the Peace, who showed his devotion to duty by punctually striking the hours on a huge metal gong.
The night was far advanced, when suddenly he heard a child crying in the house of the Malay revenue clerk. Then there was the noise of footsteps and the voice of the man calling to his wife, but no answer. After a few minutes there was the sound of approaching feet, a shout from the Malay, followed by the man himself.
The constable called out, “What is the matter, Che Mat?”
Che Mat replied, “I was asleep, but awoke hearing the child crying for its mother. I could not see her anywhere, and she did not answer when I spoke. Then i got up and saw at once the door of the house was open, but she is nowhere to be seen. Have you heard anything of her?”
The constable had heard nothing, but there was evidently something uncanny about this disappearance, for, in a village such as this, where the houses are more in the water than on land, where the pathless mangrove is the background, and the waters of the river the foreground, there are few places left in which to look for any one or anything with any chance of finding them.
The man on guard roused his comrades, and, as
98
