The Orchid Seekers: a story of adventure in Borneo

Front matter

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME. Bv the Same Authors. THE EIDEKS OR THROUGH FOREST AND SAVANNAH WITH THE "RED COCKADES" Witli 20 Illustrations. THE OKCHID SEEKEKS Boy produced a knife and scraped away the greater part of the mud. p. c_6. FRONT. THE ORCHID SEEKERS A STORY OF ADVENTURE IN BOENEO BI- AS HMORE RUSSAN and FREDERICK BOYLE WITH ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. 15 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND INTRODUCTORY NOTE. Some of our boy readers may cry, on seeing the names of two authors on the title-page, " What ! A couple of 'em ? " And at any point they will be likely to ask themselves, " Now, I wonder which of the two wrote this ? " The public in such cases is commonly left to wonder, but circumstances here are unusual. When Mr. Ashmore Russan formed a project of writing a story upon the subject of orchid-collecting and its many dangers, he applied to Messrs. Sander, of St. Albans, the great importers of orchids, for special information.

They referred him to Mr. Frederick Boyle, as one who had travelled in many lands where those plants flourish, who grows them, as an amateur, with unusual success, and publishes much about them. Mr. Boyle had no time to take an equal part in writing the story, but he consented to advise, direct, and in general to lend his assistance. The outline of the tale is his, and for all statements therein, historical, local, or scientific, Mr. Boyle is responsible. It naturally happened, since he was treating of scenes he had himself beheld, of peoples and individuals he himself had known, that he found it necessary to take the pen from Mr. Russan's hand and write a few lines here and there. But in general he confined himself to his functions of director and critic. It will be understood, after this explanation, that the tale rests on a solid basis of fact all through. Til CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Page

A PALACE OP ENCHANTMENT . 1 CHARTER II. GREAT PREPARATIONS . . . . . . ]5 CHARTER III. THE AMOK 24 CHARTER IV. A BRUSH WITH PIRATES 35

CHAPTER V. AT THE TOWN OP THE CAT

...... 48

CHAPTER VI.

A SCRATCH EXPEDITION ...... 62

CHAPTER VII.

A START IN EARNEST ....... 78

CHAPTER VIII. WHAT IS AN ORCHID

? 86 CHAPTER IN. HARRT OVERHEADS AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION . 95 CONTENTS X

CHAPTER X. PAQB

A DYAK FEAST 108

CHAPTER XI.

A VERY STRANGE ADVENTURE ..... 120

CHAPTER XII. AN INTERRUPTED LECTURE

...... 134

CHAPTER XIIL THE OPHIOPHAGUS

147

CHAPTER XIV. AN ORCHID GIANT

....... 159

CHAPTER XV.

A PAKATAN FAMILY 172

CHAPTER XVI.

A HAUNTED JUNGLE ....... 185

CHAPTER XVII. THE LODGE OF THE

T'lEN-TI HUj6 .... 202

CHAPTER XVIII.

A NIGHT ATTACK 212

CHAPTER XIX. IN THE LION'S DEN

225

CHAPTER XX.

wo-sing's STORY CONTENTS XI

CHAPTER XXI. PAGE IN THE VALLEY OF BIDI

247

CHAPTER XXII.

A SURPRISE IN THE CAVE ...... 262

CHAPTER XXIII. META FINDS

A PRIZE, AND LOSES ONE .... 275

CHAPTER XXIV.

