and seeming ignorance as to the circumstances

which brought the young man to the island,

or his equally unaccountable disappearance

after having rescued her from Number One.

And now, when she suddenly found herself

in need of protection, here was the same

young man turning up in a most miraculous fashion,

and at the head of the terrible creatures of the inner campong.

The riddle was too deep for her--she could not solve it;

and then her thoughts were interrupted by the thin,

brown hand of Rajah Muda Saffir as it encircled her

waist and drew her toward him. Upon the evil lips were

hot words of passion. The girl wrenched herself from

the man's embrace, and, with a little scream of terror,

sprang to her feet, and as Muda Saffir arose to grasp

her again she struck him full in the face with one small,

clenched fist.

Directly behind the Malay lay the heavy chest

of Professor Maxon. As the man stepped backward

to recover his equilibrium both feet struck the obstacle.

For an instant he tottered with wildly waving arms

in an endeavor to regain his lost balance, then,

with a curse upon his lips, he lunged across the box

and over the side of the prahu into the dark waters

of the river.

10

DESPERATE CHANCE

The great chest in the bottom of Rajah Muda Saffir's

prahu had awakened in other hearts as well as his,

blind greed and avarice; so that as it had been the

indirect cause of his disaster it now proved the

incentive to another to turn the mishap to his own profit,

and to the final undoing of the Malay.

The panglima Ninaka of the Signana Dyaks who manned

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