Evening Star Newspaper, October 4, 1931, Page 82

BY SAMUEL SCOVILLE, JR. OT since the days when Solomon’s navy sailed to Tarshish and brought back gold and silver and ivory and apes and peacocks has - the Malay Peninsula changed. Still the swift, silent little men of the deep forest snare great jeweled peacocks and trap the langurs of the high treetops with hollow* gourds; still the seladang, the tiger, the rhinoceros, and the python contend for the mastery of the jungle, and still the Semarang, the Little People, rule them all by virtue of that spark of the eternal flame which makes man the lord of the beast. There in the jungle one night, when the white moonlight filtered through the tree tops like melting snow, Teloa was born. Mala, her mother, was & woman of the Semarang, and she named her daughter after that rose-and- gold orchid, Teloa, Star of the Forest. Fourteen wonderful years the girl lived in the jungle with her tribe, wild and free as the sambhur whose belling aroused her at dawn. Her days were full of little, happy adventures. _ Sometimes it was the finding of a crimson _hibiscus flower which she thrust into the great coil of blue-black hair which came down low over her forehead or wore in the sarong of plaited bark which covered a skin like pale- gold satin. Other days she hunted the jungle for lansat, that white fruit of the deep woods, and mangosteens and custard apples, or caught sluggish, fruit-eating fish, out of still pools, and snared mouse deer for pets. Always, too, there was Nion, the son of the chief of her little band. It was he who taught her to walk up the tallest trees, leaning against & twist of liana about her waist, and to imitate the call of the rain birds, whose notes fall from the treetops like drops ef molten silver. Together they caught bird- wing butterflies with velvet-black and emer- ald wings, and minovets like flames of fire in the forest, and trogons with blue backs and crimson breasts. HEN came the raid of the Pehang Malays, ‘'who had their village at the edge of the jungle. They owed allegiance to the Sul- tan of Parak and every year had to deliver to him as tribute either two slaves or two ele- phant tusks. As it was safer to hunt men than elephants, slavers annually invaded the jungle of the Semarang. It all happened at dawn. One moment the forest 'was velvet-black, starred with the white blossoms of the moonflowers, while the vines hung in dim green webs against the shadows of the trees. Then, like the opening of the door of some vast furnace, the risen sun flamed through the darkness, and the silence was shattered by a thousand voices of bird and beast. Near where the Semarang slept by their banked fires, with only the smoke for a coverlet, sounded the yelling, ringing challenge of an argus pheasant. At once it was answered from all three sides of the camping place. The notes had hardly died away before the old leader of the band leaped to his feet like a cat, as his trained ears caught something unusual in the call. “Up, up, brothers!” he hissed. “The hunters of men be upon us!” Even as he spoke, every one of the little com- pany was on his feet, with the swift silence of startled animals, just as the fierce sorak, that war cry of the Malays, sounded, and from all sldes the raiders rushed upon them. Like a covey of quail the forest-folk scattered. Some dived into the thickets; others went up the dangling lianas hand over hand. None stayed safety in the densest part of a thorn thicket, an arm like a steel band wound about her waist, and a second later a rope was twisted tight around her wrists. Nion sprang at the man, but another slaver slashed at him with a barong, that deadly Malay knife. A swing- ing Mana broke the force of the blow; yet the until she found herself Ahmad, one of the elders where she was to be kept un for the tribute. There, al she was watched every moment, day and spent most of her time on a tin giis peacock stepped out into a clearing ahead of him, its breast a blaze of emerald and sap- phire. Ahmad crouched back of a bush, while the regal bird spread its tail, and, with its crested head held high, moved slowly forward. A moment later Ahmed crept closer, fuot by foot, for the peacock’ is one of the prizes of the jungle and the range of his old blunderbuss was strictly limited. Then, even as he raised his clumsy weapon, he saw something which struck from his mind everything save an over- powering desire to be elsewhere. Between himself and the bird was suddenly THE SUNDAY STAR - w WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 4, 1931. Not an Ordinary Beast of the Jungle, This Man-Killer Which Terrified a Malay Village—The Slave Girl Who Won LibertyWith Her Daring Defiance. RS - QT— “Between himself and the bird was suddenly thrust from the underbrush the sinister head of a great white tiger.” 8 soon as he reached a bend in the trail Ahmad straightened up and ran -like the wind toward the village, where he spread the news that a white tiger was abroad. That eve- ning, as the men of the tribe gossiped beneath the great baobab tree which stood in the cen- ter of the market place, the talk was all of the strange beast which had tome to their jungle. Most of those present believed the tiger, like the werewolf of the North, was none other than one of those ghastly evil men who have the at that hour which the Malays have named \ “When-the-buffalo-go-down-to-drink,” which is about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, it sprang upon Baruga, the usurer, at the outskirts of the vil- lage, killed him with one terrible blow, and with his body in his jaws, rushed along the street, while the people scattered before him as if blown away by some great wind of fear. Three days passed and there was no sign of the white tiger. Then came the night of the full of the moon. That evening Ahmad and Igi sat long at table, served by the old man's three wives, while Teloa, as always, was above them, hidden in her tiny loft, UDDENLY from far out in the jungle there came a sound like a ghastly laugh with a hideous leer runmning through it. As it died away the men started to their feet. “The phoal,” whispered old Ahmad, and Igi nodded and looked to the priming of his long gun. Again came the ghoulish cry, this time much nearer. Somewhere in the jungle a jackal was giving the unearthly howl which it only makes when hunting with a tiger. For a third time it sounded from the darkness of the jungle, followed by absolute silence. Even the frogs seemed to have stopped their notes for a mo- ment. Then the stillness was shattered by perhaps the most dreadful sound on earth—the roar of » hunting tiger. It began