber,—for teak is one of the products of the forests,—and also for travel and as bearers of burdens. Wild elephants arehunted and trapped in Siam; and tigers, bears, deer, monkeys, and wild pigs abound in the jungles. Crocodiles live at the mouths of the rivers; and the cobra, python, and other reptiles are plentiful enough.
"The Siamese are peaceable people, lazy, and without what you call 'snap.' They are fond of jewelry and high colors. They are rather small in stature, and very like the natives of the several islands you have visited. They live for the most part on rice, used largely in various curries, dried fish in small quantities, though the rivers and sea swarm with fish. Tea is the favorite beverage, taken without sugar or milk. Though they distil an intoxicating liquor from rice, a tipsy person is rarely seen. They chew betel-nut, males and females; and their teeth are always black, which is their ideal of beauty, and they use other materials to make them black and shining.
"The worst vice of the Siamese is gambling; but it can be practised only in houses licensed by the government, though on certain holidays, New Year's in April especially, the people are privileged to gamble at home, or even in the streets. Marriages are arranged by women of mature age. The birthdays of the contracting parties must be agreeable; for the people are superstitious, and consult the stars for their horoscopes. The old ladies agree upon the amount of money the parents of the bride and groom must pay to set up the young couple in life. The ceremonies last three days or more; and the principalobservance is the chewing of betel, winding up with a feast to all the friends. Priests are sometimes called in to say prayers, and sprinkle the couple with consecrated water.
"The Siamese believe that the arteries of the body are filled with air, and that disease is caused by some disturbance in these internal breezes. A wind blows on the heart, and bursts it, causing death by 'heart failure.' Almost everything is pressed into themateria medicafor service, including such things as cats' eyes, the bile of snakes, sea-shells, horns, and probably dogs' tails, kittens' teeth, and monkeys' tongues. Doctors are paid by the job, and not by the number of visits. The price of a cure is agreed upon; and if the patient dies, or fails to get better, the physician gets nothing.
"After poor people, dying, have been kept a few days, they are cremated, as in India; but they keep a high noble nearly a year before they commit his remains to the fire. When called upon, a Siamese farmer or other person is compelled by law to furnish transportation and board to travelling officials. The law of debit and credit is curious, and amounts to actual slavery. A man may borrow money, and give his person for security. If he fails to pay as agreed, the creditor can put him in irons, if need be, and compel him to work for him till the debt is discharged,—the principal only, for his labor is the equivalent of the interest.
"Missionaries are sent here from America, including many female physicians; and they have a great deal of influence among the natives.
"The present king of Siam is Chulalongkorn I. The former system of having the country ruled by two kings has been abolished, and the present monarch is the only king; and I never could find out what the second king was for. The throne is now hereditary, but the king formerly had the privilege of naming his own successor. Chulalongkorn is an amiable and dignified ruler, well educated, and speaks English fluently. The laws are made by the king in connection with a council of ministers. The forty-one provinces of the kingdom are in charge of commissioners appointed by the king. Such a thing as justice is hardly known, and what there is of it is very badly managed. Thieving and plundering are carried on almost without check in Bangkok, which includes about all there is of Siam except a great deal of spare territory, and property is very unsafe there. I think I have wearied you, Mr. Commander, and ladies and gentlemen."
"Not at all!" shouted several.
"Did you ever see the Siamese twins, General Noury?" inquired Uncle Moses.
"I never did; but I have read about them, and looked them up this morning," replied the lecturer. "They were born in Siam in 1811, but their parents were Chinese. I don't quite understand in what manner they were united."
"There was a ligament, which looked somethinglike a small wrist, reaching from one to the other at the breast-bones. Their garments were open enough to enable the spectators to see this connection. There was a great deal of speculation among the doctors about them, I remember, and it was even proposed to separate them with the knife; but that was never done, for it would have spoiled the exhibition business," the trustee explained.
"They were purchased of their mother at Meklong by an American in 1829, and taken to the United States, where they were exhibited all over the country, and then taken to England. It was a good speculation to Mr. Hunter and to Chang and Eng, the twins; for they all made their fortunes. They were married to two sisters, and settled in North Carolina, where they had children. They lost their property in the Civil War, and again exhibited themselves in England in 1869. They died in 1874, one living two hours and a half after the death of the other."
