Fearful Symmetry
Naked Prey 6
Part 2 of 2
by George Gauthier
Author's Note: This is a tale of two young castaways on the island of Sumatra during the early eighteenth century. It is the sixth story in my 'Naked Prey' series for the Historical section of the Nifty Archive, each with different characters. The other stories in the series so far are 'Naked Prey' set in 19th century Africa, 'The Shawnee', set in colonial America, 'Terra Australis', set during the great age of exploration in the South Seas, 'Dangerous Game' set largely in the Caribbean in the mid-seventeenth century, and 'White Comanche' set in the American Southwest in the 1830s. The series is also listed under Gay/Beginnings.
The title is a reference to the poem 'The Tiger' by the English poet William Blake (1757Ð1827). Here are the last four lines.
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
This story contains graphic descriptions of the male human body, of consensual and non-consensual sexual activity between adult males, and of significant non-sexual violence.
If any of this would offend a reader, read no further. This is not intended for persons younger than an age where they may freely and legally select their reading matter in whatever jurisdiction applies.
It is entirely fictional, with no resemblance intended to any person living or dead, though the encounter with fire ants is semi-autobiographical. Otherwise, it is as historically and geographically accurate in its setting as I could make it, with only minor poetic license for the sake of the story.
It is offered for entertainment. If it manages to both intrigue and to provoke prurient interest, it will have succeeded in its aim. Writing this story has been the most fun I have had wearing clothes in a very long time. Well, since my last story.
Readers who like these stories might want to try my 'Daphne Boy' historical tales or my 'Jungle Boy' series of tales in a modern setting, posted in the Gay/Authoritarian section of the archive. Also, please try my futuristic 'Track and Field' stories in College and my 'Mer-Boy' stories in Gay/Beginnings. For links to my stories, look on the list of Prolific Authors on the Archive.
Comments and feedback welcome.
When Last We Left Our Hapless Heroes
Seventeen year old orphan Jan Dekker hired on in Batavia, Java as cabin boy aboard the Schooneveld, a trading ship owned by the Dutch United East India Company, Adrien de Sitter captain. Part-time lookout, servant, and catamite for the officers on board, little Jan is a pretty blond boy, short and slender with a wiry physique, overall tan, and green eyes. Kept perpetually nude and hairless, he undergoes the Crossing the Line ceremony of the outbound leg of his maiden voyage, and falls in love with the big first mate, a handsome red-haired twenty-one year old named Willem Luyken.
On the return leg of their voyage the ship weathers a cyclone thanks in part to the heroics of Willem and Jan in cutting away the wreckage of the mizzen mast before it can cause the ship to broach. Willem and Jan next help the captain repel native villagers turned opportunistic pirates trying to seize the ship at anchor off the Mentawai Islands west of Sumatra. At the southern end of the Mentawai Strait, the Schooneveld fights a classic sea battle against two pirate junks, getting away battered but safe. Unfortunately, Willem is dragged overboard by falling wreckage. Jan unhesitatingly dives into the sea to save his lover. Swimming to the western shore of Sumatra, they head inland, away from the pirates, intending to march overland along the eastern foothills of the mountainous spine of the island toward the friendly port of Palembang.
Chapter 4 Sumatra 1724
It proved surprisingly easy to get across the mountains. The Barisan mountains ('row of hills' in Malay) are a string of volcanoes rather than a continuous folded range. There were many low passes between the jungle shrouded volcanic peaks. The slopes the youths climbed to get away from the pirates were gentle and covered with rich soil derived from weathered volcanic deposits. They tried to avoid rocky areas. Rough volcanic rock could be hard on Jan's bare feet no matter how toughened with calluses they were. Just sitting down to rest was hazardous for his bare butt. At least the air was cooler at the higher elevations, and the boys were more likely to catch refreshing winds.
The real problem was finding food to fill their bellies and provide them with strength. For all its luxuriant growth a rain forest has very little that is edible by humans: some fruits, grubs and worms, bird eggs, and such, plus elusive game animals. Willem made snares for small game, twisting strips of cloth from the bottom of his shirt into cords. Set out at night the snares snagged small critters to provide them with meat, though they did have to abandon one snare to an unlucky skunk that stuck its head through a noose and died of strangulation. Neither of them wanted to get anywhere near the horrid smell. They certainly could not imagine eating its flesh.
As something of a native of the East Indies himself, and as a blond, Jan could cope better than Willem with biting and stinging insects. Insects are much likelier to plague those with darker hair, and Willem's was a fairly subdued shade of red, nearly auburn. Jan also located familiar plants whose juices would discourage insects from bothering them. The oils could be spread on the body at dusk or the plants themselves thrown onto the fire to create a cloud that repelled insects. Willem very much liked to spread the oils on Jan's back and rump. He knew how much the boy liked the feel of strong hands gliding over his smooth skin, massaging the muscles underneath.