A HEAD-FEAST AT SIRAMBAU ..... 286

CHAPTER XXV. TOO LATE

299

CHAPTER XXVI. INCIDENTS OF THE NIGHT

...... 310

CHAPTER XXVII. THE RECAPTURE OF KUCHING

..... 323

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE FIGHT AT TANAH LEDA

..... 335

CHAPTER XXIX. THE SURPRISE IN THE PHOSPHORIC FOREST

. . . 348

CHAPTER XXX. THE HEROISM OF THE MAIDENS

..... 363

CHAPTER XXXI. THE INEVITABLE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE Boy produced a Knife and scraped away the Greater Part of the Mud . . . Frontispiece, Hertz sprang to his Feet, towering over the Breastwork, waving his Cutlass, and shouting at the top of his Voice 4"i An Alligator, saluted with Four Charges op Shot, . . . waddled off the Muddy Bank . . .00 The Knife fell, and after it, plump into the Water, the Orchid Collector himself ! . . . . • 72 He plucked a Flower of the Phalænopsis . . 92 "Good Morning, Sir," she said, showing all her Pearly Teeth in a rather Broad Smile . .102 The Path up Sirambau 104 He sprang to his Feet, and, with a word or two of Apology, snatched the Blossom . . .167 The Axg Gate, or Gate of Execution . . . 200 Xll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XIII PAGE Every Face and every Movement were visible in the Bright Glow 217 WO-SlNG TELLS HIS STORY 230 As Hertz watched, he saw a Chinaman approach the Orchids 264 The Recital of the Mengap 293 "I've told Him to Finish it" 332 Jack rose to his Feet, and reeled to a Gun . . .346 At the sight of Me the Orang Kina trembled . . .

Who can number the Trees of the Forest ? Who can number the Orang Kina that fell before Si Loyo, the Son of Pamantuah? . . GLOSSARY. Meaning of the names of orchid genera mentioned in this story ; names of species are interpreted in a note where they occur. It is usual to transform the Greek "ON" to the Latin " UM." Angræcum Latiuised from the Malay Angrec, signifying an epiphytal orchid of any kind — that is, an orchid which grows on a tree. It is now limited to one genus. Aerides Greek, " Child of the air." A name used generally in the early days of orchid culture — now limited to one genus. Anæcto-Chilus ,, " Open-lipped." Bulbo-phyllum ,, " Bulbous-leaved." Cal-anthe ,, " Beautiful Flower." Cata-setum ,, " Downward bristle." From the two horns of the column. Cœlo-Gyne ,, " Hollow stigma."

From a cavity in the column. Cory-anthes „ "Helmet Flower." From the shape of the lip. Cymbidium Greek " Boat-shaped " — in the form of the lip. Cypri-pedium ,, "Venus's Slipper." Dendro-bium „ " Living on a tree." Epi-dendrum „ " Upon a tree." Grammato-phylluw ,, " Lettered leaves." From the marking of the foliage. GLOSSARY XV Masdevallia After Dr. Masdeval, a Spanish botanist. Odonto-glossum Greek " Tooth - tongue." From the form of the lip. Peristeria " Dove." From the astonishing resemblance of the column to a figure of that bird. Pescatorea From the name of a great amateur, General Pescatore. Greek " Like a moth." Phalæn-opsis Ren-anthera „ " Kidney-anthers." From the shape of the pollen masses. Latin " Bag-lipped." It is commonly understood that this Sacco-labium Vanda word was " made up."

If so, there is a curious coincidence. Sanscrit scholars tell us that Vanda signifies " mistletoe " in that language. It was applied, however, to all parasites, among which orchids were classed, even by botanists, until late years.

CHAPTER I.

A PALACE OF ENCHANTMENT. We must look backto the month of June, 1856. The orchid palaces which are now regarded as adjuncts almost indispensable to a great country-house, were few in number then, and, by comparison, poorly furnished. Yet botanists and amateurs who recall that time think of it as a golden age ! They had beauty enough and wonders enough to satisfy them in the present, and a future without bounds. Strange and delightful rumours came to hand every day, and found acceptance. Why not, when living plants arrived continually, as beautiful and as marvellous as the most glowing fancy could con ceive ? An orchid grower in those days had all the world before him. A point here and there had been touched, but every collector returning with his spoil — so easily gathered, though, alas ! so woefully diminished when he reached home — had stories to tell of greater marvels seen or reported.

The points thus touched were very few and far apart ; between them, all through the Tropic realms, lay spaces measureless, where imagination B roamed unchecked. Such spaces have grown narrower year by year. Some, perhaps most, of the rumours and legends have been proved true. We possess those glorious treasures — such of us as survive — of which we dreamed thirty years ago ! Those who visit an orchid house now may think that — as it is expressed by one who should have been a poet : " All beauty that the mind can hold is there — the quintessence of all charm and fancy. ... If Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a lily of the field, the angels of Heaven have no vesture more ethereal than the flower of the orchid ! " Yet it has ever been admitted that hope is a more blissful state of mind than fruition.

Among the few importers and growers of that era was Ralph Rider, an enthusiast. On the day upon which this story opens he was pacing the central walk in one of his orchid houses, engaged in earnest conversation with a companion. Mr. Rider was a squarely built, broad-shouldered man, in the prime of life, with a ruddy, kind countenance ; his hair and beard were glossy brown, with not a grey thread in either. His companion was a young man — not more than thirty — with a striking personality. He stood six feet two in his stockings. His oval face was of the colour of burnished copper, bronzed by the scorching tropical sun, which had bleached the heavy flaxen moustache at least two shades lighter than his hair, but had not dimmed the lustre of the blue, watchful eyes. His nationality could be seen at a glance almost — he was a German.

