ed the thwarts, ranged the mast and sail along the side,
shipped the rowlocks. Lingard looked down at his old servant's spare
shoulders upon which the light from above fell unsteady but vivid. Wasub
worked for the comfort of his commander and his singleminded absorption
in that task flashed upon Lingard the consolation of an act of
friendliness. The elderly Malay at last lifted his head with a
deferential murmur; his wrinkled old face with half a dozen wiry hairs
pendulous at each corner of the dark lips expressed a kind of weary
satisfaction, and the slightly oblique worn eyes stole a discreet upward
glance containing a hint of some remote meaning. Lingard found himself
compelled by the justice of that obscure claim to murmur as he stepped
into the boat:

"These are times of danger."

He sat down and took up the sculls. Wasub held on to the gunwale as to a
last hope of a further confidence. He had served in the brig five years.
Lingard remembered that very well. This aged figure had been intimately
associated with the brig's life and with his own, appearing silently
ready for every incident and emergency in an unquestioning expectation
of orders; symbolic of blind trust in his strength, of an unlimited
obedience to his will. Was it unlimited?

"We shall require courage and fidelity," added Lingard, in a tentative
tone.

"There are those who know me," snapped the old man, readily, as if the
words had been waiting for a long time. "Observe, Tuan. I have filled
with fresh water the little breaker in the bows."

"I know you, too," said Lingard.

"And the wind--and the sea," ejaculated the serang, jerkily. "These
also are faithful to the strong. By Allah! I who am a pilgrim and have
listened to words of wisdom in many places, I tell you, Tuan, there is
strength in the knowledge of what is hidden in things without life, as
well as in the living men. Will Tuan be gone long?"

"I come back in a short time--together with the rest of the whites from
over there. This is the beginning of many stratagems. Wasub! Daman, the
son of a dog, has suddenly made prisoners two of my own people. My face
is made black."

"Tse! Tse! What ferocity is that! One should not offer shame to a friend
or to a friend's brother lest revenge come sweeping like a flood. Yet
can an Illanun chief be other than tyrannical? My old eyes have seen
much but they never saw a tiger change its stripes. Ya-wa! The tiger can
not. This is the wisdom of us ig