of women and children were bathing in the tepid
waters of the river, while a man in an unpainted prau was keeping
watch for a possible crocodile.

The sun was rising directly behind the peak, a ball of liquid fire. I
drew in a long draught of the warm morning air.

A Malay in a soft silken sarong, which fell about his legs like a
woman's skirt, stood in the door.

"The Prince is awaiting the Tuan Consul," he said, with a graceful
salaam.

I hurriedly donned my suit of white, drank my tea, and followed him
along the grand salon, down a broad flight of steps, through a marble
court, and into the dining room.

A great white punkah was lazily vibrating over the heavy rosewood
table.

Unko Sulliman, the Prince Governor of Maur, came forward and gave me
his hand.

"It will be a hard climb and a hard day's work?" he said, pleasantly,
in good English.

"I have done worse," I answered.

"But not under a Malayan sky. However, it is your wish, and his
Highness the Sultan has granted it. The Chief Justice will accompany
you, and now you had better start before the sun is high."

I turned to the Tuan Hakim, or Chief Justice, with a gesture of
unconcealed pleasure. We had shot crocodiles the day previous along
the banks of the Maur, and I had found him a good shot and an agreeable
companion. While not as handsome a man or as striking a representative
of his race as the Unko, or Prince, he was a scholar, and could aid me
more than any one else in my exploration of the ancient gold workings
about the base of the famous mountain.

The launch was awaiting us at the pier in front of the Residency,
and we took our places in the bow, and arranged our guns as our
half-naked crew worked her slowly into mid-stream. We hoped to get
some snap shots at the crocodiles that lined the banks as we steamed
swiftly up the river.

"I am inclined to agree with Josephus, that yonder mountain is the
Mount Ophir of Solomon, when I look at this river. It is equal to
our Hudson, and could easily carry ships twice the size of any he or
Huram ever floated."

The Tuan Hakim nodded, and kept his eyes fastened on the nearest shore.

The course of the great river seemed to stretch out before us in an
endless line of majestic circles. From shore to shore, at high tide,
it was a mile in breadth, and so deep that his Highness's yacht, the
Pante, of three hundred tons' burden, could run up full fifty miles.

For a moment we caught a view of the woo