‘No,’ said Wang Liang. ‘If, just suppose, if any search party were to find them, they could implicate him in his disappearance. The clothes must be burnt. That is why I insisted on leaving his watch on his wrist.’
Next morning, farewells made, the three men went to the boat point. There they saw the other boat and the three Temiar lurking nearby. ‘Talk to them, Jason,’ said the Bear’s son. ‘Tell them if they came in the boat to go back in it,’ before asking the two boat men if they knew where they had come from.
‘We picked them up from Kantan’s ladang.’
Jason called out, in Temiar, ‘if you want to go back to Kantan’s ladang, your ladang, get in the boat and go back. If you don’t want to, find your own way back.’
They looked at him, saying nothing. They knew who he was because, some years back, he and his Gurkhas had spent a few days on the ladang, talking with Kantan. When? One day in the past was the nearest any of the three could remember.
Jason, Wang Liang and Chakrabahadur got into their boat. Wang Liang called out to the other boat’s two crew, ‘if these three want to go back, take them. The other passenger has decided to stay around here a little longer so don’t worry about him. Give these three a quarter on an hour to make up their minds, then, with or without them, go back to Grik.’ And, as an added afterthought, ‘have you been paid?’ he asked.
From the grins on their faces he knew the answer without them replying.
As they boated downriver they cleaned their pistols. ‘If you can’t manage to get your properly cleaned,’ said Wang Liang, ‘I’ll get the station armourer to buff it up for you.’
Silence reigned for a while than Jason said, ‘Chakré, you were marvellous. You saved my life and so averted a diplomatic crisis that would have done none of us any good. Thank you, thank you,’ and he leant over and clasped the Gurkha’s hand.
‘Saheb, it comes with the job,’ was the smiling reply.
‘I’d love to put you in for some sort of award but sadly that’s impossible.’
‘I know, Saheb, in its way it was payback for all the time you have spent looking after us.’
They smiled at each other and let the subject drop.
Before Jason and Chakré continued on their leave from Grik Wang Liang asked for a report to be sent to Mr Too. ‘You only need say what Kerinching told you. That the recommendations you made after your previous time with them have been carried out so well that they are all happy. There is neither sniff nor smell of any guerrilla activity nor has there been since you left them, whenever it was. For my report I will merely say that from what I saw what you told me of your talks in Temiar with Kerinching bear this out.’
The report made Mr Too happy. That Rance man did a good job and they were glad to see him. My idea of Operation Blowpipe was the most calm and one-sided affair that has been my luck to instigate. I need not have been so concerned about international reaction, need I?
See Operation Red Tidings. ↵
See Operation Blind Spot. ↵
List of Characters
Met with and spoken to by the author personally:
Imbi, Sumatran guide
Ismail Mubarak, (‘Moby’), Head of Special Branch, Seremban
Kantan, Temiar headman
Kerinching, Temiar headman
Mandeh, Sumatran guide
Senagit, Temiar hunter
Templer, General Sir Gerald, High Commissioner-cum-Director of Operations, Malaya
Theopulos, John, manager Bhutan Estate
Those searched for on operations by the author:
Ah Soo Chye, guerrilla leader in north Malaya
‘Blood Sucker’, nickname of guerrilla
†Chien Tiang, chief confidant of Chin Peng (q.v.) and propaganda expert
†Chin Peng, alias of Ong Boon Hwa, Secretary General of the Malayan Communist Party
‘Collector’, nickname of guerrilla, sometimes known as ‘Wang’
‘Killer’, nickname of guerrilla
†Lee An Tung, Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Malayan Communist Party
Lee Song, Communist politician and guerrilla
Lo See, guerrilla leader in north Malaya
*Tan Fook Loong, Commander 2 Regiment, Malayan Races Liberation Army, (‘Ten Foot Long’,
British nickname)
Tek Miu, guerrilla leader in north Malaya
