‘Certainly I do.’
‘Well’ – still looking at him quizzically – ‘Hafsa and her family took what I was going to call your advice but which I find I must call the advice arising from some outside source and at the third attempt their people seized Abdul in bed with Ledward and Wray. The Europeans pleaded the Sultan’s safe-conduct and the Vizier let them go; but Abdul was hurried off and messengers were sent to the Sultan. Some of Abdul’s friends made a commotion, but the Vizier’s men and the remaining Dyak guard soon put them down, and now those who ran away are being searched for. That is why the houses are all shut up.’
‘I see. I see.’ A long pause. ‘How do you think it will end?’
‘I do not know. Abdul’s pretty face may save his skin: it may not. I just do not know.
By the way, I should have told you before: your Pondicherry clerk -‘
‘Lesueur?’
‘Lesueur. Was murdered. Pray tell Mr Fox to take great care. He is likely to be here in the morning, well before the Sultan and his train. He would be well advised to go aboard the ship; so might you. Assassins are ten a penny in Prabang, and poison is by no means rare.’
‘I might, too.’
‘I will find you a pair of pistols and send Latif and the watchman with you.’
The boat put off, the boat pulled back; Stephen, limp with fatigue, was hauled up the side.
Richardson led him to his cot, and before he sank into something not far removed from a coma he heard a voice say, ‘The knocking-shop is closed, and the Doctor’s come home to bed,’ followed by a cackle of good-natured laughter.
Eight bells in the morning watch pierced through the very deep fog of sleep and Stephen raised his head, aware of an urgency though not of its nature. Some moments later the pattern fell into shape and he called aloud for Ahmed. After the first reviving cup he said, ‘Ahmed, I must shave my face and put on my good black coat.’
At one bell in the forenoon watch he stepped on to the quarterdeck, smooth and decently dressed, stared at the washed, innocent sky, and said, ‘My dear Mr Fielding, good morning to you. Please may I have a boat to take me ashore, with a couple of Marines as a guard? I am going to see Mr Fox, and the town is somewhat disturbed.’
Fox had arrived an hour before; he was in a state of intense but contained excitement and his greeting, though friendly and even familiar, was utterly detached. ‘One of my informants has been murdered,’ said Stephen, ‘and as I dare say you know already, Ledward and Wray are still at large. There is the possibility not only of open murder but also of poison secretly administered: a most reliable source tells me that you should take very great care.’
‘Thank you for the warning. I did indeed know that they were at large: I had scarcely reached the house before a note came from Wray, offering to bear witness against Ledward in return for protection and removal to any other country or island whatsoever.
Here it is.’
‘He must think you bear Ledward very great ill-will,’ said Stephen, having looked at the note.
Fox grinned and said, ‘I hope, I hope to have him put to the same death as Abdul.
The only thing I am afraid of is the Sultan’s notion of honour. He gave them his safe-conduct, and he is so very touchy about these matters that even the Vizier dared not arrest them: though to be sure they may have been taken up secretly, in case the Sultan should change his mind
– they have not been seen in the French compound. Yet whether or no, I think we may say the treaty is in the bag, to use a low expression.’
‘Let us not say anything of the sort,’ said Stephen. ‘My very best source tells me that it is the toss of a coin whether Abdul does not turn the scale, with his pretty face and his gazelle-like eyes.’
‘Does he go so far? Does he indeed?’ cried Fox, disconcerted. He searched Stephen’s face. ‘I must go.’ He rang the bell and ordered a guard. ‘I have an appointment with the Vizier. The Sultan comes back late this afternoon: there is to be a full council-meeting and there wilt be a decision tonight. Your balcony at the – at your lodging in the town looks over the palace courtyards. May I call on you this evening? I have not heard a word about your journey to Kumai – you went, of course?’
‘I beg your pardon for appearing like this,’ said the envoy, who was wearing the Marine officer’s uniform and blue spectacles, ‘but I thought . . .’
‘A very sensible precaution, sir,’ said Stephen. ‘Nothing hides a man better than a red coat. Pray come in and sit on the balcony; there is a modest collation laid out. The sea-slugs are a speciality of the house; so alas is the luke-warm Macao wine, but we can always call for tea or coffee. And quite soon, shortly after sunset, you will see a blazing great star rise over there, by the Mosque of Omar. Jack Aubrey tells me it is Jupiter, and if he were here with his telescope he would show you the four little moons.’
‘I beg your pardon,’ said Stephen’s sleeping-partner, opening the door and looking at Fox with intense curiosity, ‘I forgot my drawers.’
‘Before coming here,’ said Stephen as they settled on the balcony, overlooking the busiest street, the open space in front of the Rasul mosque, and the wall and the outer courtyards of
the palace beyond, ‘I had like everybody else read about Malays running amuck, or amock, as I believe one should say, but never did I expect to see two of them doing so at once – my first sight of the phenomenon, at that. One came down this very street not an hour ago, cleaving his way in the midst of a frantic clamour, slashing right and left, a train of blood behind and a herd of people running away in front until he was brought down and killed by a Dyak with a spear. Then while the crowd was standing round the body, talking and laughing and pushing their krisses into it, another maniac came down that little side-street, screaming shrill and high, and they scattered again. He ran off out of sight right-handed, having wounded two men as he passed, and what happened to him I cannot tell; but five minutes later people were walking about, talking, buying and selling, and fanning themselves as though nothing had happened.’
‘It is a strangely cruel and bloody country at times,’ said Fox. ‘Or perhaps indifferent is the better word.’ They ate in silence, wandering among the array of dishes. The shadows lengthened. Fox was searching in a bowl of prawns when he raised his head and stood motionless. ‘That must be the Sultan arriving,’ he said.
The drums and trumpets grew louder, then suddenly louder by far as the procession turned the corner and filed in through the outer palace gate. More trumpets within and the sound of shouting wafted over on the seaward breeze so that it was almost at hand.
‘Before the light fades, I should like to show you the drawings I made of Kumai,’
said Stephen. ‘They are inept, they suffered much from the rain, particularly the outer leaves, but they may give you some notion of what I saw.’
‘Oh please do,’ cried Fox, his whole attitude changing. ‘I long to see what you have brought down.’
‘This is my attempt at the great figure which dominates the temple. The stone is a smooth light-grey fine-grained volcanic rock. The drawing gives no sense of its majestic serenity nor any of that feeling of far greater size than its actual twelve feet which is so strong when you stand before it. Nor can you easily see that the raised right hand has its palm facing outwards.’
‘Oh, I can make out the hand very well. A capital drawing, Maturin; I am so grateful to you. This is the Buddha in the abhaya mudra attitude, signifying Fear not, allis well. Oh, such an omen! As far as I know, no other has ever been recorded in these parts.’
‘Here are my paced-out plans; and this is what I call the narthex, where I slept.
These are the particular carvings of a sculptured frieze where the narthex roof joins the main body. The marks show where the beams have impinged upon the frieze, obscuring it in places: obviously the carvings are earlier than the roof.’
‘Oh yes,’ said Fox, studying the pages with great attention, ‘these are very early indeed. Perhaps earlier than anything I have ever seen in Malay country. Lord, what a discovery!’