 the wise man; of long suffering on the thirsty sea in
leaky canoes; of those who died .... Many died. A few survived. The chief, the
woman, and another one who became great.
    There was no hint of incipient greatness in Babalatchi's unostentatious
arrival in Sambir. He came with Omar and Aïssa in a small prau loaded with green
cocoanuts, and claimed the ownership of both vessel and cargo. How it came to
pass that Babalatchi, fleeing for his life in a small canoe, managed to end his
hazardous journey in a vessel full of a valuable commodity, is one of those
secrets of the sea that baffle the most searching inquiry. In truth nobody
inquired much. There were rumours of a missing trading prau belonging to Menado,
but they were vague and remained mysterious. Babalatchi told a story which - it
must be said in justice to Patalolo's knowledge of the world - was not believed.
When the Rajah ventured to state his doubts, Babalatchi asked him in tones of
calm remonstrance whether he could reasonably suppose that two oldish men - who
had only one eye amongst them - and a young woman were likely to gain possession
of anything whatever by violence? Charity was a virtue recommended by the
Prophet. There were charitable people, and their hand was open to the deserving.
Patalolo wagged his aged head doubtingly, and Babalatchi withdrew with a shocked
mien and put himself forthwith under Lakamba's protection. The two men who
completed the prau's crew followed him into that magnate's campong. The blind
Omar, with Aïssa, remained under the care of the Rajah, and the Rajah
confiscated the cargo. The prau hauled up on the mud-bank, at the junction of
the two branches of the Pantai, rotted in the rain, warped in the sun, fell to
pieces and gradually vanished into the smoke of household fires of the
settlement. Only a forgotten plank and a rib or two, sticking neglected in the
shiny ooze for a long time, served to remind Babalatchi during many months that
he was a stranger in the land.
    Otherwise, he felt perfectly at home in Lakamba's establishment, where his
peculiar position and influence were quickly recognized and soon submitted to
even by the women. He had all a true vagabond's pliability to circumstances and
adaptiveness to momentary surroundings. In his readiness to learn from
experience that contempt for early principles so necessary to a true statesman,
he equalled the most successful politicians of any age; and he had enough
persuasiveness and firmness of purpose to acquire a complete mastery over
Lakamba's vacillating