close to the earth, - s‘And Never, Never Go—"7 BY CHARLES E. SCOTTON T long ago I read a poem concerning the writer’s desire to slide from this mortal coil while the moon was poised high at midnight. He did not fancy, he said, the idea of going at sunrise, nor sn the full-blown noonday, nor in the evening when shadows are long and sleepy birds sing. But he wanted to glide out with the tide, for that was the time, he felt, he must keep his age-long tryst with Great Presences. And the poem was as tinder to @ new train of thought. I started wondering about it all, and trying to select a time most suited to me—when I should close the Book of Life. And the only conclusion I was able to reach was that I did not want to go at \\ all—neither in the budding time of Spring, nor wn the glorious streich of Sum- mer; surely not when soft Autumn breezes blow, nor in the dazzling whiteness of a Winter day. I do mot want to go at sunrise, at noon or in the evening dusk. And at midnight, when the moon rides high as the tide goes ous, I wont to climg to the misty radiance of it all—and never go. s long-drawn-out “how-ow-own,” and rose and increased in volume until the whole jungle vibrated. As the last echo died away, there came screams of uncontrollable fear from the women; Teloa, of them all, made no sound. “Quiet, foolish ones,” hissed Ahmad. ‘Do ;: wish to bring the White One to our very r?” At his voice the wailing cries stopped in- stantly—but it was too late. Peering through one of the window.holes cut in the bamboo wall, Igi saw a white figure glide Nke a ghost toward the house and caught the gleam of ter- rible green-shadowed eyes showing like molten gold in the dark. Sudgdenly, not 50 yards from the cabin, came the deep moan which a tiger gives when he is sure of his kill. In the sound was the very essence of cold-blooded cruelty and withal a certain quality of triumph which made it doubly horrible. There was a moment of still~ ness, and then from the edge of the jungle came a grunting cough. “Stand fast, my brodther,” whispered old Ahmad; “now he charges.” Igi nodded, and, loosening the barong on his belt, drew back the clumsy hammer of his musket. As he did so, from without came the pad, pad of hurrying feet, and in a moment the light bamboo house shook and creaked under the weight of the great beast. Mis- judging his distance, the tiger had sprung short and for an instant clung to the edge of the sloping thatch with bent fore paws as he tried in vain to pull -himself up on the roof itself. A second later there was the thud of his body striking the ground within a couple of yards of the two men, ecrouched back of the thin bamboo wall. Snarling horribly, the tiger rose up on his hind legs and clawed at the, door, making deep grooves in the thick pinang planks. Before Ahmad could stop him, the younger hunter clapped his musket to his shoulder, and aiming hurriedly through one of the window- holes, pulled the trigger. The crashing report was followed instantly by a dreadful screech from without as the bullet cut through one of the great cat’s ears, the most sensitive part of » tiger's body. With a thunderous roar the enraged brute sprang again, landing this time on the very peak of the roof, and began to rip off great masses of the loose thatch. With a quick move- ment old Ahmad put out the smoking lamp and motioned to the sobbing women to take refuge in the farthest corner of the room, so as to clear a space for the fight to the death which he knew must now come. As the two men looked to their weapons and the women huddled together, the moonlight shone through the great gap in the roof, white and still, as If there was no such thing in the world as fear or death. Suddenly the opening in the roof was dark- ened by such a head of horror as few men in- deed have had to face. The eyes of the tiger glared down upon them like incandescent em. eralds, his terrible mouth snarled open, show- Ing his glittering white teeth and the hot red gullet beyond, while his grim face was wrinkled with a snarl of utter fury. While Igi was frantically trying to load his musket in the dark, Ahmad took careful aim and fired at the tiger’s head, shcuting the sorak as he did so. The handful of stones which the old man used for bullets failed to pierce the thick bones, and the great cat, maddened by the pain, thrust his head and burly shoulders clear through the roof. Grasping his spear, Igi jabbed up at him desperately, but the weapon was suddenly caught out of his hands by the clutch of a great paw and hurled up against the ceiling, to fall across the little loft where Teloa lay. Instinctively she gripped it with her slim, strong hands, as with a rending crash the great beast burst through the flimsy roof and leaped to the floor below. As he landed, Ahmad clubbed his gun and struck a tremendous blow at the beast’s head with its flashing eyes and snarling mouth, just as Igi slashed at him with his barong. Neither stroke went home. Springing back out of range of their blows, before either could recover his balance, the fierce brute was upon them. To the girl watching from above it seemed as though he gave each a soft pat with his great paw, yet both men went spinning back against the opposite wall, bruised and disabled. HROUGH the ripped-out roof the moon shone so brightly that every detail of the life-and-death struggle in the little room showed vividly to the watcher above. In a corner huddled the women, whimpering with terror. Against one wall Igi moved feebly, while Ahmad lay stunned near the door. The great head of the tiger seemed to mask his 10-foot body, while his long tail switched back and . forth and the giant muscles rippled up and down his sleek sides as he moved toward the men. For a moment he crouched before he sprang, as if choosing his victim. On that moment, that tiny tick of time, hung the lives of every - one there. As it was passing, the girl from . the jungle gripped the great spear mightily, and, leaning far out over the side of the little platform on which she lay, drove it with & sure eye and a steady hand clear through the great body crouched below her. The yard-long, double-edged point, razor-sharp and keen as & rapier, slipped through the white skin and tough muscles just back of the beast's left fore paw, and as the girl threw all her weight and strength upon the thrust, split the tiger's very heart. With a dreadful yelling the deadly brute sprang straight up into the air, and, turning over, fell back quivering in death, its open mouth not a foot from where Igi lay. As he slowly came to himself the first thing the young hunter saw was the gaping jaws of Continsed on Pourth Page