The general retired from the rostrum; and the party separated, Mrs. Mingo ascending the fore-rigging, while the others went to various parts of the ship to see the shores, which were still in sight.
The steamer was obliged to descend the Menam at less than half speed, to avoid running down any of the multitude of boats and vessels that thronged the river, and because the stream was so crooked.
"How far do you think Bangkok is from the Gulf, Captain Ringgold?" asked the general, at the close of the session.
"About twenty miles," replied the commander.
"One description of the city that I have read makes it forty miles, another twenty-six, and three others make it twenty miles," added the pacha; "and I suppose the last is the right distance."
"I have come to that conclusion after consulting all the books we have on the subject. You have said the second king of Burma had been abolished, General; are you confident that such is the case? We certainly did not see him, and I did not hear anything about him," added the captain.
"In the first place, I consider Chambers excellent authority, and you have the latest edition in the library, and the date is last year; and it says in so many words that the second has been done away with. The king who was the father of Chulalongkorn died in 1868. His prime minister was a progressive man, who introduced many reforms in Siam; and I am sure that he could not have helped seeing the absurdity of the second king. The present king is well educated, and also a progressive man, as his father was not. I am sorry we did not look the matter up, which we might easily have done with the assistance of the missionaries. But I am satisfied that I was correct in regard to the statement."
In the course of another hour the ship came to the mouth of the river. Crocodiles appear to prefer the mouth of a stream, and a considerable number were seen at the entrance to a canal or cut-off. The pilot stopped the screw, and backed it, in order to avoid a collision with a couple of vessels in the channel. As the two vessels were under sail, it looked as though it would be some time before the channel was clear; and the "Big Four" hastened to their staterooms for their repeating-rifles.
Their appearance thus armed created a sensation on the upper deck, and all the party secured positions where they could see the sport. Mrs. Belgrave manifested some anxiety when she saw the arms, for she was somewhat afraid of such weapons.
"What are you going to do, Louis?" she asked as her son passed her.
"Don't you see that there are a dozen crocodiles at the mouth of that cut-off, mother?" replied Louis. "We are going to shoot some of them."
"But you can't get them if you do kill them."
"We don't want to get them. They are not good for anything to us."
"Then, why do you want to kill them? They do you no harm," protested the lady.
"But they would if they got the chance. Suppose by any accident some one should fall overboard; those brutes would snap the person up as a fish snaps the bait," answered Louis. "In Borneo they are regular man-eaters, more dangerous than sharks; and I have no doubt they are the same here. As I told you, they pay so much a foot for killing them in that island. Ask the pilot how it is here, mother."
Achang was called, and was asked to inquire of the Siamese if the crocodiles were dangerous. He promptly replied that they were not only dangerous, but a nuisance; for they went ashore and swallowed all small animals, and even attacked a cow. The lady offered no further objection. She only hoped the Nimrods would not shoot each other; and they descended to the platform of the gangway, which had not yet been hoisted up, and the crack of their rifles was soon heard.
Each of the rifles could send out nine bullets, fixed ammunition, contained in cartridges, nine of which was the capacity of the magazine. Those on deck watched the group of saurians; but Louis fired the first shot, and immediately there was a sensation among the reptiles. One of them made a spring, and came over on his back.
"Mr. Belgrave fired that shot," said Achang tothe hunter's mother. "He is dead shot, and he never miss his aim."
"There is another turning over on his back," added the lady.
"I think Mr. McGavonty fired that one; for he is a dead shot too, but not quite so sure as Mr. Belgrave," said Achang; and he was correct in his supposition. Both of them hit the crocodile in the eye.
The next report that reached the ears of the party was followed by five more in quick succession; and the Bornean explained that the hunter had missed his aim five times out of six, but his victim turned over after the last one.
"Mr. Scott is better with lasso than with rifle," criticised Achang, with a smile.