These measures provided quite good protection against troublesome insects. As long as they stayed out of the flat lands to the east, mosquitos and other slow fliers were much less likely to plague them. Tropical peoples had long ago learned that often the best "repellent" is a fan or a gentle breeze because mosquitoes do not like moving air. Both youths took to using a big leaf to stir the air not only to get cool in the evening but to discourage mosquitos and such.
Sometimes they dug a small trench a few inches deep around their sleep site. The moving waters of a stream partly diverted into the trench created a moat around a sort of island that discouraged at least some creepy crawlies. Though once Jan did get bit by a centipede when he shifted in his sleep. Yelling in surprise and pain he brushed it off him with the back of his hand then lashed out with his kris, chopping the offending creature to bits, but the poison was already under the skin at his hip. Although not toxic enough to kill, the poison hurt rather a lot. Jan was lucky that the bite was on the boniest part of his hip. The toxin created a boil that swelled up but, confined by the bone just under the surface, burst immediately, thus letting much of the venom drain out. Had the creature bitten his fleshy buttock, the poison would have spread throughout the muscle and into the bloodstream. (Which is why in modern times folks get shots in the rump before traveling to the tropics.)
It was fortunate that their preventive measures against insects were generally successful. Comfort aside, insects are vectors of many debilitating or even deadly diseases, even if the role of insects in spreading disease was unknown at the time. It was a wonder neither lad came down with malaria or dengue fever.
Although unshod, Jan had gone barefoot all his life so the calluses on his feet were as good as a pair of moccasins. The long miles tired them out till they became conditioned to walking. Life at sea is fine for developing the muscles of the upper body but bad for the wind and for endurance. Still they were young lads in the prime of life and health. Willem was now twenty-two and Jan seventeen, so they had the resilience of youth. Most important of all, they had each other.
The moral support the two lovers gave each other was as important than their sexual relationship. Alone either might have given in to despair, but together they made a formidable pair. Jan's naturally sunny disposition bucked Willem up. In turn Willem's sound good sense gave Jan confidence in their chances of winning through. Two heads really are better than one, for no one has all the answers.
Jan was quick and nimble and by far the better climber. He was clever with his hands, making a sling with a strip of leather from Willem's belt. He used it to fling stones to bring down small game as he had done as a young boy. Willem contributed greater strength and his deadly weapons to their enterprise. He had fashioned spears for both of them and hardened their points in fire. Together the youths had surprised a young tapir, cornered, and killed it. Its tasty meat gave them strength and very much improved their morale. Sometimes Jan fashioned a fish spear from a light cane of bamboo and tried his luck in ponds and streams.
Not that their journey was a lark. There were many dangers in the jungle: poisonous snakes, venomous centipedes, and swarming ants. Poor Willem once brushed by a colony of fire ants. They swarmed over him by the dozen biting and stinging. A fire ant is doubly bad news. It first bites to get a grip then injects a venom with the stinger in its abdomen. Jan was some little distance off and looked up in surprise when he heard his friend yell out. Willem ran a short distance away from the ant nest, swatting at himself, yelping, tearing his clothes off, abruptly sitting down to pull his boots off too, then stamping on ants and jumping up and down in frustration all the while cursing in Dutch and fluent Malay.
It looked so comical that Jan burst out laughing. He was still giggling when, realizing what had happened, he chopped a big leaf free and used it to swipe the offending insects off his red-haired lover's by now naked body. Jan got stung and bit a few times too for his trouble, which did not keep Willem from snapping at the boy.
"You thought that was funny?" he asked with understandable asperity.
"I am sorry Will, but you should have seen yourself. I couldn't help laughing. Please forgive me."
Jan did make it up to Willem with a medicinal poultice he concocted from a plant mashed with a rock into a paste and applied to the skin. It provided some relief, but Willem was in considerable discomfort for days afterwards.
There were also large animals that might look at them as prey. Indeed little Jan especially was just the sort of naked prey that the Sumatran tiger or perhaps even a clouded leopard would like on the menu. With his tanned hide entirely in view, he looked like a sort of upright deer or antelope or maybe a hairless orangutan. The first time they saw a tiger from across a valley, Jan was very glad he was not alone. He would have felt very much like the beast's natural prey, small and naked as he was and armed with only a crude spear and his kris. It did not help that his light yellow hair stood out against the green of the jungle, helping any predator that hunted by sight.
A formidable weapon, the Javanese kris has a cranked or bent hilt which transfers more power to the blade for a stab than a straight hilt does. The bend also increases the pressure to the blade while slashing and cutting. Jan's did not have the sinuous blade typical of the kris. His blade was straight on top with single curve below from hilt to tip, with the broadest part in the middle of the blade. For a scabbard Jan used the bottom third of the scabbard for Willem's sword tied to his lower right leg with two lengths of vine. That way it would not slap about as he walked or ran or climbed, but would still be handy when he needed it.
