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but who were the strangers in the stern, and what was a Chinaman doing

perched there upon the bow?

The prahu was nearly opposite him before he recognized Professor Maxon and

von Horn as the white men of the little island. He wondered how much they

knew of his part in the raid upon their encampment. Bududreen had told him

much concerning the doctor, and as Muda Saffir recalled the fact that von Horn

was anxious to possess himself of both the treasure and the girl he guessed that

he would be safe in the man's hands so long as he could hold out promises of

turning one or the other over to him; and so, as he was tired of squatting upon

the uncomfortable bank and was very hungry, he arose and hailed the passing

prahu.

His men recognized his voice immediately and as they knew nothing of the

defection of any of their fellows, turned the boat's prow toward shore without

waiting for the command from von Horn. The latter, fearing treachery, sprang to

his feet with raised rifle, but when one of the paddlers explained that it was the

Rajah Muda Saffir who hailed them and that he was alone von Horn permitted

them to draw nearer the shore, though he continued to stand ready to thwart any

attempted treachery and warned both the professor and Sing to be on guard.

As the prahu's nose touched the bank Muda Saffir stepped aboard and with

many protestations of gratitude explained that he had fallen overboard from his

own prahu the night before and that evidently his followers thought him

drowned, since none of his boats had returned to search for him. Scarcely had

the Malay seated himself before von Horn began questioning him in the rajah's

native tongue, not a word of which was intelligible to Professor Maxon. Sing,

however, was as familiar with it as was von Horn.

Where are the girl and the treasure?" he asked.

What girl, Tuan Besar?" inquired the wily Malay innocently. "And what

treasure? The white man speaks in riddles."

"Come, come," cried von Horn impatiently. "Let us have no foolishness. You know

perfectly well what I mean--it will go far better with you if we work together as

friends. I want the girl--if she is unharmed--and I will divide the treasure with

you if you will help me to obtain them; otherwise you shall have no part of either.

What do you say? Shall we be friends or enemies?"

"The girl and the treasure were both stolen from me by a rascally panglima,

Ninaka," said Muda Saffir, seeing that it would be as well to simulate friendship

for the white man for the time being at least--there would always be an

The Monster Men