CHAPTER XXIII.

A SURPRISE-THE STRATAGEM ESCAPE OF MAHOMET ALEEJADEE INDIGNANT-DISAPPOINTMENT AND CONSOLATION-WE REPORT THE ESCAPE RAISING OF THE BLOCKADE - THE NEGLECTED WARNING THE GIG CHASES THE CANOE-THE "LADDAS"-A MALAYAN NIGHT-SCENE-DREAM-LAND — RETURN TO THINGS EARTHLY UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH FOR PRAHUS-THE SEA-BREEZE-THE RACE-SHORT RATIONS-EAT BIRDS' NESTS-A LONG AND DISTRESSING PULL-ZEAL AND CHEERFUL CONDUCT OF THE CREW-REFLECTIONS.

HARDLY had the anchor reached the bottom, before we sought the rest which it had been impossible hitherto to get; and it is needless to say, that after such a night and morning of excitement, I, and I believe all my people except the lookout-men, slept soundly for some hours.

The sun had passed the zenith, and all lay hushed in that deathlike day-sleep, in which nature, as well as man, seems to seek repose during the fervid heat of an equatorial afternoon, when I was roused and told that a boat full of men and women was coming down the river. On being hailed, they came alongside, gave up their arms, which we broke and tossed overboard, and then to their joy we told them to go in health,-"Salamat relan !"

ESCAPE OF MAHOMET ALEE.

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As they pushed off, I said in joke, "You may go, for we have caught the Tonkoos!"

"What!" exclaimed an old Malay who was steering the boat, "have you caught Datoo Mahomet Alee? Did he not then escape last night? God is merciful and great," continued he, throwing up his hands, and looking the picture of sorrow.

A feather might have knocked me down, and the old man's astonishment, at being abruptly called back and pulled by the neck and heels out of his canoe by the excited Jadee, was not small.

We told him that he evidently knew all about Mahomet Alee's movements, and unless he wished to be blown away from the bow-gun, hung at the ensign-staff, boiled in the coppers-Heaven only knows what Jadee did not vow would be done to him!-he must tell all.

He soon enlightened us: it was simply, that on the previous night, Datoo Mahomet Alee, finding all further resistance against the Siamese unavailing, had embarked in a long low canoe, pulling a number of paddles, and, accompanied by two prahus filled with women and armed men, to screen his movements, had with the first ebb of the tide pushed down. My guns had been heard, and it was supposed we had captured the prahus; but all felt confident that the Datoo would escape from us, though he might be drowned, if the breeze freshened whilst he was crossing over to the Lancavas Islands, amongst which group a fleet of prahus was secreted.

My disappointment and chagrin were beyond the power of language to express. I had been fairly outwitted; my only consolation was in the fact that I was

yet a novice in the art of war, and could not be expected to be a match for all the stratagems of so accomplished an adept as Mahomet Alee; and in the next place, I felt that in chasing the prahus instead of the sampan, I had done my duty, for they would naturally be the war

boats.

There was nothing for it now, but to go and tell my gallant captain. "Up anchor!" I said. "Jadee, I must go and tell the Rajah Laut, that 'Numero Tega' has had dirt thrown on her by Mahomet Alee."

Jadee had been in a perfect state of frenzy since the intelligence was verified by some other men in the boat: he stamped, he swore, called every Mahometan and pagan saint to witness, that such an act as the Datoo had committed was contrary to all ideas of Malay chivalry. He appealed to the crew, asked them, in all their cruises-I ought perhaps to say villanies-had ever they heard of a Datoo who escaped a fight under the petticoats of a woman? If there was, Jadee with his creese was ready to send that man to Jehanum, or some other pleasant spot rejoicing in intense heat or cold; consequently, all swore they had never heard of such a thing.

However, when the poor fellow saw how cut up I was at my misfortune, he calmed down, and tried hard to afford consolation.

"Steer for the ship's usual position between Lancava and Parlis," I said. "Jadee, I am disgraced," and, youngster-like, I really felt as if I was; and a vision. that it would be necessary for me to run away and join an opium-clipper as soon as possible already haunted me.

JADEE'S GENEROSITY.

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"How could you be so ignorant of a Malay stratagem?" I said petulantly to Jadee.

His unaffected efforts to take all the blame on his own shoulders, and to cheer me, were quite delightful.

"Tell the Rajah Laut" (Captain Warren) "it was my fault, my officer!" said the honest fellow. "I ought to have guessed the manœuvre when the women screamed out; of a surety, they are the source of all mischief, and limbs of the evil one!" Then he proceeded to anathematise his bronze-cheeked country women in rather strong terms, but wound up with saying-what was true enough,-"The Rajah Laut will not be angry, Tuhan! He would have done the same, had he been there. Who would chase a canoe when a prahu-a capel praham*-was in sight?" "Give way! Numero Tegas" (No. 3's)—he shouted-" Mahomet Alee may be caught yet he shall not escape us in a canoe next time !" "Hurrah!" shouted the poor fellows, and away flew the little "Number Three" under sails and sweeps towards the Hyacinth; and by the time we reached her, I had begun to fancy that the chances were yet in favour of catching not only Mahomet Alee, but his reported fleet likewise.

The ship soon hove in sight, and we altered course for her. Jadee, seeing me somewhat consoled, edged to me, sat down at a respectful distance, and, catching my eye, quietly remarked, "It was a pity we joked about the warning that bird gave us last night, Tuhan! Allah be praised worse has not befallen us. One should never

"Capel praham" is a fighting prahu; they generally have a

breastwork in the bows for the guns.

laugh at the warnings he sends by the mouths of unclean creatures;" here he expectorated, to purify himself. “I ought to have known better," said he, with a self-upbraiding air: "after the number of times that accursed bird has warned me of evil, to think of my not heeding it!" He continued, "Allah be praised it was no worse!" It was evident that I might have had a tale of unlimited length, had I sought it; but such was not then my humour, so I left Jadee to soliloquise away, until we anchored close to the Hyacinth.

My worthy captain heard my tale, and then very kindly said that it was unfortunate, but could not be helped, and that the escape had been cleverly effected by a simple but well-laid manœuvre; it would be a wrinkle to me for the future; and I amused my dear friend the first-lieutenant extremely by vowing that in future all the ladies in Quedah screaming should not stop my 18-pounder, if I had another chance at the rascally Datoo.

The description we gave of the canoe excited no small interest on board the Hyacinth; for it appeared that that same morning, directly it was daylight, the signalman had descried from the masthead a boat paddling towards the Lancavas, answering exactly to the description of the one in which the pirate chieftain had escaped from the Pouchou. The captain's five-oared gig had been at once despatched in chase of her, in charge of Mr Major, the gunner, a very gallant and determined officer. The canoe and gig had both run out of sight, and there being no wind, the Hyacinth could not weigh to go in chase and support her gig, against which the canoe had