It may only be a message to say why he has not come,
or it may be a matter of some importance. I will go to him at once."
Two or three minutes later he returned. "You are to bring him to
the captain's cabin. Here, Davis, pass the word forward that the
captain wants to see Soh Hay in his cabin."
Harry touched the native, who had been standing quietly by his
side, and signed him to accompany them, and with Dr. Horsley and
Dick went direct to the cabin.
"So your friend has sent a message at last, lad?" Captain Forest
said. "I am glad of that, for I own that I had doubts whether we
should hear any more of him."
"You come from the chief Hassan?" the captain, who had been working
at the Malay language, with the interpreter, since he had arrived
at the mouth of the river, asked in that tongue. The man's face
brightened.
"Yes, my lord," he said.
"Is he well?"
"The chief is quite well."
"I wish I knew enough to question him without Soh Hay's interference,
but I shall only make a mess of it, and, perhaps, get a wrong
idea altogether of his message. Now, Soh Hay," he broke off as the
interpreter entered, "you will ask this man the questions exactly
as I put them, and tell me his answer word for word. It may be of
importance.
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