Hours Passed Away, Night Came, And He Did Not
Return.
I began to think we were suspected of some evil designs,
for the Pumbuckle was evidently afraid of getting himself into
trouble.
He is a Sassak prince, and, though a supporter of the
present Rajah, is related to some of the heads of a conspiracy
which was quelled a few years since.
About five o'clock a pack-horse bearing my guns and clothes
arrived, with my men Ali and Manuel, who had come on foot. The
sun set, and it soon became dark, and we got rather hungry as we
sat wearily under the shed and no one came. Still hour after hour
we waited, until about nine o'clock, the Pumbuckle, the Rajah,
some priests, and a number of their followers arrived and took
their seats around us. We shook hands, and for some minutes there
was a dead silence. Then the Rajah asked what we wanted; to which
Mr. Ross replied by endeavouring to make them understand who we
were, and why we had come, and that we had no sinister intentions
whatever; and that we had not brought a letter from the "Anak
Agong," merely because we had thought it quite unnecessary. A
long conversation in the Bali language then took place, and
questions were asked about my guns, and what powder I had, and
whether I used shot or bullets; also what the birds were for, and
how I preserved them, and what was done with them in England.
Each of my answers and explanations was followed by a low and
serious conversation which we could not understand, but the
purport of which we could guess.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 229 of 419
Words from 62472 to 62750
of 114260
