New Beginnings by Chan Ling Yap

Author:Chan Ling Yap
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789814484886
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish International

NGAO WAS PREOCCUPIED during the entire journey to the river. He felt manipulated, a cog in the wheel with no control over anything. The morning’s handing over of the opium to the Raja still troubled him. He wanted no part in it yet he was involved anyway. He was unhappy that both Chow and Eng Kim, his present and future boss, had withheld information from him. They placed him in impossible positions and then expected him to comply. Ngao was uneasy. He was suspicious of what further plans they might have for him. Eng Kim had not told him that he had been in touch with Raja Abdullah.

The bullock cart carrying the six men moved slowly along the rough path of the riverbank. There was little chatter. Ngao was engrossed with his thoughts, while Hong and Lok maintained their customary silence. The other men also spoke little. In the growing heat of the day, they had nodded off. Their heads lolled with the motion of the cart. They were oblivious to the flies that hovered around their faces. They were making up for the hard days of travel from Johor to Selangor.

Ngao held on to the reins of the cart, his mind busy. He had to find some way to escape the clutches of Chow and perhaps even Eng Kim. They had not been bad to him; he just did not want to be involved with opium. No one seemed to be able to understand his concern. Opium was so widespread and so entrenched because the government was involved in it that they thought he was just being awkward. He felt he could not trust anyone to take him seriously, not even Eng Kim in whom his friend Cheng had had such faith. Perhaps, he was being unfair. His future boss had not put him to work yet and had still to tell him what he would be doing. Once again he wondered if he could ever be free? Most of his wages went to repaying his debts. After the months of hard work he had saved very little, nowhere near enough to buy his freedom.

What would Cheng say at times like this, he wondered. His friend’s advice to take one thing at a time came immediately to mind. I must not get ahead of myself. I will just have to finish this task of prospecting for tin and do well by Chow, thought Ngao. I must make sure that he does not begrudge my leaving his employ. I cannot afford to make an enemy of him. I must not give an impression that I am disloyal.

The bullock cart rolled forward along the track flanked on one side by the river and on the other by towering virgin jungle. At times, he had to alight and slash away the tall grasses and bushes. The men in the cart were dead to the world. The heat grew intense, and the sun’s rays reflected brightly from the running river. Finally, Ngao pulled on the reins and the cart came to a halt.

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