were to carry straight to
the beach and the war prahus.

Then with the balance of his horde he crept alone in the darkness until
opposite Bududreen and the watchers about the chest. Just as the two
who crept toward the bungalow reached it, Muda Saffir gave the word for
the attack upon the Malays and lascars who guarded the treasure. With
savage yells they dashed upon the unsuspecting men. Parangs and spears
glistened in the moonlight. There was a brief and bloody encounter,
for the cowardly Bududreen and his equally cowardly crew had had no
alternative but to fight, so suddenly had the foe fallen upon them.

In a moment the savage Borneo head hunters had added five grisly
trophies to their record. Bududreen and another were racing madly
toward the jungle beyond the campong.

As Number Thirteen arose to continue his search for Professor Maxon his
quick ear caught the shuffling of bare feet upon the verandah. As he
paused to listen there broke suddenly upon the still night the hideous
war cries of the Dyaks, and the screams and shrieks of their frightened
victims in the campong without. Almost simultaneously Professor Maxon
and Sing rushed into the living room to ascertain the cause of the wild
alarm, while at the same instant Bududreen's assassins sprang through
the door with upraised krisses, to be almost immediately followed by
Muda Saffir's six Dyaks brandishing their long spears and wicked
parangs.

In an instant the little room was filled with howling, fighting men.
The Dyaks, whose orders as well as inclinations incited them to a
general massacre, fell first upon Bududreen's lascars who, cornered in
the small room, fought like demons for their lives, so that when the
Dyaks had overcome them two of their own number lay dead beside the
dead bodies of Bududreen's henchmen.

Sing and Professor Maxon stood in the doorway to the professor's room
gazing upon the scene of carnage in surprise and consternation. The
scientist was unarmed, but Sing held a long, wicked looking Colt in
readiness for any contingency. It was evident the celestial was no
stranger to the use of his deadly weapon, nor to the moments of extreme
and sudden peril which demanded its use, for he seemed no more
perturbed than had he been but hanging out his weekly wash.

As Number Thirteen watched the two men from the dark shadows of the
room in which he stood, he saw that both were calm--the Chinaman with
the calmness of perfect courage,