THE STORY OF MAT ARIS
Half an hour later Mat Aris rose up softly and with a kris stabbed Sâhit in the throat. Thewretched man staggered to his feet, fell and tried to struggle up again when Mat Aris shouted to the Sakai to strike him or he would kill him also.Pah Patin obeyed, and hit the wounded man on thehead with a stick. "Then," said Pah Patin when at last he told the story, "there was a little life in him, but he never moved after I struck him."
The woman rushed out of the hut, but Mat Aris followed her and brought her back to the mat by the body of the murdered man, and there they slept together, the Sakai returning to his place on the other side of the fire. The night was young then. Before daylight Pah Patin left Mat Aris and Salamah still sleeping by the corpse, and by order of Mat Aris fetched two more Sakais, and these three buried Sâhit by the bank of the river in the presence of Mat Aris and the woman.
Years afterwards, when the details were known, an attempt was made to find the body, but it failed; decomposition in this climate is rapid, even bones disappear, and the river had many times flooded its banks, trees had gone and others grown, the landmarks were no longer the same, and possibly the exact site of the grave was missed.
63