His name, Ludwig Hertz. Occupation, a Collector of orchids. He had only one arm, the left. In place of the right, lost in some machinery, he had an iron hook, as useful as some people's fingers. Indeed, his dexterity with that curved piece of iron was something to marvel at. His English friends, and he had many, said he had " been everywhere, and done most things." Mr. Hertz rarely spoke of his achievements, never boast fully. He was well read, and a thorough botanist, acquainted with every tree and herb in the universe, or nearly so. His occupation had made him a great traveller. Had he been dropped from a balloon in any part of the Tropics an examination of the flora would have told him his locality. He had sought orchids in more lands than he could count on his fingers. He had risked his life as often as Othello, and thought very little of it.

Such escapes from savage animals and equally savage men, from miasma-breathing swamp, river flood, and ocean storm, were all in the way of business. He loved his occupation, and would not have exchanged it for a dukedom. Now, conversing with Ralph Rider, he recognised a kindred spirit. They were too much interested in their discussion to heed the familiar loveliness around. But it was a scene hardly to be matched in those days unless at Chatsworth, where the Duke of Devonshire was forming that noble collection, with vast expenditure and pains, to which science owes so much. Here stood pots of Peristeria, the Spirito Santo of the Spanish Americans, who regard it as a standing miracle. From the mass of its big, wrinkled bulbs rose flower stems crowned with wax-like blossoms, each showing at its heart the figure of a snowy dove, with purple-spotted wings — erect, as if taking flight.

Hanging in baskets from the roof were Oattleyas, chocolate-brown with rosy-purple lip ; tenderest green, with crimson lip ; pale lemon-yellow, margined with white ; olive-green, dotted with crimson ; most glorious of all those glorious things, golden-yellow with a great frilled lip of purple streaked with gold. In baskets, also, were Oncidiums, dropping garlands of white mottled with green and chocolate ; brown outlined in gold ; pale violet barred with rosy purple, and white lip. Warm P Odontoglossums were blooming there, of richest yellow, spotted and splashed with brown; or huge flowers of pale orange on a short stalk, banded with a deeper tone. Here a noble Sobralia, like an Iris enlarged and glorified beyond all that fancy could conceive — crimson purple with a golden heart. Yonder Bendrobiums, white, straw colour, crimson splashed; scarlet Epidendrums ; Miltonias white and purple.

One of these two men had enjoyed the triumph and the ecstasy of discovering some among the beauties named in their forest home ; scarcely less had been the other's delight in restoring to health and loveliness the plants that came to him in shape of leafless, withered bulbs and dry sticks. Of course Mr. Rider had his favourites — not always the " Kings " and " Queens " of the orchid world. If favouritism might be judged by attention, they were the delicate children, often the perverse ; those which rival orchid growers could not induce to bloom in a foreign land ; which drooped and died on the slightest provoca tion, or despite the greatest care. Somehow, these fragile ones were often the most lovely. Nature holds the balance very fairly. Among them was one acknow ledged Rex, the lovely Wana Rajah, the Ceylonese " King of the Woods," the most beautiful of the Anoectochili, with leaves of brown velvet thickly reticulated with gold that gleamed and sparkled.

For more than ten years he had imported and studied this genus. Again and again the delicate plants died on his hands. Undismayed, he im ported others, always experimenting, trying different temperatures and systems ; and now, in a warm moist corner, he could show such a mingled mass of lovely velvet foliage, picked out with gold, with silver, with rose-colour, olive-green, grey, and coppery-red, as pro voked the envy of his compeers, few of whom could prevail upon the perverse Anoectochili to live. Ralph Rider was proud of his success as a man could be, but not boastful. It was all owing to his system of " trying again." He was, as has been said, an enthusiast, also a genius — that is, a man endowed with a great capacity for taking pains. " I want your opinion," he said, during perhaps the sixth turn down the hot-house.

