Among them circulated Cantonese amahs in black silk trousers and white tops, with smooth, oiled hair glossy as lacquer, carrying round trays of metal, advertising Tiger beer, upon which were placed glasses of whisky and brandy neat, while other girls in flowered tops and trousers reluctantly distributed soda water and ginger ale and ice cubes. And among them, like a lone ship purposeful among the vague and meandering waves of the ocean, preceded by the rumble of his own laughter, followed by two body-guards with crew cuts and the shoulders of gorillas, exuding benevolence, friendliness, and power, his greying hair strongly pushing upwards from his cranium, his round face with the massive rugged features, so deceptively cherubic in the photographs, his eyes black and young and alive, amused like a baby’s, talking, shaking hands, holding a glass of brandy and knocking it against everyone else’s, giving the impression of drinking by the tumblerful and scarcely moistening his lips, Quo Boon the banker, the rubber king, the millionaire, the company director, one of the men whose life, dedicated to create wealth, had created Malaya, Quo Boon went up and down, greeting his hundred guests.

‘What a dear, sweet, nice little chap,’ said Maxine Gerrard.

*  *  *

‘We must learn to crawl,’ said Sir Moksa, ‘before we can walk.’

The banquet unwound itself through its set and multitudinous courses: sauteed prawns, walnut chicken, cold duck’s liver, Chinese ham and abalone, shark’s fins soup, and then the main dishes, one after another. There were ten round tables, and at each ten guests: two women, and eight men.

Sir Moksa sat on my right. In the middle of our table lay on a silver dish the brandy-coloured roast sucking pig indispensable to a proper feast, its snout turned towards us, its tail stuck out at the other end. Maxine exclaimed: ‘Isn’t it sweet … poor little thing!’ The Malay gentleman politely sipped orange juice. He did not eat, all the food was contaminated with pork; but he was Quo Boon’s friend, and came to lend his presence, and had eaten at home before coming.