They came to the last row of huts, farthest from the road and in view of the smooth thick glassy water which seeped out of the swamp under their feet. Luke pointed farther down. ‘What are those huts over there?’ sharply.

‘Those? Oh, those are the huts beyond the wire.’

‘I can see that. They’re out of the fence … are they Malay huts? Even if they are they should be brought in …’

‘No, sir, they’re Chinese too. They just were not wired in. Seems there wasn’t enough wire.’

‘But that’s murder,’ shouted Luke, exasperated. ‘Why, Daley, the whole point of tearing these b—rs off their own bits of land and carrying them here and putting them within the wire fence is to protect them … to keep them under police protection … control if you want to be nasty. It’s not fair … the bandits can get all the food they want from these huts outside the wire …’

‘Yes, sir. But there isn’t much food round about here; the people tried to keep ducks and chickens, but there wasn’t room. There isn’t room for pigs. They were told to go fishing in the river … there are about fifty families …’

‘But they can still be blackmailed, Daley … they can be made to buy food from the shops and give it to the bandits … why, it’s …’

‘Excuse me,’ said Che Ahmad, interrupting Luke’s exasperation. ‘I will go up to the police post now and talk to Inspector Abdullah and perhaps find out a little about all this.’

‘Do,’ said Luke. ‘Now, Daley,’ he added grimly, as soon as Che Ahmad had turned his back, ‘I expect there’s a lot more dirt. You’d better tell me all. I’d better know the worst.’

*  *  *

‘Tolong, Towkay, help us. The white man put us in the swamp.’

‘What can I do about it? You displeased the white man.’

‘Please, Towkay, is there no way? It takes me four days to put up a hut again, and during this time I will earn no money tapping rubber … Why is he doing it? Why?’

‘To punish you. You displeased him. He who cannot bend is broken.’

It usually cost them fifty or a hundred dollars, depending on their means, for a better hut. They owed the money, paying ten dollars monthly, with thirty per cent interest per month added on … or thirteen dollars a month – to Ah Kim, the contractor, the ‘government’ man.

Ah Kim ran a labour force of Tamils, because they were cheap. But now he found it more convenient to get help from the villagers themselves.

‘Old Ah San, you will clear for me this patch.’

‘But I have to go tapping.’

‘When you come back from tapping. You have plenty of time in the afternoon.’

Ah San owed money, and did not want to go in the swamp.