" By that I intend to be guided. Do you think this wonderful ' blue ' orchid exists ? " Ludwig Hertz stopped suddenly. " Vhy nodt ? " he said, " Nodings ish too marfellous. I have seen so many marfels dat I gan beliefe anydings. Und de man has seen idt ! " " Then you think his tale worthy of credence ? " Vhy nodt ! He couldt nodt — nodt — vhat ish de vordt ? " " Invent the story ? " " Ja! He ish nodt learnedt. He knows nodings of flowers — nodings of idts value. He hafe no motife to lie." " True. Bounce is an indefatigable yarn-spinner, like most old salts, but this seems rather out of his line. Now, taking for granted that it exists, will you go to Borneo and find it P " " I vill go und look for idt, Misder Rider. Vhere ish de man ? " " Wandering about the premises, somewhere. I told him to look around and amuse himself.

We will seek him." They left the house, and entered another devoted to Phalaenopsis. From baskets and blocks of teak-wood overhead the roots hung down like tangles of riband — green, grey, and mottled. The flowering season was past, but here and there some belated plant let fall a wreath of pearly blossom, the lip veined with purple and gold, or snow-white touched with yellow. The man was not there, and they went on without remark. But Hertz glanced to and fro incessantly, with a watchful eye that noted every object as he passed ; the civilised man soon learns that vigilance from the savage, or his wanderings in a Tropic forest would speedily be cut short. Suddenly he paused in deep excitement, pointing with his finger. " Ach ! " he cried. " You hafe idt— you hafe idt ! Ach ! I am robbed !

" His hand quivered with agitation to the degree that Rider could not have identified the object by that means. But he guessed it. " My new Phalaenopsis ? You are acquainted with it?" He looked for the pole by which distant baskets were lifted down ; but Hertz extended a prodigious length of arm, with a hook at the end, and secured it. " Agquainted mit idt!" he growled. "Idt's mine! Ach ! vhat a beaudty ; some shkellum has robbed me ! Tell me his name ! " Mr. Rider was not alarmed or shocked by this imputa tion of theft, understanding by experience that the Collector spake figuratively. Hertz had discovered or heard of the new Phalaenopsis, but a rival had been before him in bringing it home. " Vhat dey gall de shkellum, sir ? " he went on. But Rider put the question by. " That's the only specimen in Europe," he said.

" Handsome, aren't they — those dark green leaves marbled with white and grey ? I'm told the flower is better than a match for them." " Idt's heafenly ! mause und vhite und yellow spodted mit red, t'ree inch agross ; t'ree hoondred of dem, mit a shpike a yard long! I'm a rooined man! I kept de segret of dat Phalaenopsis* Misder Rider, for a great * Phal. Sehilleriana. coup, und now idt's boorst ! Budt tell me how you got idt ? " " Just in the way of business, my friend," Rider laughed, restoring the basket to its place. " I used no magic. As for great coups, get this blue orchid in Borneo, and that will console you." In the Vanda house they found their man, standing with his back against a column, rolling a quid of tobacco round his mouth in silent awe. A short, muscular, bow-legged tar, scraggy-bearded and hairy-chested, with twinkling, deep-set eyes, and a gash in lieu of mouth.

A comical-looking, self-assertive gentleman was Mr. Robert Bounce of the Merchant Service. He had visited many strange lands, and seen many strange sights, but Ralph Rider's orchids had rather knocked the assertive ness out of him. Just now he was meek as a shorn lamb. The mood, however, was not lasting. Bounce had served a number of years as ordinary sea man on board the Mary Anne, a vessel hailing from Singapore, trading in the China seas and about the Malay Archipelago, wherever a cargo might be disposed of or obtained. He had returned home to get rid of his earn ings in the customary foolish fashion, which he had succeeded in doing. The little town of Draythorpe, which could boast of orchids, as fine, perhaps, as any in Europe — Ralph Rider's — was Bounce's birthplace, where, having nothing better to do, the old salt had passed his time in the congenial occupations of yarn-spinning, sucking at a short, very black clay pipe, or chewing twist tobacco.

One of his yarns had been overheard by a gardener in Mr. Rider's employ. The man at once informed his master of its purport. The Orchid Importer himself interviewed Bounce, digested his strange communication, and called in Ludwig Hertz. The Collector having arrived, Bounce had again been sent for, and here he stood! " Well, if this don't beat all as ever I see ! " he cried, as the Importer and the Collector entered the "house." " Regular knocks the wind out o' me sails, that it do ; an' I've seen some purty things in me time — wonderful things too. Flowers like great quart jugs, a'most all the colours o' the rainbow, full o' liquor as the monkeys drinks, so they say, an' flowers as the very smell' 11 knock you over like a cannon ball ! Bnt, bless you, they was only here an' theer; these be like a shoal o' herrings !

