164

PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT.

enable us to assure ourselves of no breach in the

agreement.

For several days past we had observed that great numbers of canoes, small prahus, and native craft had accumulated along the face of the unfortunate town. These, doubtless, had been driven down from the upper part of the river by the progress of the enemy. As the day advanced, the signs of an approaching exodus gave us some cause for anxiety lest, under the plea of a flight, a large body of men should be brought down to board the two gun-boats and cutter-which was all the force we had.. We therefore took every precaution: cleared for action; loaded our guns; placed one gun for sweeping the deck with musket-balls, and the other to command the narrow gap through the stockade, by which, whether as fugitives or foes, the pirates must come out. Sunset and the brief twilight of an Asiatic evening soon passed into a calm but very dark night, adding still more to the difficulties of our position; and the obscurity, for a while, was so little broken by unusual appearances, that we began to fancy the Malays had postponed their flight.

THE LULL BEFORE THE STORM.

165

CHAP. XIII.

The Lull before the Storm. The Exodus. - A Scene of Confusion and Distress. — The Malay Chieftain's Wife. Baju-Mira. The Convoy. An extraordinary Appeal. Midwifery simplified. A Night-scene. A Midshipman's Emotions. A Malayan Houri. - Resign my Charge and An Attempt to enslave the Fugitives.

return.

THE flood-tide continued to flow into the Quedah river until about ten o'clock, and beyond the hum of voices from the town, and the melancholy wailing noise made by the sentries in "calling their posts"there was not until top of high water anything to denote the scene of activity which so soon ensued. But just after the ebb-tide commenced to run out, at eleven o'clock, the whole population of fort and town rose as if it were one man. The hoarse shouts of men, the shrill cries of womankind, and the bleating of goats, with many a shrill crow from the everlasting game cocks, betokened some unusual commotion. Torches in great numbers soon threw their glare of light over a perfect multitude on the banks

of the stream beyond the fort, and evidently embarking for the projected flight.

The splash of oars and paddles was next heard, and then a perfect débâcle took place, for out of the narrow opening of the stockade, where the pentup tide caused the stream to shoot through like a rapid, flowed out upon us prahus of all sizes, canoes, topes, and even rafts, laden as heavily as they could be with human beings.

It was indeed a wild and wretched scene, strange and exciting though it might be to us. The torches carried in some of the canoes threw a vivid light over the black river and jungle, and brought out in strong relief the groups of excited men and "Anchor! anchor!" we shouted,

women.

66

or we

must fire." Mercy! mercy!" shrieked the women and old grey-bearded men. The nicodars yelled out orders, invoking all the saints of Islam. Babies struck in with their shrill piccolos, and the wifeless, womanless garrison left in Quedah seemed determined to show what good heart they were still in, by the wild, yet not unmusical cry of "Jaggā, jag-gāā!” or, "Watch there! watch!" We, the blockaders, got under weigh, and slashed to and fro across the entrance of the stream, firing an occasional blank cartridge at some craft that tried to escape being searched,

SCENE OF CONFUSION AND DISTRESS. 167

having perhaps on board more than the proper complement of men, or, as in one case, because some notorious pirate who had rendered himself amenable to our laws, was desirous of escaping an interview with a petty jury and a British recorder at Penang.

By four o'clock in the morning the exodus was over, and we lay at anchor with a black mass of native vessels of every size and shape around us: many of the canoes threatening to sink alongside, we were forced to take the unfortunates upon our decks, adding still more to the scene of confusion. My boat's crew, bloodthirsty Malays though they were, employed themselves from midnight to day-dawn boiling and serving out rice to the half-starved women and children.

The sun rose upon the strange scene, just as all were falling to rest from an anxious and sleepless night. On counting the fugitive vessels we found one junk, one tope, five large prahus, and one hundred and fifteen smaller craft, the whole of them containing probably three thousand souls, of which two-thirds were women and the remainder made up of children, old decrepit men, and a few adult Malays, to convoy the whole and navigate the different vessels to a place of safety. Two births took place during this sad night of confusion.

168

THE MALAY CHIEFTAIN'S WIFE.

During the day we were employed thinning out the people embarked in some of the most unsafe canoes. We searched and discovered some secreted arms, and forced several men (where we found their numbers more than sufficient) to land and take their chance, instead of endangering the lives of the women and children. In the junk, independent of a mob of women and children of every shade and class, we discovered the wife and family of Tonkoo Mahomet Said. He had evidently been afraid to avow his intention of sending them, and merely trusted to the promise that had been given to respect all women and children. The Tonkoo was not disappointed; and Captain Warren ordered me to embark the chieftainess and family, and convoy them, as well as the junk and larger prahus, to Penang, not only to ensure them against shipwreck, but to guard against the dashing enterprise of His Siamese Majesty's brig, the "Teda Bagoose," which to our sorrow made her appearance off Quedah just at this juncture. She had ascertained that the Malay boats only contained women and children, and her captain was, to use our English seamen's phrase, “full of fight.”

Towards evening a fine fair wind sprang up off the land, and we prepared to start. I placed two trustworthy men on board each of the junks, and in two