after the welcome of the bornean hunters had spent itself in kissing and handshaking, the question came up as to why the "big four" had abandoned their explorations after one week in the island instead of three, the time arranged for them to remain there; and they had fixed the time themselves.
"i thought three weeks was a rather long time for you to be in the island," said captain ringgold after the question had been opened for discussion.
"we fixed the time before we knew anything about the island," replied louis. "but i want to say, in order to counteract the impression which appears to prevail in this company, that our trip was not a failure; for we had a fine time, and enjoyed our trips on the rivers."
"if you had a good time, why did you cut it short by two-thirds of the period allotted to the excursions?" asked uncle moses.
"we went up the sarawak, the sadong, and the simujan, up the last to the mountains, passing through lake padang, and we have shot an orang-outang, and might have killed more of them, to say nothing of other game," replied louis, whom scott had requested[164] to do the talking. "we visited three dyak villages, sailed the blanchita through a forest, and killed a good many crocodiles."
"you seem to have had sport enough," added uncle moses. "why did you give it up in the cream of the thing?"
"i believe you like a good dinner, uncle moses; such a dinner as you always have on board of the guardian-mother," continued louis, who was evidently pluming himself to make a point.
"i do like a good dinner, and enjoy one very much," replied the worthy trustee of the young millionaire. "but i doubt if i am any more devoted to such a banquet as we get every day than my beloved friend, brother adipose tissue, and all the rest of the voyagers all over the world."
"i plead guilty to the charge of brother avoirdupois; and i acknowledge myself to be a worshipper at the shrine of mr. melancthon sage, and i invoke a blessing upon the head of monsieur odervie, the chief cook. our life on the ocean wave is a constant promotive of the appetite. if the proof of the pudding is not in the eating of the bag, it is in the eating of the dinners; and i think we pay an abundant tribute to the talent of mr. sage, the prince of stewards, in the quantity of the well-cooked food he causes to be placed before us."
"we get through dinner about seven o'clock. i see that the accomplished chief steward is standing at the door," continued louis. "now, mr. sage,[165] would it be possible and convenient for you to have another dinner on the table, say at eight o'clock, an hour after the first feast had been finished?"
"quite possible, and even convenient; the only persons to complain of such an arrangement would be the cooks and stewards," replied mr. sage.
"captain ringgold, might i so far presume upon any influence i may have with you as the owner of the guardian-mother to request you to order a second dinner to be served at eight in the evening, beginning, say, with to-morrow evening?" asked the young millionaire, looking as serious as though he was about to preach a sermon, though the party were generally laughing.
"as i have always told you, i take my orders from the owner; and if you desire such a dinner, i shall certainly give mr. sage an order to that effect," replied the commander.
"but who is to eat the dinner after it is provided, an hour after the passengers have gorged themselves at the table?" demanded dr. hawkes. "is this a conspiracy to make more work for the surgeon?"
"not at all," protested louis. "it is to give the gentlemen who question so closely an opportunity to have an abundance of a good thing."
"but we could not eat the dinner," said uncle moses. "we are not hogs."
"oh, you are not!" chuckled the owner.
"but what has all this to do with hunting and exploring in borneo?" inquired mr. woolridge.[166]
"well, sir, after we had taken a full dinner in borneo, uncle moses and the commander ask us why we did not eat another dinner immediately on the top of it, as i observe that they are not disposed to do on board of the ship," returned louis.
some of the party had penetrated to the conclusion of louis's argument, but most of them did not see the point of his illustration till he made his last remark; then mr. woolridge began to clap his hands, and the whole company applauded vigorously.
"i suppose the interpretation of the whole matter is, that the hunters in borneo were gorged with hunting," said captain ringgold; "and that when they stipulated for three weeks of the sport, they overdid the matter."
"that was precisely the situation, mr. commander; and if you had been with us on the waters of padang lake, you could not have defined it better," replied louis.
"but it is almost incredible that a quartet of such nimrods should have become disgusted with their favorite sport in a single week," added captain ringgold.
"we are not hogs, as uncle moses gently suggested, and we could not eat a second dinner on top of the first so soon. if we had gone to borneo a second time, after a reasonable interval, i am confident we should have enjoyed a second week of hunting, even along the muddy rivers and inundated jungles," louis explained.[167]
"in other words, you bit off a bigger mouthful than you could swallow," said the commander with a hearty laugh; for he had predicted that three weeks of hunting at one time was too much. "but we understand the situation now up to the time of the departure of the nimrods from their happy hunting-ground. it was a rather daring enterprise to make a voyage of nine hundred miles in an open boat; and i should like to ask who was the originator of the idea."
"if there is any blame for this trip, we were all in the same boat, and we share the responsibility," answered louis. "captain achang bakir was with us; and he has sailed in all the seas of the archipelago in an open boat, and we had his advice. then we sailed all the way to the entrance of the gulf of siam in company with the steamer delhi, whose captain agreed to stand by us, and to supply us with coal if we came short."
