I’ve spent my life in war and strife,
And now I’m waxing old;
I’ve planned and wrought, and dared and fought,
And all my tale is told;
I’ve made my kill, and felt the chill
Of blades that stab and hew,
And my only theme, as I sit and dream,
Is the deeds I was wont to do.

These things were told me by Raja Haji Hamid, as he and I lay smoking on our mats during the cool, still hours before the dawn. He was a Selangor man who had accompanied me to the East Coast, as chief of my followers, a band of ruffians, who at that time were engaged in helping me to act as ‘the bait at the tip of the fish-hook,’ in an Independent Malay State to use the phrase then current among my people.

We had passed the evening in the King’s Balai watching the Chinamen raking in their gains, while the Malays gambled and cursed their luck, with much slapping of thighs, and frequent references to God and his Prophet, according to whose teaching gaming is an unclean thing. The sight of the play, and of the fierce passions which it aroused, had awakened memories in Raja Haji’s mind, and it was evidently not without a pang that he remembered that the turban round his head, which his increasing years, and his manifold sins, had driven him to Mecca to seek, forbade him to partake publicly in the unholy sport. Like most of those who have outgrown their pleasant vices, he had a hearty admiration for his old, prodigal, unregenerate self; and, as I lay listening, he spoke lovingly of the old days at Selangor, before the coming of the white men.

’Allah Tuan! I loved those old times exceedingly! When the Company had not yet come to Selangor, when all were shy of Si-Hamid, and none dared face his kris, the “Chinese Axe.” I never felt the grip of poverty in those times, for my supplies were ever at the tip of my dagger, and they were few who dared withhold aught which I desired or coveted!’

’Did I ever tell thee, Tuan, the tale of how the gamblers of Klang yielded up the money of their banks to me without resistance; or the turn of a dice box? No? Ah, that was a pleasant tale, and a deed which was famous throughout Selangor, and gave me a very great name.

’It was in this wise. I was in a sorry case, for the boats had ceased to ply on the river through fear of me, and my followers were few, so that I could not rush a town or a Chinese kongsi house. As for the village people, they were as poor as I, and, save for their women-folk, I never harassed them. Now, one day, my wives and people came to me asking for rice, or for money wherewith to purchase it, and I had nothing to give them, only one little dollar remaining to me. It is very bad when the little ones want food, and my liver grew hot at the thought. None of the woman-folk dared to say any word, when they saw that my eyes waxed red; but the little children cried, and I heard them, and was sad. Moreover, I, too, was hungry, for my belly was empty. Then I looked upon my only dollar, and, calling one of my men, I bade him go to a Chinese store, and buy me a bottle of the white man’s perfume. Now, when one of my wives, the mother of my son, heard this order she cried out in anger: “Art thou mad, Father of Che’ Bujang? Art thou mad, that thou throwest away thy last dollar on perfumes for thy lights of love, while Che’ Bujang and his brethren cry for rice?” But I slapped her on the mouth, and said “Be still!” for it is not well for a man to suffer a woman to question the doings of men.

’That evening, when the night had fallen, I put on my fighting jacket, and my Celebes drawers, and bound my kris, the “Chinese Axe,” about my waist, and took my sword, the “Rising Sun,” in my hand. Three or four of my boys followed at my back, and I did not forget to take with me the bottle of the white man’s perfume. I made straight for the great Klang gambling house, and when I reached the door, I halted for the space of an eye-flick, and spilled the scent over my hand and arm as far as the elbow. Then I rushed in among the gamblers, suddenly and without warning, stepping like a fencer in the sword-dance and crying “Amok! Amok!” till the coins danced upon the gaming tables. All the gamblers stayed their hands from the staking, and some seized their dagger hilts. Then I cried aloud three times, “I am Si-Hamid, the Tiger Unbound!” for by that name did men then call me “Get ye to your dwellings speedily, and leave your money where it is, or I will slay you!”

’Many were affrighted, some laughed, some hesitated, but none did as I bade them. “Dogs and pigs!” I cried, “Are your ears deaf that ye obey me not, or are ye sated with life, and desire that your shrouds should be prepared? Obey me, or I will slay ye all, as a kite swoops upon little chickens! What is your power, and what are your stratagems, and how can ye prevail against me? I who am invulnerable, I whom even the fire burns but cannot devour!”