The next shot caused the fourth of the reptiles to upset himself on the water, and then the screw of the ship began to turn again. The crocodile's reasoning powers did not seem to be well developed, as Mrs. Belgrave suggested when she saw one of their number killed; for they might have known there was mischief in the air. The Nimrods came on deck, and then carried their rifles to their staterooms, where the commander required them to lock up the weapons in their closets.
The third officer was ordered to have the gangway hoisted up when he returned to the deck, and the ship proceeded to sea. The weather was pleasant, and not very warm for the tropics; in fact, theyhad suffered more from the heat in New York and in Von Blonk Park than in Bangkok, though it is sometimes extremely hot there. The south-west monsoon cooled the air where they were, though the sun poured down its blistering rays.
There was an awning over the platform where the conferences were held, and another over the after part of the promenade deck. But the former, with its arm-chairs, was the most desirable location to be had; and in a short time the company had seated themselves there without any call to attend a lecture. As soon as deep water was indicated by the soundings, the pilot was discharged, and the captain then gave out the course south by east. Everything was in working order on board; and the commander joined the party on the promenade, as it had always been called before Conference Hall was located there. It commanded the best view on both sides, though not forward, where it was obstructed by the pilot-house.
"What have you seen in Bangkok, Miss Blanche, that the absentees have not seen?" asked Louis, who had seated himself at her side, after patting Miss Mingo, whom she was holding in her lap.
"A great many things," she replied. "One was the royal barge, which they said was rowed or paddled by one hundred and fifty men; but a good many of us did not believe it contained so many."
"I have read about it, though I did not see it. It is said to be one hundred and fifty feet long, andthe book I read said it was paddled by one hundred and twenty men," added Louis. "But it does not make much difference, and the books do not agree in regard to a great many things in this part of the world. What did you think of the people you saw, Miss Blanche?"
"A lady and gentleman were pointed out to us by one of the kind missionaries who guided us, and I could hardly tell which was the lady and which the gentleman till I had studied them a while," returned the fair maiden. "Both of them wore what appeared to be trousers; but it proved to be a cloth as big as a sheet wound around the waist, and so disposed about the legs as to look like trousers; but the garment was the same on both of them. The lady had something like a shawl, which was passed over the left shoulder, and under the right arm, with some kind of a jacket under it. The gentleman wore a sort of tunic, which was regularly buttoned up in front like a coat. The hair of each was shaved off close to the head, except a tuft on the crown, which was bunched up. They wore no ornaments of any kind, perhaps because it was not a dress occasion. I saw one woman who had a kind of necklace on the top of the shawl."
"I saw a woman's band of five pieces, and the music they made was not bad," added Louis.
"I heard a band like that; but I could not tell whether they played a tune or improvised their music. The missionaries took us into the garden ofa nobleman, where we saw what was called a theatrical exhibition; but it was no more like a theatre than it was like a cattle-show. We saw the king too, and he was a nice-looking man forty years old. He had what looked like a tunnel on his head. He was sitting in a kind of big arm-chair on poles, and eight men were bearing him to a temple. All the natives in the street dropped on their knees as he passed, and some lay flat on their stomachs. That is the way they always do before him. But he chews betel; and his mouth was as black as though he had just eaten a piece of huckleberry-pie, and it looked horrid. That is all the fault I have to find with him."
"It is a bad habit the people here have; but it is not so bad as drinking whiskey, and we must be charitable while our country has its faults; and theirs only spoils their looks, though I have been told there is a 'kick,' or exhilaration, in the use of betel. I don't think I should ever fall in love with a girl who chewed betel-nut. Some Dyak maidens would have been passably good-looking if their teeth and lips had not been blackened with this drug."
"The missionaries took some of us into the private chapel of a nobleman. There were about a hundred priests, all clothed in yellow robes, with their heads shaven; the service consisted of the constant repetition of a sentence, which a missionary told me meant 'So be it.' It reminded me of the howling dervishes we visited at their monastery, whose service was amonotonous repetition of 'Allah il Allah,' You went to some of the temples, Mr. Belgrave, and they seem to me to be all alike. Now can you tell me how far it is to the place where we are going next?"
