TALES OF ADVENTURE

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 114, 15 May 1926, Page 27

TALES OF ADVENTURE

MY DAY OFF. By REGINALD P. HUNTER. (Ex-Inspector Federated Malay States Police.") A policeman's spare time, especially out East. Is very apt tv become a sort of "busman's holiday.' , and so it proved in the rase rhe Aurhor describes. "The story is ahsoiutely true." writes Mr. Hunter, "but the names are .fictitious."

"A policeman, mv lad. is never off duty!" is a remark with which the young recruit very soon becomes familiar. It is the inevitable retort to his tentative suggestion that a deal of his "off" time i= being taken up with extra work. It requires no senior, ponderous of wit, to impress this fact on the newcomer to the police of Ma'.aya. While »very day, of course, is not so crowded as the one I am about to describe, so many of them are equally strenuous that the average keen young officer insensibly slips into a condition of continuous activity, nor does he rind it irksome. It seemed to mc one day that Chelliatamby, my Babu chief clerk, had slipped in and out of my office on far more occasions than necessity seemed to warrant. and more than once I caught his eyes fixed on mc in a kind of mute pleading. When I eventually woke to the fact that something was worrying him an ingratiating smile oozed over his mahogany face. "What is the trouble, clerk?"' I asked. "It is no trouble, sir! But you have not remembered, sir, that to-morrow ia King's Birthday and is a Government holiday. Isn't it?' . The speaker went on with melancholy resignation: '"My brother has arrived from Tong; and while he would wish it I spend the day with him, sir, of course if it is the will —"

I certainly had overlooked the fact the morrow was a holiday, and I told the perspiring scribe so. Of course we would close down! Chelliatamby went out smiling happily, while I leaned back in my chair and recaptured quite a bit

of the wonderful rapture that a boyfeels with the "break-up ,, coming next day. "What shall I do?" I asked myself. Idea chased idea; there were many things I could do with more time to dispose of, but twenty-four hours does not allow of much. Go after pig? Too much time occupied in. getting up river. What about "crocs" ? Too much time taken in getting down river. As I analysed each idea the same objection arose. Finally I decided on a ''busman's holiday." I had an out-station 5(3 miles away. I would start off in the early morning on my motor cycle, have a topping spin before the bite came into the sun, inspect the station, have a curry tiffin with old Haj i Ali at Gading, laze away the afternoon, and spin quietly home by moonlight. It was not a very exciting programme as I planned it —but Fate took a hand in the game. The holiday morning dawned rich with promise of a beautiful day. I had arranged to start just before dawn, and as the machine purred through the deserted street of the little township I felt the cool, bracing air on my face I drew a deep breath of satisfaction. A good life this! Browning never experienced these conditions, but I guess his mood was akin to mine when he said— Bump! bump! bump! Confound it all —a puncture! I was not quite so cool when I grot started once more, and the poetic vein had certainly dried up. In a very iittle while, however, I was enjoying my spin again to the full, and after half an hour's riding entered the little village of Intan, where I had a small station. As I neared the station the Malay sergeant in charge ran down the steps, waving frantically. I pulled up. "What's the matter?" I asked. "Tuan," said he, "there is a mengamoli in the village. He came in from Lobok Dalam at dawn, and the whole kampong ia afraid to come out of doors." "Why have you not arrested him?" was my natural query. "He has done no harm as yet. and I hoped that he would go peacefully away if left alone," was the reply, but the sergeant's trembling limbs and obviojs fright were sufficient evidence that, if he did cherish that hope, it was but aslight one. It was useless to upbraid the sergeant for cowardice. There is a very large element of the supernatural in the Malay's fear of the man who has gone amok.- The wild frenzy, the merciless

slaving of loved ones, the ruthless striking down of the prattling child and the senile old man without distinction — these things speak to the Malay of diabolical possession and turn his undeniable courage to timidity. I en.leavoured to glean some particulars. "Who is the man? Do you know him?" [ asked. "Oh, yes. Tuan. T have known him for years. and —here he comes!"' I followed the direction of the serseant's gianre and at the end of the -traggling kampong saw a Malay walking, or, rather, swaggering towards us. Fie was not in fighting kit; he wore die Malay sarong and a European pattern coat. Fighting kit or no, however, there was an air of indescribable challenge in his jaunty swagger which one instinctively recognised as genuine, and as displaying: a consciousness of having thrown aside all restraint and become even as the tiger—a killer. Here was a decidedly unpleasant situation! The sergeant could only talk vaguely of threats made by the man. and for ail I could prove they were but idle chatter, and yet I "knew in my bones" that there was dancrer ahead. With the man still out of earshot I told the sergeant that I was going to engage him in conversation. W~hen I was doing so he was to send a couple of constables out at the back of the station and tliroujrh the knmpong to bring him down from the rear if necessary Tlien I left the sergeant and walked towards the man. '"Greetings, friend. Wliat news?" I asked. '"I am looking for someone to cut," came the disconcerting reply.