Obviously even the formidable kris would not prevail against a tiger much less a rhino or an elephant. Rhinos can weigh more than a thousand pounds (500 kg), are bad tempered and have both horns and teeth. The jungle also harbored bears and packs of dholes or wild dogs.
Each night they looked for a defensible camp site. Yes they could climb trees but so could snakes and leopards and other creatures, and it is hard to fight while perched on the limb of a tree. On the ground at least you had your feet on terra firma and you could build a fire that would cook food, provide light, burn herbs to repel insects, and discourage predators. Sometimes they found a defensible slot among boulders, blocking the entrance with thorn bushes or the fire itself. The youths did not try to keep a watch, not with only the two of them. That would just exhaust them.
Their lovemaking was intense, driving by primeval needs in the face of danger as well as their strong sexual attraction for each other. Willem liked to let Jan straddle him while he was stretched out on his back. With Jan sitting atop his hips, they could both see each other's faces and firmly muscled bodies. Willem loved to run his fingers up and down the chevrons of Jan's ribs and to tweak his tiny red nipples before turning his attention to the boy's painfully hard erection. Or Jan could bend over so the two youths could kiss lingeringly as their passions built slowly to their exciting climax.
They both slept naked, usually spooned together, which had been the most comfortable way for them to share the narrow bunks on board their ship. Jan liked to dock his small body into the welcoming bay of Willem's large torso and limbs. Engulfed and comforted by Willem's masculine presence, Jan savored those last moments before sleep took them, feeling the strength in the arms that embraced him, rubbing his legs lazily against his lover's long lower limbs.
Sometimes in the half light before dawn he would awaken to feel the red-head's morning wood pressing against his rump, into his cleavage. He knew they both needed their sleep so he did not try to awaken his lover early. Instead he simply reached down and bent the tumescent cock till it slipped between his thighs, welcoming Will's manhood into the intercrural space that some overly fastidious males actually preferred for intercourse with a boy. Occasionally he dilated his hole and let Willem's hardness slip inside, giving him a pleasant surprise when he finally did wake up.
Willem had offered to cut his shirt up for a loincloth, but Jan elected to stay entirely nude. He was long past embarrassment at constant nudity and actually preferred it for the chance to put his trim body on display. It certainly fit in with the primeval setting of the deep jungle. Nor was he bothered overly much by insects. His coloring and plant extracts gave him enough protection against bugs and his deep tan all the protection he needed against the sun of the tropics.
The youths worried more about dangerous beasts than hostile natives. The area they traveled through had few settlements of any kind. In those days the island of Sumatra was sparsely settled. The flat plains east of the mountains were little good for crops. The region lacked easy access to seaborne commerce, essential for their economy. Hence the reluctance to settle the interior when there was better lands along the coasts Willem had chosen their route well to avoid potentially hostile villagers.
Keeping clean was not a problem what with numerous streams and pools and frequent rainfall. Jan did not hesitate to point out yet another advantage to being naked. The rain did not soak his clothing and make it chafe against his skin. The waters literally rolled off his back. He also couldn't get blisters from his boots.
More than once the primeval streak in Jan led him to suggest that the youths lie down on the ground, right in the pouring rain, and take a break to get cool and boost their morale. The cooling rains gave them welcome relief from the oppressive heat.
The island of Sumatra is bisected by the Equator, so every day was hot and humid. Even for a boy who had grown up in the tropics, the heat was stultifying especially given their exertions in hiking a dozen of so miles a day (20 km), the best they could manage on a good day in the terrain and with the need to hunt or gather food, make camp and cook. Willem suffered even more from the heat because he was bigger and fully clothed. He sweated a lot more than Jan did and not just from exertion. Jan could not explain it, but when he was relaxed in the shade and sitting still he hardly sweated at all in temperatures that blinded Willem with the sweat that got into his eyes.
Modern science eventually explained that persons born in the tropics metabolized brown fat at a slower rate than persons born in cooler climes regardless of ethnicity. The adaptation lasted a lifetime as long as it got started during the first two years of life. Otherwise it was impossible.
So Willem too was happy to strip off when they found a comfortable spot and let the rain wash over him. The rain drummed on their chests, the waters flowing down their sides and their bellies, dividing around the prow of their proud cocks, sluicing down their cleavages. The youths held hands and looked up at the clouds, blinking away the raindrops that fell onto their faces and plastered the hair to their heads. For that moment they were just two headstrong boys without the sense to come in out of the rain, and they loved it. It felt so sexy to be there under the rain. The way it washed so totally over them, touching them everywhere made them feel utterly naked.