"It is about six hundred miles to Saigon, the chief town of French Cochin China, and we shall get there to-morrow," replied Louis. "You must brush up your French, Miss Blanche, for we have not used it lately."
"We are off Cape Liant now, and I must give out a new course," said the commander, rising from his chair by the side of Mrs. Belgrave.
"South-east half-south!" called the captain at the side window of the pilot-house.
"South-east half-south," repeated the quartermaster at the wheel.
"We are going to Saigon, you said, Mr. Belgrave; but I cannot pronounce the name," added the young lady.
"As to that, you pays your money, and takes your choice," laughed Louis. "The French call it Sah-gong, shutting out the full sound of the lastg," added the speaker, pronouncing it several times with the properaccent. "The English call it Sy-goń, I believe; but I have heard it called variously at Sarawak."
"But we want to know something about it before we go there," said the young lady. "We had to ask no end of questions about Siam because the lecture was postponed for the absentees."
"After lunch to-day a short talk will be given in relation to Saigon," replied Louis, as the bell rang for that meal.
When the company gathered in Conference Hall, Louis was introduced as the speaker for the occasion, and promptly presented himself before his audience.
"I have very little to say, Mr. Commander, for General Noury has covered the whole subject under the head of Cochin China," he began. "What is more particularly known as French Cochin China contains 23,000 square miles, and a population of 1,800,000. The part in the north is called French Indo-China. The country is precisely that described so carefully by the general, and I need not repeat it. The Cambodia, or Mekhong River, flows through it with many bayous or cut-offs. On one of these, which is called the Saigon River, is the city of Saigon, the capital of the French possessions in the East, Lippincott says thirty-five miles, and Chambers sixty miles, from the China Sea; and of course both of them cannot be right, and you are all at liberty to take your choice. The town has grown up within the last thirty-two years; and, after the style of French cities, it is handsomely laid out, with fine streets, squares and boulevards. It contains numerous canals, with stone or brick quays; and perhaps it will remind you of Paris along the Seine. It is said to be one of the handsomest cities of the East. It has a navy-yard and citadel, and is the most important port between Hong-Kong and Singapore. Thepeople are French, Annamese, and Chinese. It has a large trade, and contains two colleges, an orphan asylum, a splendid botanical garden, to say nothing of convents and other institutions. The population is put by one at ninety thousand, and by another at about half that number. I have nothing more to say."
Louis retired, and the next day the ship arrived at Saigon.
It was not a long voyage from Bangkok to the mouth of the Mekhong River; and the sight of land was not as thrilling an incident as it had often been in the experience of the voyagers, and they were not in condition to appreciate the feelings of Captain Columbus when Watling's Island broke on his vision four hundred years before. It had been smooth sailing all the way; the Gulf of Siam had been as gentle and affectionate as a maiden among the flowers, and the China Sea was scarcely more ruffled.
Mr. Gaskette had finished up his new map of Cochin China, so that it was as creditable to his skill and taste as his former efforts had been; and it was displayed on the frame in Conference Hall, which was the usual sitting apartment of the company, though some of them did a great deal of walking on the promenade deck. The water was deeper inshore than farther out at sea, where several spots were marked at eight fathoms; and the passengers had a view of the land before they were within a hundred miles of the entrance of Saigon River.
"There is a broad opening in the coast, which must be the Cambodia, or Mekhong River," said Morris.
"That is Batac Bay, with a large island in the middle of it," replied Captain Ringgold. "It is one of the mouths of the Mekhong; for there is a Delta here extending about a hundred miles, the Saigon River being the most easterly."
"Mekhong seems to me a new word, though doubtless it was the native name of the great river; but when I went to school we never called it anything but the Cambodia," added Uncle Moses.
"It is now called by both names, and both are usually found on the maps and charts," said the commander.
A couple of hours later he pointed out the mouth of the great river. All the land was very low, and much of it was sometimes under water. Felix had become the owner of an excellent spy-glass, which he had purchased at second-hand at Aden; and he made abundant use of it. It was too large to be worn in a sling at his side, and he always carried it in his hand when the ship was in sight of land. After lunch, in the middle of the afternoon, he stationed himself in front of the pilot-house, and kept a sharp lookout ahead.
