As the prahu’s nose touched the bank Muda Saffir stepped aboard and with many protestations of gratitude explained that he had fallen overboard from his own prahu the night before and that evidently his followers thought him drowned, since none of his boats had returned to search for him. Scarcely had the Malay seated himself before von Horn began questioning him in the rajah’s native tongue, not a word of which was intelligible to Professor Maxon. Sing, however, was as familiar with it as was von Horn. “Where are the girl and the treasure?” he asked. “What girl, Tuan Besar?” inquired the wily Malay innocently. “And what treasure? The white man speaks in riddles.” “Come, come,” cried von Horn impatiently. “Let us have no foolishness. You know perfectly well what I mean—it will go far better with you if we work together as friends. I want the girl—if she is unharmed—and I will divide the treasure with you if you will help me to obtain them; otherwise you shall have no part of either. What do you say? Shall we be friends or enemies?” “The girl and the treasure were both stolen from me by a rascally panglima, Ninaka,” said Muda Saffir, seeing that it would be as well to simulate friendship for the white man for the time being at least—there would always be an opportunity to use a kris upon him in the remote fastness of the interior to which Muda Saffir would lead them. “What became of the white man who led the strange monsters?” asked von Horn. “He killed many of my men, and the last I saw of him he was pushing up the river after the girl and the treasure,” replied the Malay. “If another should ask you,” continued von Horn with a meaningful glance toward Professor Maxon, “it will be well to say that the girl was stolen by this white giant and that you suffered defeat in an attempt to rescue her because of your friendship for us. Do you understand?” Muda Saffir nodded. Here was a man after his own heart, which loved intrigue and duplicity. Evidently he would be a good ally in wreaking vengeance upon the white giant who had caused all his discomfiture—afterward there was always the kris if the other should become inconvenient. At the long-house at which Barunda and Ninaka had halted, Muda Saffir learned all that had transpired, his informants being the two Dyaks who had led Bulan and his pack into the jungle. He imparted the information to von Horn and both men were delighted that thus their most formidable enemy had been disposed of. It would be but a question of time before the inexperienced creatures perished in the dense forest—that they ever could retrace their steps to the river was most unlikely, and the chances were that one by one they would be dispatched by head hunters while they slept.