They turned their faces upwards, opening themselves totally to nature's cleansing and cooling rains, reveling in life, in their sexuality, in their closeness, and in their gratitude at not being alone in that forsaken place. Sometimes one or the other reminisced about his boyhood or spoke hopefully of their future, once they returned to civilization.
"What is Holland like, Willem?" Jan asked.
"It very flat and low lying. A good part of the country is actually below sea level. Dikes keep the sea from flooding in. It is a pretty country but cold in winter. It snows often then, covering everything with a blanket of white. I loved playing in the snow as a lad." Willem sighed.
"What is snow?" Jan asked.
Willem was astonished then amused that he had to explain the concept of solid or frozen water to a very skeptical Jan who could hardly credit the notion of the snowball fights Willem remembered fondly much less ice skating on frozen ponds. Water you could walk upon? The look of disbelief on Jan's face was priceless. Of course, his ignorance was pardonable as there was no snow or ice in the East Indies -- not even on the tops of mountains.
Besides the rain breaks or baths in pools, their toilette was simple. Willem did not much care for facial hair and kept clean shaven using his well honed knife. Jan helped with the tough spots since they had no mirror. Jan had no beard at all, not even a fuzz but Willem did use his blade every ten days or so on Jan's armpits and his groin, to keep him smooth and bare. The boy hardly needed it that often. He was basically a naturally hairless boy. The only complication in their personal hygiene was that one youth was always on guard if the other had to answer a call of nature. It would be only too easy for a predator to sneak up on a man preoccupied as he was that way.
After two weeks, Willem decided to go about bare to the waist, except at dusk and dawn when the bugs were most active. He kept his shirt tied around his hips by the sleeves. Not only would he need it when the got to their goal, the cloth had proved useful in itself. He had a light tan already but no more than that. Aboard ship, officers wore uniforms to maintain the dignity of their station. Only naughty cabin boys pranced around in the altogether.
This journey bonded the two young men as nothing else could have. Even more than on the ship they were thrown into each other's company, only now exclusively. Some couples might have found excuses to squabble, especially given the primitive conditions and their occasionally empty bellies. Not these two lads who were compatible in every way: physically, sexually, intellectually, morally, and temperamentally. More than anything else, their joint struggle for survival and the implicit trust it engendered in them made them sure that they belonged together for the rest of their lives.
Chapter 5. Predators
"Why in the world would you want to kill a poor skunk, Jan?" Willem asked, perplexed. The blond boy had just felled one with a slung stone to the head.
"They are inoffensive creatures who won't bother you as long as they don't feel threatened." Willem added. "They give you plenty of warning too before they spray you with that horrid smell. So what is this all about?"
"Just something that may come in handy if we ever find ourselves tracked by a pack of wild dogs. One whiff of these mephitic vapors will put them off the scent for sure."
Jan used Willem's knife to carefully cut away the skunk's small anal glands. He used a thorn as a needle and threads from Willem's shirt to sew their openings firmly shut, then wrapped both in a leaf, handing the packet to the older man to put it into the leather pouch of his sword belt.
"No pockets" Jan explained with a smile as he whirled his nude body about, running his hands down his bare flanks.
"Harrumph" Willem returned, but he did take custody of the unusual weapon Jan had fashioned. He could see the sense of it, however apprehensive he might be about accidents. Jan's eyes twinkled as he added mischievously.
"If you see a tiger on your trail, don't bother squirting the stuff on the ground. Tigers don't hunt by scent as much as dholes do. Just upend one of the sacs and squeeze it all over yourself. Toss the other one to me so I can do the same."
"Aaah, right. Sure thing. No self-respecting tiger would come within a cable's length of that noxious smell."
Actually Willem was quite proud of how resourceful his young lover was proving to be. First the sling, then the fish spear, insect repellents, now this. Not to mention saving his life when he got dragged overboard during the battle with the pirates. No doubt that Jan was pulling his weight. He had a native intelligence that deserved better than the skimpy education he had had till then. When they got back to civilization, Willem resolved to offer the boy a full education in mathematics and seamanship and the natural sciences. He couldn't very well be a cabin boy and officers' catamite all his life.
They were two thirds the way to their goal when the youths found an unusual cave at the top of a low hill. A trickle of water flowed from a rain fed pond on the flat top of the hill through a crack in the roof just wide enough for Willem to squeeze through. It led down about five feet (1.5 m) to an old lava tube. One way was blocked but the other went about thirty feet (9 m) to the face of a low cliff. perhaps twenty-five feet high (8 m), over which the very small stream in the cave fell to the ground in a wispy waterfall. Lianas grew down its face allowing them three different ways to enter their new found shelter: squirming through the crack in the roof, rappelling down from the top or climbing up from the ground below. Best of all the cave was completely uninhabited except for some inoffensive spiders and a few toads.
