"Between you and me, Balderson, I have seldom seen a more unmitigated
looking ruffian in my life; even for a Malay, he is ugly. Soh Hay
tells me that in his young days he was a great fighter, and his
face and shoulders are seamed with scars. I asked how he came to
be rajah; for he does not look at all the type of the better class
of people. Soh told me that, in the first place, he took to the
jungle, owing to his having krised in a quarrel the son of the
chief here. He was joined by other fugitives, set up as a pirate,
and captured by surprise one of the chief's prahus. His force grew
rapidly, and he made a night attack on the chief's campong, killed
him and all the members of his family, and caused himself to be
elected chief of the tribe, which was then a small one. Gradually
he swallowed up one after another of his weaker neighbors, sometimes
by force, sometimes by treachery. I believe he is now confronted by
more powerful chiefs, and that it is only because he is possessed
of some six or eight piratical prahus that he has been able to
maintain his position. No doubt he has become alarmed by a prospect
of a combination against him, and has so invited us to support him.
Such a step will, of course, greatly add to his unpopularity, but
doubtless he thinks that, with our help, he could defy his enemies."

"But. he cannot suppose, Doctor," Harry said indignantly, "that we
are going to fight for such a rascal as he is against the men he
has been plundering."

"I don't expect he does think that we are going to fight for him,
unless he can show us that it is to our interest to do so. I should
imagine that he hopes that the effect of our appearance here will
be to either induce his neighbors to come to some arrangement with