o breath of blame must
touch the Rajah, nor can he be arraigned before any court, except the
throne of God.

Fatima, Seriff Bujang's wife, was an old friend of mine. She had always
visited me from the time of our first arrival at Sarawak, and was then a
very handsome girl, with a pale, clear complexion, and fine hair and
eyes. We took a great interest in her marriage, and Seriff Bujang
frequently came to our house. He was apparently fond of Mab, and liked
to hear her tell fairy tales. Mab spoke Malay very well, and was always
popular with the natives, to whom she would sing, dance, or relate
Cinderella, the White Cat, or the Three Bears, etc. It was curious to
see a grave-looking Malay sitting to listen to fairy stories; still more
so when all the time he was party to a plot for the destruction of the
household he visited. He was more weak than wicked; and two years after
that he died. I had occasion to visit some Malays in his kampong after
his death, and found poor Fatima bereft of all her ornaments and gay
dresses, and working as a drudge in the house. Widows are little
accounted of in Eastern households.

To return to the events of October, 1859.

A timber-ship, the _Planet_, was lying in the river, and Mr. Johnson
requested that the women and children of the mission should be sent on
board until the panic passed away, and the old Datu was got safely out
of the place. The fort and Government House were manned and armed, and
the rest of the Europeans sheltered there. The Hacket family went down
at once, and in the evening we sent Miss McKee and the two youngest
children with her; but Mab was ill of fever, and could not be moved. So
the Bishop and I stayed with her, and ten Chinamen guarded our house.

Mr. Chalmers had come from Merdang with news that some of those Dyaks
had joined the Datu Hadji, and also some bad Lundus, who had been
punished for sedition four years before. We all sat up that night; but I
was too much occupied with my sick child to be nervous about anything
else. The night passed over without any rising of the disaffected, and
the next day Gapoor consented to leave the country quietly, finding no
chief Malays would stand by him, and to be taken in a Government
gunboat to a brig just leaving the river. Thus, through God's mercy and
the loyalty of the people, no harm came of this plot, except that Mr.
and Mrs. Hacket decided to leave the mission, not being strong enough to
stand such alarms. They