"Saigon light!" he shouted, some time before it could be made out without a glass.
The steamer was headed for Cape St. Jacques, near the entrance to the river by which she was to reach the city. The light soon came into view, and a boat was seen pulling out of the mouth. The signal for a pilot had been displayed on the ship, and one ofthe men in it was believed to be the person desired. The screw was stopped as he approached her, and the ladder lowered for his ascent to the deck. As usual, all the passengers wanted to see him. He was an old man, or at least well along in years.
"Good-day, sir," said Louis, who had gone to the main deck with the third officer to receive him; and he spoke to him in French.
He was conducted to the promenade deck, and presented to the captain. He said that he was born in France, but had been in Cochin China nearly thirty years. He was first sent down to Monsieur Odervie for a lunch after he had given the course, and the ship continued on her way. The cook was very glad to meet a compatriot; and, as he was getting dinner, he had several nice dishes, from which he treated his new friend. But the pilot's services were soon needed in the pilot-house. He spoke a little English, consisting mainly of nautical terms.
He took his place on the starboard side of the wheel, with Quartermaster Bangs on the other side, steering himself; perhaps because he was not willing to trust his English in giving orders. But the quartermaster seconded all his movements, and they steered together in silence. The ship was soon well in the river, and the passengers had enough to do in observing the shores on both sides.
There were many openings in the banks of bayous and cut-offs, and the land was as flat as it had been during the last hundred miles of the voyage. Thesoil was very rich, and produced abundant crops where it was cultivated. A very few villages were to be seen; but each of them had its temple or pagoda, and the houses hardly differed from those they had seen in Siam.
"I suppose this is all an alluvial soil, Brother Avoirdupois," said Dr. Hawkes, as the ship was passing a rice-field.
"So say the books I have consulted, Brother Adipose Tissue. It is just the right land for rice, and that is the staple product of all this region," replied Uncle Moses.
Both of these gentlemen weighed about two hundred and twenty-six pounds apiece, and they continued to call each other by the appropriate names they had given each other even before the ship left New York on her voyage all over the world.
"What is alluvial soil, Doctor?" asked Mrs. Blossom, who had read very little besides her Bible and denominational newspaper.
"It is the soil or mud which is brought to its location by the action of water; and here it is brought down by the mighty river which spreads itself out into a delta where we are," replied the doctor good-naturedly, and without a smile at the ignorance of the worthy lady; for though her education had been greatly neglected, she was esteemed and respected by all on board, for in sickness she had been the nurse of the patients. "It is just the right soil for rice," he added.
"I have seen so many rice-fields out here, that I should like to know something more about them," suggested the good lady.
"Naturalists class it as a kind of grass; but I will not vex you with any hard words. Rice is the food of about one-third of all the people on the globe. It requires heat and moisture for its growth, and it is raised in considerable quantities on the low lands of Georgia and South Carolina and elsewhere in our country. The plant grows from one to six feet high. I don't know much about the culture of this grain in the East; but in South Carolina they first dig trenches, in the bottom of which the rice is sown in rows eighteen inches apart. The plantation is prepared so that water can be let in and drawn off as desired. As soon as the seed is sown, the water is let in till the ground is covered to the depth of several inches. As soon as the rice comes up, the water is drawn off, and the plant grows in the open air rapidly under the hot sun. The field is again flooded for a couple of weeks, to kill the weeds, and again when the grain is ripening. The rice is in a hull, like wheat and other grains; and you have found parts of this covering in the rice when you were cooking it. It is threshed out by hand or machinery after it is dried, and then it is ready for market. There is a rice-field on your right; and you can see the channels which have been dug to convey the water to the plants, or to draw it off," said the surgeon in conclusion.
"I see them, Dr. Hawkes; and I am very much obliged to you for taking so much pains to instruct an ignorant body like me," replied Mrs. Blossom.
"It is quite impossible for any of us to know everything, and I often find myself entirely ignorant in regard to some things; and I have lived long enough to forget many things that I learned when I was younger," added the doctor with a softening smile.