Jan thought the nearby ponds and streams would yield fish for their larder. Game had been scarce the last week and they knew that they would soon have to leave the foothills and strike out across the plains to Palembang. So they decided to stay several days and exploit the area's fish and abundant wild fruits. The cave would make a good base of operations. It would shelter them from rain and wind and wild animals. The back door was an especially good feature for a cave shelter.
On their second day operating from the cave, Willem turned his ankle. It was a bad sprain not a break but he would have to stay off it for a week. Jan let his lover put his weight on him as he hobbled to the foot of the cliff. It was no problem for the experienced sailor to haul himself up by his arms to the opening in the cliff. Jan helped him get inside and made him confortable.
Since they couldn't go on for a while anyway, Jan cut grasses and bushes to make a comfortable bed for them. The cave itself provided fresh water, shelter, protection from animals, and a place to keep their larder away from scavengers. Fortunately the top of the hill was rocky and unattractive to the smaller critters that might have infiltrated from above.
So the lads saw Willem's injury and the resulting delay as a setback not a disaster. They even welcomed it as something of a break from their grueling routine, always on the march. It is not like they had a deadline. The two of them had been making good progress. Another week would make little difference.
So for the next few days Jan speared fish, collected wood for their fire, and gathered fruit and roots. Willem cooked, sharpened their blades with his whetstone, and kept watch from his perch at the entrance to their snug cave. Their duties took only a few hours a day so they had plenty of time to talk. Willem broached the idea to Jan of a real education. Jan agreed to that immediately and expressed his gratitude both verbally and physically. The time passed pleasantly enough, and they felt stronger and better rested than they had before.
On their fourth day of occupancy, as Jan approached the cliff face carrying a big fish he had speared, Willem spotted movement in the jungle behind him. With horror he realized that a Sumatran tiger was trailing the boy, stalking him.
Though Sumatran tigers are the smallest of the different subspecies of tiger, this cat was a large male near the upper limit for its kind at just under 300 pounds (134 kg). Its size made it easy to move through dense rain forests. The webbing between its toes makes Sumatran tigers very fast swimmers. They have been known to drive hoofed prey into the water, especially if the prey animal is a slow swimmer. The cats will take fish or fowl too if they can. Tigers are not fussy eaters.
Aghast, and dreading the worst, afraid to shout, Willem signaled Jan to look behind him. The boy stopped, turned slowly, and saw his danger. He froze in place, uncertain whether to run or fight, as his fear made his scrotum pull up close to the fork of his legs.
The dark eyes of the striped cat gleamed as they stared at the boy, standing there so still and small and vulnerable, naked prey, caught virtually defenseless, armed only with fishing spear and a kris. The two of them held still for what seemed like the longest time, a tableau vivant of beauty and terror.
Willem was afraid that any sudden movement on Jan's part would provoke the creature to pounce and to to rend and to tear. He was sick with the thought that the warm and welcoming body of his young lover might be transformed before his very eyes into just so much dead meat for the great carnivore to carry off into the jungle to devour. His heart went out to the brave boy who stood there strong and proud despite his fear. Barely seventeen, a boy, yes, but with the heart of a man.
Jan let the big fish slip to the ground. He wanted to run. Every fiber of his being told him to turn and sprint for the cave, but his rational faculty told him to back away slowly and to keep his eyes on the big predator. Tigers prefer to pounce from behind, or so he had always been told. Jan backed away, careful not to trip. Any sudden movement would set the big cat off.
The tiger padded forward confidently, but instead of attacking the boy, it stopped and snatched the big fish up in its jaws then bounded away. Meanwhile Jan lost no time swarming up a liana to where Willem awaited him.
The red-haired youth crushed the blond boy's small sweat slicked body to his breast. Hands roamed and touched everywhere as confirmation of the physical reality of his continued existence. The youths murmured reassurances, still fearful, knowing how easily the beast could have slain the boy but for the chance of having that fat fish with him to satisfy the tiger's hunger. Finally letting go of his lover, Willem tried to make light of the close call.
"Too bad you couldn't try out your famous tiger repellent." he remarked, indicating the package of amputated skunk glands in his pouch.
The boy too wanted to pass it off with a joke, so he gestured to his nude physique and said:
"No pockets! Remember?"
"Just the way I like you, Jan."
They dissolved in nervous laughter though the truth was they were both badly shaken and frightened. Their lovemaking that night was tender and lingering, an affirmation of life and love rather than simple sexual gratification. Jan slept in the circle of his lover's arms, reassuring Willem with the touch of his smooth limbs, his body heat, and his clean fresh smell of healthy boy. They woke up the next morning and looked out finding no sign of the tiger. From caution, Jan went out the back door to gather fruits and birds eggs, keeping the hill between him and the cliff-face entrance to the cave. He saw no sign of the tiger during his abbreviated expedition.
