Chapter 7 Moonshiners

One full moon day Fabian and brother Francis could not sleep properly that night,so they both sneaked out of the house for a breather.

The open compound were few huge logs left there by the neighboring sawmill for temporary storage.They sat and at times lying on top of those logs.Just then there was a strong breeze blowing.

It was real cool indeed,while relaxing on those logs Francis suddenly noticed some lighting in the bushes a short distance from behind their house.He was scared stiff and quickly pulled his brother Fabian's hand directing him the direction of the lights.

"I think Ghosts",he murmured in a shivering voice.

Looking at that direction Fabian also took fright as it was already passed midnight,so he too looked terrified.On further observations they noticed that there were someone moving about there and they were talking in Malay.

They waited a while before plucking up courage to sneak near to have a closer examination of what was happening over there.So slowly they crept towards that spot watching their steps as they moved forward,,fearing they might step on a snake or something else.

What ever it was they still kept a safe distance from that spot.However they could not make out what those men were doing.Fabian then suggested they went away from that place for fear of being discovered.Thereafter they returned home to sleep.

Next morning both of them did not allow what they saw to rest.So after breakfast they noticing no one at the spot which was under an old mango tree,proceeded to investigate what was it they saw the night before.

There was a rough shed constructed with only a few pieces of old and rusty corrugated zinc sheets.The shed was not high only slightly higher than a man.There were few big drums lying around,two of them were filled with dirty yellowish water.

There was also a paper box containing some whit powder and some dry chillies littered around the ground.There was also smell of liquor.Liquor?Oh, no, illicit liquor.Those guys were moonshiners producing illicit liquor or "samsu" as locals called them.

Now it was illegal to moonshine and can be arrested and prosecuted in court.Fearing for the worst,Fabian quickly hurried his younger sibling away from that wretched place.

Fabian and Francis aware of the danger involved kept their mouth shut and stayed away from that place from that day on wards.

However,only a week later or so, the long arms of the law caught up with those moonshiners.Apparently the Police had prior knowledge of their activities there and waited for the correct moment to capture them red handed on the spot.

All of us saw the Police led them away in handcuffs.It was a Chinese man and two Indians.Served them right,committing a serious crime and must be prosecuted.Crime therefore does not pay.