I had an automatic in my pocket, but, except in Western films, it is not considered to be playing the game to shoot a man for talking, and I decided that the would-be butcher must be taken blood lessly, if possible. "But why the desire to cut, friend?" I queried. As I spoke, the Malay slipped his right hand into the pocket of his coat. With never a nicker of an eyelid he looked straight into my face and replied: "Darul Balcar has disgraced my nousehold. I seek him and my wife, or—" Here the expression of his face suddenly changed from one of careless defiance to maniacal, homicidal ferocity. The hand in the pocket bunched and was half withdrawn, but although the movement was quick it was not quick enough. I put all the strength I was capable of into a right-hand swing, which, although it caught him too high up to knock him out completely, nevertheless brought him down dazed. Like streaks of lightning the little Malay constables leapt j from their ambush, and soon the maniao j was handcuffed and helpless. shaken as he waa from the punch, it took mc all my time to force from hia right hand a tumbuk lada. the deadly little curved dagger of the Malay. Once the man who had terrorised them was safely fettered, the villagers came out of their houses and told him what they thought of him in no uncertain terms. When I left the kampong. after having given instructions for the removal of the prisoner to headquarters in a bullock cart, there was still a knot of gTpybearris at the station steps lying fluently and picturesquely to one another as to the numnrr of such fearsome characters they had dealt with lone-handed in their prime. Leaving the village behind mc, I continued my holiday jaunt. Four milea out the road began to climb a pass, and! "hairpin" turns became monotonous in their frequency. It was while taking one of these bends that I was startled by yells of warning from the upper slopes of the hill. I looked up just in time, to ?ee a huge black bulk hurtling down the slope towards mc. The "hairpin" demanded throttling down, but that bulk shrieked for acceleration, and I skidded round the corner just as a "tame" buffalo shot past my back wheel. I pulled up. I frankly admit I waa scared, but I was also angry, and I badly wanted to "say a few words" to the owner of that vicious animal. I began to wonder, however, whether I

had been wise to dismount, for the brute had checked his downward course, turned, and was making his way uphill I again in my direction. Just as I had I decided to postpone my lecture to the buffalo-owner to a more convenient time, a Malay boy of no more than eight i years of age stepped out on to the roaa, ' and called the buffalo. When it came, as docile as a child, he beat it about the nose with a tiny hand, and finally led it away. The child's father then arrived and assured mc that the beast was "only playful," although he knew as well as I did" that had I or any other white man attempted to control the animal as the child did, death in a very ugly form would hare been the result. The ''playful" habits of that same buffalo, by the way, nearly spilled mc on two subsequent occasions at that corner, and as written applications to the owner only drew the answer that the brute was quite quiet, it was made quieter still by an application of lead—but that is another story. I arrived at Gading, my destination, without further incident, and after visiting the station made my way to penghulu Haji Airs house.