Alas, they got their hopes up too soon. The down side of feeding a cat, any cat, is that it encourages him to return for another handout. Now you can ignore the importuning of a house cat, but tigers can be rather insistent in such matters. The area around the cave was within the animal's normal range, so it started checking back every afternoon. The tiger had his eye now on the two tasty looking creatures up in the cave, slender and smooth versions of the hairy orangutan he rarely managed to find down out of the trees.
If only he could get at them. The smaller one was more the size of his normal prey: things like wild boar, mountjac, and tapir. Though disappointed daily, the big cat was successful in catching fish in the same pools that Jan had visited. So he hung around. Fish were well and good, but they were bony; he wanted red meat.
Jan had seen that the cat stalked by at about the same time every afternoon. So on the fourth day he took a chance and ventured forth early in the morning to spear a fish. He made his way to an overlook above the pools only to find the tiger already fishing at his spot. Unfortunately the movement of Jan's long shadow cast on the rocks below by the morning sun made the tiger look up at him, licking his chops. He left off fishing and bounded up the rocks toward the boy.
Jan knew that the tiger could beat him in a race to the bottom of the cliff below their cave, so ran down a different path. The big cat was confident it knew which way his naked prey was heading so he made straight for the cave, not trying to pick up a scent. Anyway, Jan's scent trails were all around the area. Jan managed to circle around and climb the hill in back, entering the cave through the slit in the ceiling. He looked down at the big cat who snarled up at him, realizing that his prey had somehow reached its lair in safety.
The tiger padded over to where the little waterfall splashed into a small pool in the ground then settled down to wait out his prey. He stayed all night and all the next day, slaking his thirst at the pool. The next night he disappeared for a couple of hours, perhaps to hunt, or maybe to lie in wait. Either way, neither of the young men cared to venture into the jungle after dark with a tiger lurking about.
With food running out, Jan suggested retreating out the back door and putting distance between them. Willem wasn't so sure that would fool the tiger long enough. If it took after them, they would have little chance if caught on open ground.
They had no missile weapons, no guns, no bow and arrows, nothing but a sling. True, Jan had improved their crude spears. Not satisfied with mere fire hardened points he had set and bound chunks of obsidian, volcanic glass, into their heads. That made the points sharp as any razor. The problem was that tigers can stalk and pounce on their prey without warning.
"What if we knew it was coming?. That's his greatest weapon, isn't it? Surprise. Cats stalk and pounce. Take that away from him and we'd have a chance."
"I don't know Jan. Even without surprise he has fangs and claws."
"True but we have our spears and blades. That's got to count for something."
"Maybe, but how can we ever know that he is tracking us? Big as he is, he moves silently. And we can't smell him, like the animals do."
"Yes, we can, if we douse him with my tiger repellent!"
Willem lookup up with both surprise and hope on his face.
"That just might work. But how?"
"Leave that to me!"
Jan explained his plan then started pelting the tiger with small rocks and spoiled fruit to get it angry. It growled and snarled and even jumped up the face of the cliff only to fall back. The tiger backed off across the small clearing to get a running start, then sprang forward, jumping up, trying to get purchase with his claws to pull him high enough. Good thing the face of the cliff was sheer rock. His claws found no purchase on that unyielding surface.
Jan was surprised and frightened at how high the big cat could leap. The fact is that the rear limbs of a cat let it raise its center of gravity pretty far off the ground before the hind feet lose contact. He would have to gauge his next step carefully. Jan drew up one of the smaller more flexible lianas, bracing a loop around Willem. He lay flat and twined his legs around the vine, feet toward Willem. The idea was for him to hang upside down as bait. When the tiger jumped up, Jan would give him both barrels as Willem pulled him back up and into the cave.
"I don't know how I let your persuade me to try this hare-brained scheme, Jan. I don't want to lose you. Not now. Not when we have so much to live for."
"We have to try something, Will. I cannot do this alone. Trust me. I know this will work."
Actually he gave himself less than an even chance of surviving -- much less succeeding. But they had to do something.
Jan pulled himself forward till only his belly and legs were still in the cave and picked up the package of skunk scent glands, placing one in the palm of each hand. He used his elbows to nudge him over the edge while Willem paid out some line. Jan now dangled upside down from the mouth of the cave. The tiger was waiting for him, having backed up across the clearing to get a better look up into the cave. He sprang forward at frightening speed and leaped as high as he could go. Just as he got to the top of his arc, Jan let loose right in his face with the scent gland in his right hand. The tiger yowled and turned to drop to the ground. Jan sprayed his flank with the gland in his left hand just as Willem pulled him back up and into the cave.
Willem moved to hug his lover, but Jan held up his hands.
"Wait, Will. I have to get this stink off my hands."
