ht of a little knot of the
Malays who had gathered round and were keenly enjoying the scene. So
much pleasure, indeed, did they derive from it that they said something
to little Percy's tormentor which was evidently an incitement of him to
continue his ill-treatment of the child, for the fellow, with an
acquiescent grin, had no sooner finished his task of lashing the little
fellow to the tree--a task which he performed with the utmost
deliberation and gusto--than he retired a pace or two, contemplating the
helplessness of his little victim with malignant satisfaction, and then,
with a glance toward Gaunt and a few laughing words to his companions,
he stepped forward and dealt the poor child a savage blow upon the mouth
with his clenched fist--so cruel a blow that it extorted another
piercing scream of pain and terror from the sufferer and caused his
quivering lips to stream with blood. Gaunt said nothing this time, nor
did he renew his worse than useless efforts to burst his bonds, but he
directed toward the fellow a look of such deadly ferocity that the
wretch actually quailed under it, and seemed glad enough to slink away
into the background under cover of an order which another Malay,
apparently one of the officers of the proa, now stepped forward and gave
him. Possibly the order given may have been to desist from further ill-
treatment of the child, for the new-comer next said something to the
group of onlookers which caused them also to retire, with many a
backward glance of animosity at Gaunt--which he returned with interest;
and, these dismissed, the officer, if such he was, looked at the sobbing
child's bonds and, with a muttered word or two, proceeded to loosen them
sufficiently to relieve the little fellow from the cruel suffering they
had caused him--a proceeding which won for him a look of unspeakable
gratitude from Gaunt which seemed to be not wholly unappreciated.

The loosening of his bonds afforded the poor child so much relief that
he now felt almost comfortable, comparatively speaking; and, exhausted
with the pain and terror he had already endured, he soon sank into a
kind of stupor, which, if it did not amount to actual insensibility,
approached it so nearly as to afford the poor little fellow at least a
temporary forgetfulness of his situation and surroundings. Gaunt,
speaking quietly once or twice to him without obtaining a reply, at once
saw with intense satisfaction the state his child had fall