They both meant to be watchful, and as soon as they were rested to once
more continue their flight, but the exhaustion produced by their
unwonted exertions proved to be too much for them, and as the heat
increased they both fell into a deep sleep.
Helen and her companion had been slumbering heavily for several hours,
ignorant of the flight of time, and in these brief restful moments
thoughts of peaceful days had come back to both; while in the sunshine
beyond the tree that formed their shelter birds flitted here and there,
the brilliant armour-clad beetles winged their reckless flight, making a
whirring hum as they dashed over the stream. The surface of the river
was flecked with the rising of the bright scaled fish, and what with the
varied greens and the beauty of the blossoms that made the sides of the
little river quite a garden, all looked peaceful, and as if trouble
could not exist upon earth. But danger was near, for two of the Rajah's
boats came slowly up-stream with their occupants parting the leaves with
bamboo poles, and peering beneath on either side in search of the
fugitives; while, in utter ignorance of their proximity, the wearied
girls slept on.
A tall, fierce-looking Malay, in a brilliantly-tinted sarong, stood in
the prow of the boat nearest to the fugitives, and he was so
indefatigable in his efforts to examine every foot of the way, that it
seemed impossible for the girls to escape his search.
Nearer came his boat, and still those the crew sought lay insensible to
danger, and with Helen's thoughts far back in the past of her pleasant
days with her friends at the little settlement. The tall Malay used the
light pole he held with the utmost skill, and parted bough after bough,
raising this one, depressing that, until it was down in the swift, pure
water.
Every now and then he gave some short, sharp order to the men who
paddled the boat, so that they sent it in closer or forced it back,
giving him abundant opportunity for seeing anyone upon the bank; and in
this way they approached the great tree beneath whose umbrageous foliage
the two girls slept.
The boat was sent close in, and the swarthy face of the Malay peered
between the branches, which he moved with the pole, so that over and
over again they helped to shelter those who were sought, and at last the
sharp order was given to back out from among the branches; but the
moment after the leader rescinded his order and seemed to be desirous of
searching more, for he raised a broad-leaved bough, held on by it, and
looked in once more beneath the shade, shot with brilliant rays, and
with flies dancing up and down in one broad band of sunshine.
That broad band of sunshine shone right athwart the Malay girl's face,
and as the searcher saw it a grim smile of satisfaction played for a
moment about his lip, and then left him stern-looking and calm.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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