A Sikh Guard Of Honor Of Fifty Men In Scarlet Uniforms Lined The Way To
The Boat As A Farewell
To Major Swinburne, whose feet they had embraced
and kissed with every Oriental demonstration of woe two hours before.
We
Asked him what his farewells were, and he says that he said, "You
are a lot of unmitigated scoundrels; half of you deserve hanging; but
keep out of scrapes if you can till I come back, that I may have the
pleasure of hanging you myself." He really likes them though, and
called after Captain Walker, who is to act as his substitute, "Now, old
man, don't knock those fellows about!" The chief dread of the "fellows"
is that they will be at the mercy of an interpreter under the new
regime. The Malays give sobriquets to all Europeans, founded upon their
physical or mental idiosyncrasies. Thus they call Major Swinburne "The
Mad One" and "The Outspoken One." Captain Walker they have already
dubbed "The Black Panther." They call Mr. Maxwell "The Cat-eyed One,"
and "The Tiger Cub."
Just before sailing I had the satisfaction of getting this telegram
from Kwala Kangsa: "Eblis is a little better this morning. He has eaten
two grasshoppers and has taken his milk without trouble, but he is very
weak."*
[*Those of my readers who have become interested in this most bewitching
ape will be sorry to hear that, after recovering and thriving for a
considerable time, he died, to the great grief of his friends.]
We embarked at 5:30 P.M. along with a swarm of mosquitoes, and after a
beautiful night anchored at Georgetown at 2 A.M., but it was a
ludicrously uncomfortable voyage. An English would-be lady, i.e., a
"fine lady," a product of imperfect civilization with which I have
little sympathy, had demanded rather than asked for a passage in the
Kinta, and this involved not only a baby, but an ayah and man-servant.
The little cabin of the launch can hold two on two coaches, but the
lady, after appropriating one, filled up most of the other with bags
and impediments of various kinds. The floor was covered with luggage,
among which the ayah and infant slept, and the man sat inside on the
lowest rung of the ladder. Thus there were five human beings, a host of
mosquitoes, and a lamp in the stifling den, in which the mercury stood
all night at 88 degrees. Then a whole bottle of milk was spilt and
turned sour, a vial of brandy was broken and gave off its disgusting
fumes, and the infant screamed with a ferocious persistency, which
contrasted with the patient wistfulness of the sick Eblis and his
gentle murmur of "ouf! ouf!" Before we anchored the lady asked me to go
and wake the gentlemen and get a teaspoonful of brandy for her, at
which request, though made with all due gravity, they laughed so
tremendously that I was hardly able to go back to her with it.
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