Malay officers, and Ned hesitated for a few
moments as to which direction he should take, and ending by making for
the river higher up the stream, so as to get right away from the spot
that he could not recall without a shudder. This part, too, looked
particularly attractive with its groups of palms and large forest trees,
some of which overhung the stream, one being covered with white flowers
to its very summit.

It was all very beautiful as he neared it, and he began thinking of how
delighted his uncle would be with the orchids and other parasitical
plants which cling to the boughs; but all at once, as he was looking
round, he caught sight of one of his guards, and directly after of the
other, for, as if by magic, they had reappeared, and the sensation of
being watched again, coming upon the recollections of the morning
adventure, seemed quite to rob the place of its beauty.

"I may as well go back," he thought to himself, after wandering for a
short distance among the trees, and stopping at last to lay his hand
upon a branch which overhung the river, so that he could lean out and
gaze down into the dark clear water, with some vague idea of seeing
whether there were any fish.

He could see none, but it was very attractive to gaze down into that
dark clear water with its patches of floating lotus-leaves, from among
which rose the bright blue waterlily-like flowers. They seemed likely
places for fish, and for a few minutes the grim horrors of the morning
passed away, and he began to think of what a capital place that would be
for carp-fishing, if it were an English river at home, and to wonder
what kind of fish there would be there. For that there were fish he
felt convinced, from a slight swirling movement he had seen, and the
shaking of the stems and leaves once or twice, as if something were
moving somewhere below.

That smooth shadowy pool in the river was very beautiful, and the sun
streamed down through the leaves like a silver shower, as Ned still
thought of the fishing, and this brought up the recollection of the boy
he had seen on the river and at his return at night.

"Perhaps he's the rajah's son," thought Ned. "No," he continued
inconsequently, "he couldn't be, because the rajah has lots of wives,
and of course he would have plenty of sons. I know," he thought, after
a pause; "he must be the Tumongong's boy. He did look something like
him. I shouldn't wonder if its--"

Ned's thoughts seemed at