Jan had gathered herbs and fruits whose juices, when mixed together, pretty much neutralized the scent of the skunk. This was an old home remedy he had learned during his childhood on Java. They had to get the smell off Jan, not just for their comfort but so they could smell the tiger without the stink on the boy's hands confounding things.
There was no sign of the tiger when the youths looked out from the mouth of the cave. Nevertheless they went out the back door, intending to head north a bit, directly away from the cave before swinging southeast. Just as the started down the slope of their hill they caught a whiff of skunk smell.
"That isn't me." Jan said defensively. "And the wind is wrong for it to be from in front of the cave."
"My God. There he is."
Willem pointed at the tiger which was rubbing its flank and face in the grass trying and failing to get the smell off its fur. It looked up, saw its tormentors, and bounded up the slope in pursuit. The boys realized that the open slope of the hill was no place to make a stand. There was nothing to shield them or to channel the tiger's attack. Better then to make a stand at the cave entrance than fighting right out in the open, so the turned and ran. Willem's longer legs let him get there first. Jan was close behind but with the tiger almost on top of him. With no time to lose, the boy dove headfirst into the slot in the roof of the cave, yelling as he felt the tiger's claws slash his rump. Luckily for Jan, the angry tiger was moving so fast it actually ran past the cave entrance and had to jump back. That brief delay was a literal life saver for Jan.
Willem's caught Jan in his arms as he tumbled headlong into the cave, narrowly avoiding the spear in his hand. Jan got to his feet to check the damage which was not serious. The cat's claws had left two shallow cuts about three fingers wide on the flat of Jan's right buttock.
The tiger peered down the entrance snarling and tried to force its way through, though its deep chest and the shape of its hips hindered it. Jan and Willem saw that the tiger just might be able to force its way inside. Their best option was to attack while it was half way through.
The boys used their spears to stab the tiger in the chest and forelegs. The spears gave them greater reach though a swipe of a paw snapped Jan's spear in half. Willem was standing to one side and jabbed into the big cat's face, blinding it in one eye, though taking a slash to his left arm. The tiger redoubled its efforts to squirm inside and get at its foes, roaring and yowling in pain and anger and bloodlust. Claws flashed trying to reach the two humans. Jan sidled close to tiger, on it blind side, ignoring its roars and fetid breath. He saw an opening as it swiped a paw at Willem. Jan swept his kris down in a mighty slash putting his weight behind it, nearly cutting the paw right off the beast's foreleg.
Despite its wounds and its agony, the tiger surged forward and dropped into the cave right in between the two youths. It turned toward Jan, the one who had cut its paw and gathered itself for a leap. At that moment, Willem swung his sword into the spine of the beast. That cut the spinal cord, depriving it of the use of its rear legs. With only one sound limb left and bleeding out from the wound on one foreleg, the tiger was doomed, but the boys were taking no chances. Willem retrieved his spear and stabbed deep into the flank of the beast searching for the heart. It turned its head, roaring defiance, giving Jan a chance to reach with his kris and cut its throat. The roaring stopped abruptly as the great beast collapsed and bled out from three grievous wounds.
It was done. The youths could hardly believed that they were alive, but the dead body of the tiger was there right in front of them as proof. Neither wanted a trophy though Jan did retrieve the obsidian spear point from his broken spear. He would set it into a new spear the first chance he got. The pair slid down a vine and into the clearing in front of the cave.
Both took the chance to use the waterfall as a shower to wash the sweat and blood off them and to clean their wounds. Jan put a poultice on their cuts that helped them heal clean, leaving white scars on their tanned bodies. In later years they would show their scars as proof of their close escape. The parallel white streaks on Jan's brown buttocks were more beauty mark than disfigurement, "adding character" as Willem always said, to a very sexy rump.
Afterwards they set their faces to the east toward Palembang, reaching it six days later. The inhabitants hardly knew what to make of the strange pair, both obviously European from their hair alone, the red head bared to the waist, the yellow haired boy entirely nude. Strangely both spoke fluent Malay and asked politely to be shown the way to the palace of the sultan.
The guards and the sultan's chamberlain were startled by the appearance of the two petitioners and their state of undress but sent word to the monarch who agreed to receive the young men in a private room rather than in the main audience chamber. The Sultan was himself a young man, in his mid-twenties and well-favored: tall and lean with a neatly trimmed mustache and a fringe of beard around his chin.
The sultan had not been able to take his eyes off Jan from the instant he had walked into the room. He drank in the sight of Jan's tiny red nipples ringed with gold like his ears, his blond hair and green eyes, and those narrow hips framing an ample manhood on a slight physique. Smooth, hairless, tanned, and toned, Jan was real beauty. The sultan found himself enthralled by the musicality of the boy's voice, and the animation in his face as he and Willem described their adventures.