"that puts a new face on the matter."
"it was in the head waters of the simujan that the plan was discussed, and captain scott was the originator of the idea," continued louis. "i was in favor of it first because it would save the guardian-mother the voyage from saigon back to kuching, about a thousand miles."
"where is kuching?" asked dr. hawkes.
"it is the native name for sarawak."
"i am heartily glad you have come to us, louis, for the reason you have given," added the commander.[168]
"how did the steam-yacht work, mr. belgrave?" asked the rajah.
"exceedingly well, sir; nothing could have done any better; but mr. scott can answer you better than i can, sir."
the third officer of the ship, late captain of the blanchita, described the working of the yacht, and gave her liberal praise. he related in what manner she had beaten the delhi in the race, and that he had carried sail all the way nearly from the start. he gave the party the routine of the boat,—how they had taken their meals, and how they had slept on board.
"but i think it is time for us to return to the blanche," interposed captain sharp, as the clock struck eleven.
"i must make an announcement before you go," said captain ringgold. "we shall not be able to sail for saigon to-morrow morning, as arranged before. we have to clean the blanchita in the morning, and she has to be put on the upper deck of the blanche. as the nimrods have come to bangkok, i wish to give them a day on shore to see the temples, and call on the king if they are so disposed. we will sail on tuesday morning on the early tide."
"but we have not had any account of the adventures of the nimrods in borneo," suggested uncle moses.
"we shall do so at eight o'clock in the morning; and you will all assemble for the purpose at that time. the lecture on siam and cambodia has been[169] postponed till all hands could hear it; and if general noury is ready, that shall follow the adventures," replied the captain.
"i will be here at the time stated, for we all desire to know what the nimrods have been doing," replied the general, as the party from the blanche retired from the music-room.
the rest of the company went to their staterooms, while the commander gave his orders for the work of the morning. all hands were called at daylight; and the young adventurers shook hands with the officers they found on deck, and spoke a pleasant word to the seamen on duty. the latter were hoisting the coal, provisions, and stores of the blanchita on board of the ship; and by breakfast-time the yacht was as clean as a dutch chamber.
at the appointed time the company, including the party from the blanche, were seated in the arm-chairs of conference hall; and louis went through his narrative of the adventures of the nimrods in borneo. during the morning, achang had placed the stuffed orang-outang on a shelf the carpenter had erected at the head of the platform, with the proboscis monkey on one side, and the argus-pheasant on the other. the bornean had had some experience as a taxidermist, and dr. hawkes declared that he had done his work well.
louis explained these specimens, and gave the measurements of the orang. the proboscis monkey and the bird were also described. when he said he[170] had not been disposed to shoot monkeys and other harmless animals for the fun of it, the audience applauded. he had killed a specimen of several animals, and several pigs, deer, and one bear, most of the latter for food. the cook had packed the last of the fish in the ice, so that it had kept well, and it had been served for breakfast that morning. everybody had praised it. the surgeon called it the gourami, and said that some successful attempts had been made to introduce the fish in american waters.
the audience laughed heartily when louis related in what manner they had killed and sold one hundred and eight feet of crocodile for about forty dollars. he told what he had learned about the dyaks, and described the long-house they had visited, and the head-house, and gave the story in full of rajah brooke, and their visits to his nephew and successor, the present rajah. he might have gone on with his narrative till lunch-time if he had not known that general noury was waiting for him to finish his account.
"did you see the dyak women, louis?" asked his mother.
"plenty of them. the older ones reminded me of the french women; for when they begin to grow old, they wrinkle and dry up. the morality of the dyaks is much higher in tone, even among the laboring-classes, men and women, than in civilized countries. they are all honest; and they steal nothing, even in kuching, though the malays and chinamen do it for them."[171]
"were the young women pretty, mr. belgrave?" inquired mrs. woolridge.
"to a dyak gentleman i suppose they are; but i was not fascinated with them, though i saw some on the simujan who were not bad looking. the prettiest one i saw was at a village near the mountains. but the general is waiting for me to finish, and i must answer no more questions at present," replied the speaker, as he bowed, and hastened from the rostrum.
then it was found that mr. gaskette had not hung up the map of cochin china, for achang and the carpenter had taken up the space before appropriated to it. mr. stevens, the carpenter, suggested a way to get over the difficulty; but it would take him half an hour to put up a frame in front of the orang.
"i shall not be able to get half through cochin china before lunch-time," said general noury, consulting his watch.
"i am afraid your audience will be scatterbrained, general, there is so much going on about the decks. perhaps we had better postpone the lecture till after we have sailed to-morrow morning, especially as the nimrods will be on shore this afternoon," suggested the commander.
"i approve the suggestion; let it be adopted."
the blanche party lunched on board, and spent the afternoon there.
