ught from the ship, and a score of these soon
lit up the scene. Two of the rajah's men had been killed outside their
huts, but the majority had fallen inside. The chief asked a question of
one of his followers, who pointed to a hut.

This they entered, and by the light of the torches saw the rajah lying
dead upon the ground. Hassan said something to one of his men, who, with
a single blow, chopped off the rajah's head.

"Send to chiefs," Hassan said. "If not see, not think dead. Much afraid
of him. When know he dead, not fight any more; make peace quick."

One of the men asked a question, and the lads' limited knowledge of the
language was sufficient to tell them that he was asking whether they
should fire the village. Hassan shook his head. "Many men," he said,
waving his arm to the forest, "see fire; come fight. Plenty of fight
been; no need for more." For a time he stood with them in front of the
pool. A series of splashes in the water told what was going on. The
prahu was being cleared of its load of dead bodies; then several men
filled buckets with water, and handed them up to the deck. The boys knew
that an attempt was being made to wash away the blood. The process was
repeated a dozen times. While this was going on, the pool was agitated
in every direction. The lads shuddered as they looked, and remembered
that they had proposed to wade along the edge. The place swarmed with
alligators, who scrambled and fought for the bodies thrown over, until
the number was so great that all were satisfied, and the pool became
comparatively quiet, although fresh monsters, guided by the smell of
blood, kept arriving on the scene.

At last the chief said, "Come," and together they returned to the prahu.
The morning was now breaking, and but few signs remained of the terrible
conflict of the night. At the chief's order, a large basket of wine,
that had been found in the rajah's hut, was brought on board, together
with another, full of bananas and other fruit.

"Well," Harry said, laughing, "we little thought, when we saw the
champagne handed over to the rajah, that we were going to have the
serving of it."

Hassan joined them at the meal. He had been given wine regularly by the
doctor, and although he had evinced no partiality for it, but had taken
it simply at the doctor's orders, he now drank a little to keep the
others company. In a short time the whole of the chief's followers were
gathered on deck, and the boys saw that