’With that I thrust my right hand into the flame of a gaming lamp, and it, being saturated with the white man’s perfume, blazed up bravely even to my elbow, doing me no hurt, as I waved my arm above my head. Verily, the white men are very clever, who so cunningly devise the medicine of these perfumes.

’Now, when all the people in the gambling house saw that my arm and hand burned with fire, but were not consumed, a great fear fell upon them, and they fled shrieking, and no man stayed to gather up his silver. This I presently put into sacks, and my men removed it to my house, and my fame waxed very great in Klang. Men said that henceforth Si-Hamid should be named the Fiery Rhinoceros, and not the Unbound Tiger, as they had hitherto called me. It was long ere the trick became known, and even then no man, among those who were within the gaming house that night, dared ask me for the money which I had borrowed from him and his fellows. Ya Allah, Tuan, but those days were exceeding good days! I cannot think upon them, for it makes me sad. It is true what is said in the pantun of the men of Kedah:

’Pulau Pinang has a new town,
And Captain Light is its King;
Do not recall the days that are gone,
Or you will bow down your head,
And the tears will gush forth!

‘Ya Allah! Ya Tuhan-ku! Verily, I cannot think upon it!’

He tossed about uneasily on his mat for some time, and I let him be, for the memory of the old, free days to a Malay raja, whose claws have been cut by the Europeans, is like new wine when it comes back suddenly upon him, and it is best, I think, to let a man fight out such troubles alone and in silence. ’Can words make foul things fair?’ and, however much I might sympathise with my friend, there was no blinking the fact, that he and I were then engaged in trying to do for another set of Malay rajas, all that Raja Haji Hamid so bitterly regretted that the white men had done for him, and for Selangor.

After a space he became calmer, for though the thought of his troubles is often present to the mind of a Malay raja, the paroxysms, which the memory occasions, are not usually of long duration. Presently he began chuckling to himself, and then spoke again:

’I remember once, when I was for the moment rich with the spoils of war, I gambled all the evening in that same house at Klang, and lost four thousand dollars. It mattered not at all on which quarter of the mat I staked, nor whether I staked ko-o, li-am, or tang; I pursued the red half of the dice as one chases a dog, but never once did I catch it. At last, when my four thousand dollars were finished, I arose and departed, and my liver was hot in my chest. As I came out of the Farm, a Chinaman, whom I knew, and who loved me, followed after me, and said, “Hai-yah, Ungku, you have lost much to-night. That man with whom you gambled was cheating you, for he has a trick whereby he can make the red part of the dice turn to whichever side of the mat he wills.” “Is this true?” I asked, and he said, “It is indeed true."’

’Then I loosened the “Chinese Axe” in its scabbard, and turned back into the Farm. First I seized the Chinaman by the pig-tail, and my followers gathered up all the money in the bank, near seven thousand dollars, so that it needed six men to carry it, and I then departed to my house, none daring to bar my passage.’

’When we had entered the house, I bade the Chinaman be seated, and told him that I would kill him, even then, if he did not show me the trick whereby he had cheated me. This he presently did, and for near two hours I sat watching him, and practising, for I had a mind to learn the manner of his art, thinking that hereafter I might profit by it. Then, when the dawn was breaking, I led the Chinaman down to the river by the hand, for I was loth to make a mess within my house, and when I had cut his throat, and sent his body floating down-stream, I washed myself, performed my ablutions before prayer, prayed, and went to my bed, for my eyes were heavy with sleep.’

‘Kasih-an China!’ I said, ‘I am sorry for the Chinaman!’

‘Why are you sorry for him?’ asked Raja Haji, ’He had cheated me and it was not fitting that he should live; besides, he was a Chinaman, and we counted not their lives as being of any worth. In Kinta, before Mr. Birch went to Perak, they had a game called Main China, each man betting on the number of the coins which a passing Chinaman carried in his pouch, and whether they were odd or even. Thereafter, when the bets had been made, they would kill the Chinaman and count the coins.’

‘They might have done that without killing the Chinaman,’ I said.

‘It is true,’ rejoined Raja Haji, ’but it was a more certain way, and, moreover, it increased their pleasure. But Tuan, the night is very far advanced. Let us sleep.’

Verily, life in an Independent Malay State, like adversity, makes one acquainted with strange bed-fellows.