Of those who had sprung on board with him, none were visible save Dick Balderson, who was lying near him, with a cloth tightly bound round his shoulder.
As he rose into a sitting position a murmur of satisfaction broke from some Malays standing near.

It was some time before he could rally his senses.
"I suppose," he thought at last, "they are either keeping us for torture or as hostages.

The rajah may have given orders that any officers captured were to be spared and brought to him.

I don't know what his expectations are," he muttered to himself; "but if he expects to be reinstated as rajah, and perhaps compensated for the loss of his palace, he is likely to be mistaken; and in that case it will go mighty hard with us, for there is no shadow of doubt that he is a savage and cruel brute." He had now shaken off the numbness caused by the blow that he had received, and he managed to stagger to where Dick was lying, and knelt beside him and begged the Malays to bring water.

They had evidently received orders to do all they could to revive the two young officers, and one at once brought half a gourd full.