[Illustration: The skipper is a jolly fellow with a countenance that beams good nature, mixed with a shrewdness that speaks of business ability]
[Illustration: He beats a gong briskly and chants a prayer in Malay, while the rest of the crew add their prayers to his petitions]
Before going we distribute part of our remaining tobacco among the women, who have come to like us and appear sad over our sudden leave-taking. The rest we will give to our carriers when they leave us at the other kampong. With one of us white men in the lead to set the pace and the other bringing up the rear to spur on the laggards, we hasten away at a pace that soon starts the perspiration in streams. Moh walks along in the middle of the procession, happier than he has been since leaving Java. He has visions of his lady-love in Soerabaya greeting him with outstretched arms. He feels sure of her fidelity; for does she not know that he is well paid by the Tuans, and that his pockets will be well lined with guilders?
The remaining crew of the _Nautilus_ also come with us, and are rather useful, for they proudly tote our guns. They, too, are happy, as they are anxious to return to their homes. Abreast of us is the schooner, still tacking up the coast. It seems at first as though she were slowly crawling ahead of us, but as the hours drag on we see that we are holding our own, and we even stop once for refreshment and to rest the weary natives, who are beginning to show signs of playing out. Some of them stagger a little as they come to a halt where we are piling the barang.
After the period of rest is over they shoulder their burdens and the long file is again under way. The sky becomes overcast when we are on the last four-mile stretch and still an hour from our destination. We welcome the cloudiness, for the heat has been terrific. With the clouds comes a rain-storm which soaks us to the skin, but which washes off the perspiration and is gratefully cooling. Once our spirits fall as we near the kampong. The schooner tacks again, which seems to indicate that she is going out to sea and does not intend touching at the place at all. There is excited comment from the natives at this and we indulge in a little soul-satisfying invective, until we see that the manœuver is simply to enable the boat to pass a mud-bar over which the tide is breaking. As the schooner swerves and heads directly for the village, we cheer loudly and urge the lagging Kia Kias to greater speed, that we may arrive at the place ahead of her dinghy.