Haji Ali was a penghulu (headman) sf the old type. He had caused v: considerable trouble in the day: af the rebellion, but was now i loyal friend and ally. If he hac any complaint it vvas that the coming of the British had curtailed his powers very considerably. No longer could he kra (commandeer) men and bid them do his work without payment, and various other little privileges which had been his were fore-shortened or taken entirely away. The old man had two cheri9heJ possessions. One a wonderful old kris, which, could it but have spoken, would have told a fearsome tale of bloodletting; the other an opera hat given to him by the district officer of his mukin (district). These two treasures he always wore whea attending official functions. I found the pengbulu at home and. greetings over, we were scon seated on his low verandah looking out over the clearing through which the railway had just been brought. The railhead wa; now in the little village, and already one train a day arrived and left. Later on in the afternooa I was smok ing and dozing on the verandah. The little house was as silent as the grave; the penghulu and his family were all ai that great afternoon pastime o-f th< Malays—sleep. I was nodding in th< long chair when I was suddenly joltet into wakefulness by cries from the direc tion of the railway line. '•Help! Help! Robbers!" Looking over the varandah rail, I say a party of men coming slowly along thi railway towards the sleeping kampong They were preceded by a man who alter nately shouted and blew upon a polie whistle. I bolted down the tangga and over t the line, and found the party to consis of six Chinese. Two were carrying a unconscious man, another man half dragged and half-carried a companio who was in a very bad way, while th sixth man was the crier whose yells had heard. It took but a. quick glance to see tha the two injured men were very badl hurt, suffering from frightful wounds o the head. The bearers were far to excited to give any intelligible accour of what had happened, and so I concei trated on getting the injured men und( cover. Every extra minute spent o that sun-baked track meant so muc more against their chances of recover We carried them into a Chinese coffe< shop, the proprietor of which immed ately recognised, the injured men. '"Why," said he, "it is Nock Guan ar Ban Seng! They went out on to-day train to go to Singapore for the monthly shopping." '"What do you mean by 'monthly sho ping'?" I queried. "Buying stock. They are small sho] keepers here, and they get all the goods direct from Singapore. They usi ally travel down together about the la; day of each month and #iks with the: sufficient money for their purchases, should think that they would very like! have about four hundred dollars each." I was about to speak again, when tl less seriously injured man stirred vi easily and called the shopkeeper by nam He was very weak, and spoke with gre! difficulty, so much so that the oth( had to put his ear against the wounde man's mouth to catch what he said. Not a word reached mc, and I was c tenterhooks with excitement. Tl coffee-shop man listened attentively f< what seemed an interminable period, ai then gently bade the wounded man res saving: ''What can be done will be done Turning to mc, he said: "Nock Guan partly wandering in his mind, but 1 incessantly repeats that 'two Khehs wit bottles' attacked them just as they wei nearing the next station." I was satisfied that poor Nock Gua would be in no state to answer questiot for many days to come, while the cond tion of the other man seemed hopeles Willing helpers had done all they cou to make the victims comfortable, pen< ing the arrival of the doctor, for who: I had sent, and there was nothing 1 prevent n>e getting off after the "tw Khehs with bottles." Vague enouj information, I thought ruefully, bi nevertheless I congratulated myself th: luck had found mc on the spot, instes

of at headquarters fifty-six miles away. My first move was to the little railhead station. Here the station-master-eum-booking clerk was definite on two points. The two injured shopkeeper had travelled out that morning, secondclass as usual. He had also sold two other second-class tickets for the train, but could not say what the passenger* looked like, for he had not seen them. The tickers, however, were bought tiy a stout Chinaman dressed in black silk, but he was certain that this man did not travel, for he saw him leave the station after the train departed. "Had you ever seen this ticket-buyer before?" I asked. '"No; he was a stranger here. I know all the better-class Chinese here, and this rgan was very prosperous-looking." I now wanted three men—the two Khehs and the ticket-buyer. The odds seemed dead against getting them; and yet, with ordinary luck, my chance at least equalled theirs. Except for the narrow ribbon of railway the two bandits were surrounded by impassable jungle—impassable, that is, to men . unequipped for the work, and when I I reflected that these men would reckon on comparative immxinity from pursuit. believing mc to be at headquarters and knowing the delay which would attpnd the getting through of tha news of the robbery, I felt that they were as good as caught already. Events were to prove my surmise correct. Along the railway line ran a foe track, and I was soon jolting over This on a hired push-cycle to the next station or, rather, halt. That was the craziest " bike" I have ever ridden. and I almost ache now at the memory of it. However, with much groaning and shrieking the rusty old machine got mc there.

The station-master at the halt could tell mc but little. Just as the train pulled in, he said, two Chinese men leapt out of a carriage, dashed past him. and disappeared into the jungle. He was certain that they were Chinese and believed that they carried attache I cases. i "What did you do?"' I asked. "I thought that they hs.il been riding without a ticket until I wen. into the second-class carriage and found two mca lying hurt on the floor." was the reply. "It was then too late to chase the runaway?, and so 1 called some Chinese I from the woodcutters' konjrs: near by, and told them to take tae injured men to railhead." The criminals were -ox almost as fixed in their tracks as t !j» horses on a roundabout. Sooner or later they must leave the railway at some village, and that would be down the line. Feeling so sure of the absence of pursuit, they would not be too careful. On my instructions the station-master telegraphed j the rews to each station along the line, and very soon the two scoundrels walked "plumb into the arms of two Sikh poli.-emen. who were watching ac a place only ten miles away. Indeed, the news of their arrest was wired, thronsh before I remounted my ancient steed for the return journ.y to railhead.

