Then we went to another part of the house, where the crowd of rebels was even thicker. The Rajah seemed determined to fight. While he was loading a double-barrel gun for my use, our light went out and he had to do without. The Rajah then led the way to his bathroom, under his bedroom, and rushed out of the door. The rebels, having gathered round poor Mr. Nicholetts' body, left the way pretty clear, and the Rajah, with his sword and revolver in hand, made his way to a small creek and swam under the bow of a boat that had brought the rebels.[213] Being unable to swim, I ran up the plantation and rushed into the jungle. The Rajah's beautiful house was blazing from end to end, and the light reflected for a great distance. Mr. Crookshank's and Mr. Middleton's houses were also burning. At daybreak I heard Malay voices; they, like myself, were running away from the town, which was in the hands of the rebels. They kindly clothed me and took me to the Rajah. After diving under the Chinese boat, the Rajah had swum across the creek, where he lay exhausted on the mud bank for a while, until sufficiently recovered to be able to reach the house of a Malay official, where shortly after he was joined by Mr. Crookshank and Mr. Middleton. The Mr. Nicholetts who was murdered before the eyes of the Rajah was a promising young officer, who had just arrived from Lundu on a visit, and was lodged in a cottage near the Rajah's house.[214] Startled from his sleep by the yells of the Chinese, he rushed from his door, when the rebels fell on him, hacked off his head, and, putting it on a pike, paraded the town with it, shouting that they had killed the Rajah himself. Imminent as their own danger was, the Malays did not forget the Rajah, and a gallant little band led by Haji Bua Hasan, then the Datu Imaum, hastened to his aid, though they were too late; and they had to fight their way back.