"Truly remarkable overcoming a cyclone, pirates, the jungle, and a tiger. Your survival was undoubtedly the will of Allah, the compassionate and the merciful. Thanks be to him for preserving the lives of two such brave and handsome young men. I am particularly grateful for the chance to gaze upon all of your delightful body, young Jan Dekker, as you stand there nude before me."
"I can see, young one, that you are deeply tanned all over with a shade too dark to have happened only during your expedition overland. Am I right in guessing you are one of those cabin boys who disports himself entirely naked while at sea?"
"Indeed, your highness. That is why I had no clothing on when I dove into the sea to rescue Willem, that is the first mate."
"I don't suppose Mr. Luyken that you would be willing to sell the boy to me. I would give much to add him to my harem."
"No, your highness. I am sorry, but that is impossible. As flattering as your proposal is to the boy, in the VOC all sailors are free persons. The lad is simply not for sale. No offense."
"None taken. Alas for what cannot be." the sultan sighed. "I suppose history will repeat itself then."
He told the two Dutch youths that Jan presence reminded him of what had befallen his great grandfather who, eighty years before, had been similarly smitten by a pretty blond Dutch boy named Pieter Havelaar, a member of Abel Tasman's expedition in search of Terra Australis, the Great Unknown Land to the South. Unable to acquire the lovely lad, the sultan had commissioned artists to sketch and paint the boy as he worked entirely naked on a ship careened in the harbor. Of course the artists pretended they were portraying the Dutch ship, not the nude sailor boy.
Till the end of his life the old sultan had treasured the likenesses of young Pieter, numbering them among his most valuable possessions. And now Jan here had showed up, another pretty blond Dutch boy, also naked, bearing a strong resemblance to that boy of the previous century. His forbearer had always regretted that he had never even touched the boy, much less taken him to his bed, the young sultan related, shaking his head sadly, then looking up expectantly at the duo.
Recognizing his cue, and with an approving wink from Willem, Jan accepted that it was his duty to promote good relations between the sultanate and the VOC. So he offered himself up for the sultan's pleasure. After being bathed and groomed and scented, Jan spent several long nights in his company and found the monarch to be an ardent and thoughtful lover. Jan also posed for nude sketches and miniature paintings as keepsakes. After treating them as honored guests for a week, the sultan put one of his ships at their disposal to take them to Batavia.
Epilogue
The junk transporting them to Batavia had hardly sailed two days before encountering a ship of the VOC outward bound for the Indian Ocean. It was their old ship the Schooneveld. Their Sumatran captain signaled the Dutch ship that he wanted to lay alongside and transfer passengers.
"Passengers?" Captain de Sitter wondered aloud to no one in particular. "What passengers?"
As the two ships closed he spotted a tall red head standing on deck with his arm over the shoulder of a diminutive blond boy wearing a sarong. His heart leapt with joy, but his blurring eyesight kept him from confirming what he dearly hoped to be true. Wiping his eyes and trusting that none of his own crew had spotted his public moment of weakness, he looked through his telescope confirming the identity of the 'passengers' he was supposed to take on. He gave heartfelt thanks to his deity for the deliverance of the fine young men he had come to respect and care for and whose loss had been so bitter a blow to him.
The bosun and some of the other crew were not so careful of their dignity, waving and cheering, openly weeping, to see Willem Luyken and Jan Dekker virtually return from the dead. They assisted them aboard and conducted them to the quarterdeck talking excitedly.
Now there was only so much dignity that a man could stand on, so though de Sitter first took his mate's crisp salute he then stepped forward smartly to embrace both his missing friends.
"Will, Jan. I never expected to see you again in this life. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. Why we are even carrying a letter back to your family in Holland, Willem. Tell me how this wonderful thing came to be."
And so the youths did. Willem gave full credit to Jan for his staunchness, courage, and cleverness on their journey. Then, eyes twinkling, he related how the Sultan of Palembang had been smitten by Jan's pretty face and boyishly nude physique. The monarch had offered a considerable sum to buy Jan from Willem for his harem! He was keenly disappointed when Willem insisted on their rights under the treaty though Jan did make it up to him by spending several nights with the sultan.
The captain ordered a double rum ration for the whole crew, and the cook prepared a special supper with Jan invited as a guest of honor, entitled to sit at the table instead of serving the others. After a convivial dinner, a lengthy telling of their adventures, and final congratulations and toasts, the captain pointed out that one member of their party was out of uniform. Knowing what that meant, and with a grin on his face, Jan slipped the sarong off his hips, and snapped off a salute, happy to be back in his role as cabin boy.
Jan worked as cabin boy for the next three years till Will got his own command and took Jan along with him as third mate. The two young men spent another four years in the VOC before buying their own ship for the local trade. They sailed to Sumatra many times, occasionally calling upon the Sultan at Palembang, but only once, a decade later, returned to their cave on a sentimental journey. The bones of the tiger had been picked clean. Jan and Will brought its skull back as a memento.