It was about ten at night when 1 got back to the penghulu's house. Hβ was very excited, having got hold of a terribly-garbed account of the happenings, but out of the woeful tangle ona thing stood ou" clearly to the old man. Here was a good argument against that invention of Shaitan—the " fire-cart." Had there been no train there could have been no train-robbery! What could be clearer? The old gentleman's logic was faulty, particularly as round that particular district many a trading boat has disappeared off the river "' without trace," and many said that the raids took place well within gunshot of the penghulu's house. Possibly the old man, with Dyak blood strong in hia veins, looked upon piracy a.s a dignified occupation (even if at present out of favour) and one not to be considered in the same breath with such an upstart profession as train-robbery! It was an entranoingly beautiful moonlight night, and the prospect of the ride back to headquarters was pleasant, but marred for mc by the thought that I should h-ve liked to have wound up the day by the " prosperouslooking " purchaser of the two tickets. His was the master-mind of the villainous buLiness; the others were obviously merely pawns. I had no doubt that he would fall into the net sooner or later. Slender as my knowledge of him was, it was nevertheless suffkuenc to enable mc to telegraph a description of him down the line and to send runners ahead of him up the line. Aa to the road along which I had come, he stood very little chance of passing the numerous patrol stations unobserved. There was one possibility that made mc uneasy —he might have got away by the river. However, that could not be helped, and so I started on my return journey. I had travelled about ten miles when, on the white ribbon of road ahead, a steadily-moving black figure showed up. I recognised it as the figure of a Chinaman. The walk was. too purposeful for that of a Malay, and, in addition, ifalays rarely walk singly on lonely stretches of tiger-haunted road after nightfall. I had no time for speculation before I was level with and past the man, but as I passed him I felt sure that he was the man. Here was a lucky "draw" indeed! Even under favourable conditions it ia« next to impossible to obtain anything like a coherent description of one native from another, and yet, out of the slender description I had r"ceiv,ed of this man, I had formed a mental picture of him, and I was so satisfied with its resemblance to the solitary pedestrfan that I determined to arrest him. To ha.ye dismounted immediately would have been to warn the man. The start would ha\-e been his, and before I reached him he could have darted into the " secondary " jungle fringing the roadside, leaving the situation to develop into a game of hide-and-seek, with the odds on the hider. Accordingly I did not slow up, but went straight on, and kept going until I was sure that I was out of earshot, and that the stopping of the engine would not be noticed. Pulling up, 1 left the machine at the side of the road and walked back to the first bend where, from, the shadow of an enormous tree, I could keep the next reach of road under observation. The wait seemed endless. Had he taken fright? I was beginning to get despondent when I heard a footfall almost at my side. The Chinaman was coming cautiously along at the side of the road, in thp shadow; no longer was he boldly swinging along the centre. He almost touched mc and was quite unaware of my presence until I put my hand on his shoulder. Then his hand flew to his pocket, but he quickly withdrew it when my automatic was thrust into his ribs. I took from hia pocket a " home-made " revolver —a formidable weapon made up from odd parts of stolen or discarded firenrmfl hv snmp lntrpnimia nTiin*»a«» Inot-

arms Dy some ingenious iocksmith. I decided to walk with my prisoner to the next small station, and accordingly left the machine by the roadside. I was very elated at having found a pistol on the man, for even if I had made a mistake it was a good one. Chinese who wander about at night carrying unregistered fiream3 are far safer in custody, and so, in Indian file, with my captive leading, we set off. Like most Chinese criminals, the fellow took hia capture well, and chatted quite freely over his shoulder aa we Walked. He blandly insisted that I had made a mistake in connecting him with a train robbery, and swraed tinkled at the thought that a man of his obvious respectability rould be so misjudged. At the same time, however, he frankly admitted the awkwardnpss of the situation for him ;n l>pir,2 found in possession of a pistol. H.> was v»ry curious to know how nml when I hart entered the railiie-ad vislajri*, n ;;ii i heard him mutter "Fool:'' hut whflur h« was talking to mc or i::m=elt I never knew. After a walk of four mi..-3 or =o we reached the next patrol <sfa*.on, where ,11 handed m •.- pr:.-n::<»r over. A con- . ! ?tabifi who muM ride a ryi-le set off to . bring my ir.;irli:-<- in, and while waiting ■ for him" 1 sat down to smoke a pipe and speculate as to how I would spend >' mv next " hnlidar." m Aw oour.se, I am glad to »▼.*"" ■in ur eH shopkeepers recovered from their ; bounds, Z their **>*Xl*T^*from the country.