agreed Earle, "if there is nothing to find fault with, but not
otherwise. Gee! What's the good of possessing such power as mine, if I
don't make use of it? And, civilised as these people are in some
respects, they are centuries behind the rest of the world in others; and
I'm prepared to bet that, when we begin to understand things a bit, we
shall find that there is plenty of room for improvement in a good many
directions. And it is entirely against my principles not to do good
when the opportunity offers. But--well, we shall see."

And now, something like a month passed without anything occurring worthy
of detailed record. Kedah, the instructor told off to teach the two
white men the Uluan language, was indefatigable in the execution of his
rather difficult task, while his pupils were equally indefatigable in
their efforts to master the tongue spoken by all around them, with the
result that they made excellent progress and were no longer obliged to
remain dumb when addressed. They made a good many acquaintances, and
not a few friends, chief among whom were the king and the princess,
whose demeanour toward the white men was, like that of everybody else,
indeed, a curious mingling of reverence and friendliness. They spent a
good deal of time walking and riding about the city and its outskirts,
thus in the course of time becoming intimately acquainted with every
street, road, alley and by-way; while Dick early found an outlet for his
superabundant energies among the shipbuilders, whose ideas concerning
the most desirable model for their craft were of the crudest possible
character. He also discovered that they knew nothing about sails and
how to use them, and he enjoyed himself immensely in rigging one of
their most suitable lighters as a fore-and-aft schooner, and then
watching the crew's amazement and delight as he navigated her across the
lake and back in about a quarter of the time usually occupied upon the
trip.

It was about this time, when their progress under the tuition of Kedah
was so far advanced that they were able to catch a glimmer of the
meaning of what was said to them or in their hearing, that the two white
men began to sense a suggestion of steadily growing excitement among the
populace generally, accompanied, on the part of those with whom they
were more intimately acquainted, by a continually increasing curiosity,
not unmingled with anxiety, concerning themselves and something with
which, in s