" " You mean a cloud of butterflies, Bounce. Herrings ? There's nothing fishy about my orchids, I trust, though the blue one you say you have seen may be a ' whale.' But let us get to business. I want you to tell this gen tleman the yarn you spun to me. You may leave out the fighting and get to the flower as quickly as you can. Bounce shifted his quid of tobacco from the right cheek to the left, where it bulged out the size of a walnut, folded his arms, and spake thus : " Right you are, Mr. Rider, I'll get under way at once. I was aboard the Mary Anne, bound from Manilla to Singapore with a mixed cargo o' " " Never mind the cargo," Mr. Rider interrupted. The old salt removed the quid from the left cheek to the right, and began again : " I was aboard the Mary Anne, bound from Man " " My good fellow, never mind that," Mr. Rider once more interrupted.

" Forget the pirates, and begin at Sarawak. There, I'll tell it. The Mary Anne got too near the coast of Borneo. You were attacked by pirates, rescued by a British cruiser before the scamps had time to kris you. You went up the Sarawak River to Kuching, and got the holes the pirates had knocked in your hull plastered up, or mended somehow. Whilst there, you and a few others travelled into the interior. You saw a great many strange sights too numerous to mention, and mostly not at all to the point. Amongst them a certain blue flower growing on a very big tree. There's the story it would have taken you an hour to tell. Is it correct ? " Once more Bounce moved his quid. This time his eyes twinkled. " Well — I reck'n it are ; an' I reck'n as you ought to know as well as me. From the way you spins the yarn, sir, it strikes me as you must ha' been theer."

" I hadn't that pleasure. I wish I had. But fire away ! Tell the story after your own fashion." For the fourth time the sailor shifted his quid. For the third he commenced the yarn of the Mary Anne. " I was aboard the Mary Anne, bound from Manilla to Singapore, with " " An obstinate old donkey among the crew ! " inter jected the Importer, angrily. " Haven't I already taken you and your Mary Anne to Sarawak, and you I don't know how far into the interior? Can't you pick up the loose end of your yarn there ? " " Ay, I reck'n I can, Mr. Rider," rejoined the old fellow, perhaps fearful of losing the expected reward ; he knew the Importer was not a man to be trifled with. " Well — me an' Jim Green, the bo's'un, an' Tom Reynolds, the second mate, we gets hail-fellow-well-met with some o' Rajah Brooke's Malays, an' goes up country to a place as was familiar to me, seeing as they called it Bow.

It were Bow, that's what it was, an' I 'membered it 'cause theer's a place o' the same name not far from London Docks. Well — I was a-looking around somewheer about theer — I can't say for certain to ten miles or theerabouts just wheer it was — when I sees the splendidest thing in flowers as ever I set eyes on " " There at last ! " Mr. Rider exclaimed. " It were up a tree — high up — a reg'lar mass o' greenery, an' garlands o' blue flowers a-hangin' down all round it ! I never seed nothing like it — never ! I've seen nothing like it here, though what you've got's enough to take a man's breath away." Hertz showed great excitement. The iron hook shook. He shifted his position, nervously moving, but did not speak, though he watched the sailor narrowly, as if to assure himself that the man spake the truth.

" Can you describe the flowers ? " Mr. Rider asked, forcing indifference, though he also was excited by Bounce's enthusiasm, so unusual in an ignorant sailor, and which could not be other than genuine. Bounce scratched his head. He may have had the blossoms in his eye. There, however, neither Mr. Rider nor Mr. Hertz could see them. " Dunno as I can, sir. They was like — like a cloud o' them butterflies you spoke about, all blue, an' all tied together with string, an' a-tumblin' down head-fore most." Mr. Rider turned to the Collector, laughing, " Have you any idea what it is ? " " Nein, nein ! vait till I see ; und, mit luck I vill see. Den I vill tell you. I am satisfied — I hafe no doubt adt all. Bounce has seen idt — dat ish sure ! Vhy nodt I ? " " Suppose we take him round ? He may be able to point out something similar."

