k led on, leaving the palm houses behind, plunging among the trees,
and winding in and out, till Ned recognised the spot where he had
stopped to watch the river, and there he could see, lying about in the
shade, eight or nine of the Malays, most of whom had spears, which stood
leaning against the trunks of the trees.

"Now then, you two must talk English. I have got to speak in Malay, for
I am going to do all the ordering this time. I say, Ned, you like
fishing," he added, laughing. "You shall hold the line."

"But what are you going to do?"

"Wait a bit and you'll see," cried the lad; and he began to order the
Malays about, the men hurrying here and there, and, evidently at his
command, keeping right away from the banks of the river.

"Don't want to scare our fish," he said, hurriedly, to Ned. Then, as a
man came up with a coil of rope, Frank undid a part of it, and showed
that some feet of the end were not twisted, but all loose.

"Want to cutoff that bad bit?" said Ned, producing his knife.

"Bad, eh? Why, that's the beauty of it. I'm going to tie the hook on
to it just there."

"But if you fish for a crocodile like that, he'll break away."

"Not he. They never do. If I fished with a hard piece of rope, he'd
bite right through it."

"Then he must bite through that loose stuff. What is it--some kind of
hemp?"

"No; fibre of the gamooti palm, and his teeth will only go through the
loose stuff and bother him."

He asked for something in Malay, and one of the men handed him a
curiously-shaped hook, which he attached to the loose fibrous rope, and
then took a piece of stout twine from his pocket.

"Now, Tim," he cried, laughing, "give me the worm."

Tim opened the basket a little way, thrust in his hand, drew out the
unfortunate hen, which was quite white, and began shrieking and flapping
wildly till her wings were held down to her sides.

"Are you going to bait with that?" said Ned.

"Yes. Can't afford to bait with little boys and girls," replied Frank,
merrily; "they come expensive, and the mothers don't like it."

"But you are going to kill it first?"

"Kill it? What for? We shouldn't get a bite if we did."

"But it's so horribly cruel."

"Is it? Well, I suppose it is, but if it wasn't killed this way, it
would have been killed directly to make into a curry. This is a better
end for it, for we shall save people's lives."

"If ye catch him, Masther Frank," said Tim.

"Oh, we shall