its dubious curl. “Ah Sang, you think this plan can work?”
“Yeoh Thean Tee gave a daughter to the Pure Moon,” said Tet Sang. “He will know how to value the deity’s relics, and how to respect one of her votaries. But whether he’ll forgive the debt…” He shrugged. “Religion is one thing, money is another.”
“More to the point, brother,” said Guet Imm, “do you have any other options?”
Fung Cheung met Tet Sang’s eyes.
Though they had not discussed it, the obvious course of action was to disband the group, split up and go into hiding. But this was a real choice for only some of the group. You didn’t become a travelling contractor if you had anywhere better to go. Most of the brothers were not good at living in ordinary society. If Fung Cheung told them to go off and look after themselves, in all likelihood they would fail.
Everyone knew this. It made the men nervous and snappish, given to sudden outbreaks of bad temper. There had been no violence yet—Fung Cheung still had a hold on his men. They trusted him, but they would endure for only so long.
“It would be a gamble,” said Fung Cheung finally, and Tet Sang knew they were going to try Guet Imm’s plan.
It had been a gruelling journey getting to the capital of Kempas, where Yeoh Thean Tee had his main residence. They had stuck to travelling through the jungle and managed thereby to elude the mata. But the day before they arrived at Kempas, they had just barely avoided an encounter with a regiment of bandits. The group was setting up camp for the night when Rimau, who had gone hunting, came back empty-handed and told Fung Cheung they had to move on.
“There’s a party of bandits washing at the river,” said Rimau. “They have a camp here. I could smell smoke from their fires. Lucky thing they didn’t see me!”
He was pale. A handful of Malayu had joined the fight for the Reformist cause, but the majority of bandits were Tang and distrusted the Malayu as sympathizers with the Protectorate, if not actual collaborators. The bandits had attacked Rimau’s own village on the suspicion that the villagers had been giving the mata intelligence on bandit hideouts.
But if Rimau had particular reason to be afraid, none of the group desired a meeting with the bandits. While in theory the Reformist struggle could not succeed without the support of the masses, by this time most bandits had contracted a jaundiced view of the people, regarding them as unpredictable sources of food, supplies and betrayal. This made bandits difficult to deal with.
It had not improved the men’s mood to be told they could not rest after a long, sweaty, leech-infested day hacking their way through inhospitable forest, because they must run from the bandits. They were in no temper to be told that their march to Kempas had ended in failure—there was no Yeoh Thean Tee to be appealed to.
Fung Cheung had swallowed his own disappointment by the time he made the announcement to the group. He put on a tolerable pretence of regarding Yeoh Thean Tee’s absence as a small matter. “He’s only gone for three weeks. We can make the deal when he comes back.”
“But in the meantime, how?” demanded Ah Yee. “We’re supposed to hang around in the bushes for three weeks?”
Fung Cheung gave him a look of surprise. “You thought what, we were going to check in to an inn?”
Rimau snorted, but none of the other men so much as smiled, even Ah Hin.
“This is too much, brother,” said Ah Yee. “My mosquito bites have mosquito bites. Suffering for a purpose I don’t mind, but who says Mr Yeoh will pay us even when he comes back?”
“I say,” said Fung Cheung, unruffled. “You worry too much, Ah Yee.” He reached into his robes and produced a bag, which jingled as he threw it at Ah Yee.
Ah Yee caught it, startled.
“These mosquito bites are making you bad-tempered,” said Fung Cheung. “You’d better go find a herbalist in town and buy some medicine. There’s a cream in a green pot that’s very good, my mother used to use. Get us a good dinner while you’re at it. Even if we’re hiding in the bushes like bandits, there’s no reason we should eat like them—living off stale rice and ideology.”
“Thank you, brother,” stammered Ah Yee. No one had been allowed into any town or village since Sungai Tombak. “Can Ah Wing come with