The villages increased in number and in size as the ship approached the city; though they were about the same thing, except that in the larger ones the temple was a handsomer structure.
"How far is it from the sea to Saigon?" asked Bangs, speaking to the pilot for the first time; but the Frenchman could not understand him, and the quartermaster called Louis in, who repeated the question in French.
"Sixty miles if you go one way; thirty-five by another," Louis translated the reply.
"That may account for the difference in the distance given in the books," said the captain, who was in the pilot-house. "But the information we obtain from what are considered the authorities is so various on the same subject that I don't know where the fault is."
"This is the largest village we have seen," said Louis to the pilot in French.
"Yes, sir; and the next place is Saigon," replied the Frenchman; but he was so much occupied withhis duty that he would not talk much, even in his own language.
The city was soon in sight, and the pilot began to feel about for the bell-pull. He spoke to Louis, and the quartermaster was told to ring the speed-bell. A little later, off the town, the gong sounded for the screw to stop. The anchor was all ready, was let go, and the steamer swung round to her cable. The Blanche had not so readily obtained a pilot as her consort, and she was an hour behind her in arriving.
The Guardian-Mother was surrounded by boats as soon as she was at rest, but the boatmen kept their distance till the port physician and the custom-house officials came on board. Both ships passed the ordeal of the examination, and the boats closed up. They were manned by all sorts of people, and they were in all sorts of craft. The captain said that most of them were Chinese sampans, and the boatmen were of the same nation.
"There comes the Blanchita!" exclaimed Felix, who was walking about the deck with his spy-glass under his arm.
"They got her overboard in a very short time," said the captain, who had joined the company on the promenade. "I am glad she is coming, for I desire to see the general."
The gangway had already been rigged out; and the launch came alongside the platform, containing General Noury, his wife, the rajah, Captain and Mrs.Sharp, Dr. Henderson, the surgeon of the Blanche, and the French maid of the princess. They were warmly greeted on the platform by the commander and Louis, and the ladies were assisted from the boat. They mounted to the deck; and the usual hugging, kissing, and handshaking followed in the boudoir.
"I am glad you have come, General Noury," said Captain Ringgold, after he had shaken hands with everybody. "We have been shut up on shipboard for some time now; and as we have come to a French city, I propose to take my party to a hotel for a day or two. Of course you can do as you please, General."
"I like the idea, Captain, if there is a decent hotel here," replied the pacha. "What do you think, Zuleima?" he asked, turning to his wife.
"I like it very much; and the hotel cannot be any worse than some we have lived in on our yacht voyages," replied the princess.
"Here is the medical officer, and he can tell us something about the hotels," suggested the commander.
The doctor was consulted by the general in French, and he said the Hôtel de l'Europe was very good. The entire party of both ships were invited to go on shore, and remain at the hotel. All of them accepted, including Captain Sharp and his wife. Those on board the Guardian-Mother went below to prepare for the shore, and the Blanchita returned tothe Blanche for the same purpose. The gentlemen were on deck again in a few minutes.
"A visitor to see you, Mr. Scott," said a seaman, approaching the third officer as he came from the cabin.
"Captain Rayburn!" exclaimed Scott as soon as he caught sight of the visitor. "I am very glad to see you, Captain;" and the young officer grasped his hand.
"I am quite as pleased to see you, Captain Scott, though I hardly knew you," replied the English captain.
"I am no longer captain, though I am the third officer of this ship; and I did not wear my uniform when I met you at Kuching."
"How are the rest of your party?" inquired the captain of the Delhi.
"Very well, and here they are."
"I am delighted to see you on board of your own ship, Mr. Belgrave," said Captain Rayburn, rushing to the young millionaire as he came on deck with his bag in his hand.
Felix and Morris soon appeared, and gave the captain a hearty greeting. The commander happened to pass near them, and he was approached by Scott.
"Captain Ringgold, allow me to introduce Captain Rayburn, of the steamer Delhi, to whom the Borneo party are greatly indebted for his kindness; and the Blanchita sailed in company of his ship from Kuching to forty miles inside of Point Cambodia."