It didn't take much encouragement.
The people still at the docks were either destitute porters with nowhere else to go or lawless gangsters.
They were all scraping by.
They soon reached an agreement.
"Excellent!"
Pita was very pleased, even a little smug.
He and his few companions might not have been able to rob a ship on their own. But with over a hundred people at the port working together, success was practically guaranteed!
He even glanced at Lama and asked with feigned politeness:
"Lama, my friend."
"What do you think?"
Lama was furious.
Not because Pita wanted to rob a ship, but because everything about his tone and expression was asking for a beating. He was clearly provoking Lama, forcing him to bow his head.
"Do whatever you want."
"It's nothing to do with me."
His reply was stiff.
"Oh?"
"Don't you want to get rich, Lama?" Pita asked with a sinister grin.
"No."
"Do it yourselves."
Lama refused.
Of course he liked getting rich.
Claiming that a gangster like him had lofty moral standards would have been utter bullshit.
But.
For one thing.
He had just had a gun pointed in his face, and his pride wouldn't let him work with Pita.
For another.
Instinctively.
He felt that a ship daring to come to the port at a time like this.
Was somewhat suspicious.
If the ship had been out at sea and hadn't managed to dock in time, he thought it would be far more likely to head straight for one of the other, larger cities.
Why come to Songka?
Most ships entering and leaving Songka carried rubber and tin ore.
All that trade had stopped now.
Apart from those businesses.
The port had no advantages whatsoever.
As for overland transport, a vast stretch of primeval forest