" Goodt ! " Mr. Rider led the way down the Vanda "house," halting before a mass of broad, leathery leaves nearly two feet long, from which drooped a dozen spikes, each bearing from ten to fifteen flowers — golden yellow, blotched with cinnamon-brown.* " Was it anything like this ? " he asked. The sailor went through the customary preliminary to speech, shifted his quid, and replied : "Well— it were, an' it weren't, you see. The leaves V. gig ant ea. were summat like, I reck'n ; but the flowers — well — they was blue ; as blue as — as the bottles you sees in the chemist's winders." " Another charming comparison ! " laughed Mr. Rider. " Bounce, my good fellow, do stick to the butterflies." " Budt de shape — de shape ? " interjected Hertz. The sailor scratched his head again. " Well, the shape were summat like, that's certain," he said, very slowly, as if anxious not to commit himself.

" Theer's a sort o' family look about most of 'em, now I comes to think of it ; but you see, Mr. Rider, not havin' a telescope, an' not havin' wings, I couldn't look at the blue un that particular." " Look at that ! " cried the Importer, pointing to another Vanda,* a mass of long-leaved stems and flowers eight feet high ; the blossoms garlands of yellow, streaked and spotted with crimson-purple. " De Pride of Shava ! " murmured the Collector, ecsta tically. Bounce shook his head. He was getting muddled. " The flowers be summat like," he said, " the leaves weren't half as high." The Importer turned to the Collector. " I can't carry it any further. We mustn't expect a sailor to remember. If it were a vessel's rig, now, it would be different. It may be a Vanda ; again, it may not. If we can get it here we shall be able to classify it."

" Dere ish a blue Vanda in Burmah," Hertz rejoined. " I hafe nodt seen idt, budt I know," he added. "Ah, yes, Vanda cærulescens ; discovered in '37." " Ja ! budt nodt on a tree." " You are right ; and now let us proceed. Bounce, will you accompany Mr. Hertz to Borneo, and guide him to the spot where you saw this wonderful flower ? " V. tuavis. The old salt's eyes twinkled with satisfaction. He wanted a ship badly, but had not expected Mr. Rider's proposition. The horizon of his expectation had been a crown piece, or at most a sovereign. " Ay, ay, sir ! " he cried, " I'll lead wheerever he likes to follow." The Collector smiled. Well he might. Mr. Rider laughed outright. " I fancy you'll be the follower, Bounce," he said. " I mean you will obey Mr. Hertz's orders, of course. When will you be ready to start ?

" The answer required a little deliberation. The sailor could be ready at half an hour's notice, and would have been, if necessary. But eagerness, he fancied, would be rather bad policy. Besides, he was constitutionally averse to it, being a slow-going fellow. Before the reply was forthcoming, the small parliament of three had increased to five. Two young men joined the group, shaking hands with Mr. Hertz, and greeting Mr. Rider in a manner that evidenced their relationship. " Well, dad, and what's afloat now ? " asked the taller of the two, a bright-faced, stalwart youth of nineteen. " An expedition to some unknown region, you may be pretty sure," said his companion. " We know what to expect when Mr. Hertz is called in." " Next Monday, if so be that'll suit," suddenly exclaimed the sailor, waking up.

" Always perwidin' as theer's a ship," he added. " Very good, Bounce," said Mr. Rider. " We shan't want you to set out quite so soon. I'll let you know the date of sailing, be sure. When we have arranged the pay, and other necessary matters, you'll take your orders from Mr. Hertz, and suit yourself to his convenience. " Where is Mr. Hertz going, dad ? " asked the youth who had first spoken, with much interest. "To Borneo." " You promised that I should go with the next expedi tion to the East." "And you promised me, too," added his companion, Mr. Rider's youngest son. " My boys, the danger will be too great, I'm afraid. I certainly promised you, Jack, but I hadn't Borneo in my mind ; though perhaps there isn't much difference. One jungle is much like another. As for you, Harry, I'm pretty sure your mother will refuse to hear of it.

She knows something of the risk a collector runs." " Danger ! Risk ! " echoed Jack, the elder of the brothers, rather scornfully. " Why, Mr. Hertz has been pretty nearly all over the world, and he doesn't look a penny the worse for it ! A man may lose an arm by machinery anywhere. I don't believe there is any danger at all. I appeal to Mr. Hertz." Mr. Rider laughed. He knew what the Collector would say. Ludwig Hertz curled his flaxen moustache and smiled' The time had been when he also had scouted the idea of danger. He was wiser now. " You appeal to me, eh, Yack ? Veil — I vill decide de question. De dangers are — deaf by fever, by drowning, by natifes, by nodings to eat. You may be shtung almost to deaf mit andts und shcorpions und centipedes. You may be poisoned mit shnakes und torn mit vildt beasts.