into the
stream. 'Other men have got these things. How did they do it?'

'Them get Dyaks--naked chaps what see ants and snakes.'

'Oh! And can I get Dyaks?'

'You pay, Tuan Cap'n, I find plenty naked chaps.'

In the evening all was settled. Tuzzadeen knew the chief of a Sibuyou Dyak
village on a hill just above the bay; they would scarcely lose sight of
the ship. No preparations were necessary. He himself would go ahead when
they approached a village, and the Dyaks would be pleased to see them.

At dawn next day Baker started, with Tuzzadeen and four armed sailors.
They crossed the broad white beach, studded with big rocks, moss-grown,
weather-stained, clothed with creepers and plumed with fern; through a
grove of cocoanut palms, scaring a band of children--Malay, but clad only
in a heart-shaped badge of silver dangling at their waists--and entered
the forest. There was a well-worn path. In a hilly district like this
Dyaks are content to walk upon the ground; elsewhere they lay tree-trunks,
end to end, on crossed posts, and trot along, raised above the level of
the bush.

It is likely that this was the first time Captain Baker had entered a
tropic forest. A very few steps from the busy go-downs of Singapore would
have taken him into one peculiarly charming; but tigers lay in wait all
round the town--so at least it was believed, not without probability. A
few daring souls already dwelt at Tanglin; but they left business early,
looked to their arms before setting out, and never dreamed of quitting
the bungalow when safe home once more.

Anyhow, the good man was struck with the beauty of that jungle. Scarcely a
flower did he see, or a butterfly, or any living thing save ants and
wasps. Vast trees arching above the path shut out every sun-ray in that
early hour. But all beneath them was a garden such as he had never
conceived. The dews had not yet dried up. They outlined every thread in
the great webs stretching from bush to bush, edged the feathers of bamboo
with white, hung on the tip of every leaf. And the leaves were endless in
variety. Like a green wall they stood on either hand--so closely were they
pressed together along the track, which gave them some faint breath of air
and glimmer of sunshine at noonday. Living things were heard, too, though
unseen. The wah-wahs called 'jug-jug' in a long gurgling cadence, like
water pouring from a bottle. Boughs clashed in sudden tumult, and dimly
one caught a glimpse of m