In any case, i was warmly welcomed by the Malays in Riau and was taken in by the family of a young man of my age by the name of Wan Darus. For three months i made the island my home. Accustomed with Malay culture and able to speak Malay fluently, i had no problems fitting in. This is a picture of us sitting down and having a meal.
Unfortunately, in the still of the night, Wan Darus and the rest of the men on the Island had to be called upon by the Sultan of Riau to fight against the imperial Dutch. Before he left, he entrusted me to keep an eye out for his young, expecting wife. "My brother, please take care of her and the baby, especially should anything happen to me while I am away. If i do, then pray that i die a hero."
And so he went away.
Weeks passed and the baby was delivered. She was lovely, beautiful like her mother.
Despite the fact that my feelings for this young girl was steadily increasing, i could not by any means break the trust of the man i had considered to be a brother. However, people soon began to take notice. And of course, there had to be the peeping womenfolk...
It seemed to me then that i was not the only one with intentions over her. One fine day, the Datuk Bendahara, the ruling chief of the village decided to "pay a visit" to her, adding on to her misery...
I returned to her house the same evening and in truly dramatic fashion, four men sprang out of nowhere, took hold of me and and dragged me to the beach. Very soon things got out of hand and i was made to pay for my "crime", but not before she was made to pay for her's.
I was facing certain death. In an unlikely moment of distraction, i freed myself from the guard and ran as fast as i could to the port and swam to safety on to a nearby island. From that day on, i learnt a valuable lesson, to always stay on step ahead of the devil...
