absorbing topic could not hold the attention of their audience for long. Before Pôtek and Kassim had well finished the enumeration of the parts of heavy artillery, the hundreds of elephants and the thou- sands of the followers, with which they credited the adventurous but slender bands of ragamuffins who followed the fortunes of Che' Wan Âhmad, the master of the house broke into their talk with words on a subject which just then had a more immediate interest than any other for the people of the Těmbĕling Valley. Thus the conversation slipped back into the rut in which the talk of the countryside had run, with only casual interruptions, for many weeks.
"He of the Hairy Face[1] is with us once more," Che' Sĕman suddenly announced; and when his words had caused a dead silence to fall upon his hearers, and had even stilled the chatter of the women and children near the fireplace, he continued:
"At the hour when the cicada becomes noisy,[2] I met Imâm Sîdik of Gĕmûroh, and bade him stay to eat rice, but he would not, saying that He of the Hairy Face had made his kill at Lâbu yesternight, and that it was expedient for all men to be within
- ↑ Si-Pudong—He of the Hairy Face—is one of the names used by jungle-bred Malays to describe a tiger. They will not use the beast's ordinary name, lest the sound of it should reach his ears, and cause him to come to the speaker.
- ↑ When the cicada becomes noisy—sunset. The Malays use many such phrases to indicate the time of day, e.g.: When the fowls jump off their perches, about 5:30 A.M.; Before the flies are on the wing, about 6 A.M.; When the heat breaks forth, about 7 A.M.; When the sun is halfway up, about 9 A.M.; When the plough is idle, from 9:30 to about 11 A.M.; When the shadows are circular, noon; When the day changes, viz., from morning to afternoon, about 1 P.M.; When the buffaloes go down to water, an hour before sunset, i.e. about 5 P.M.; When the fowls begin to doze, the beginning of night; When the children are fast asleep, about 9 P.M.
