received proof positive that Me Dain was
right. Something glittered in the rays of the sinking sun. It was an
empty tin tossed carelessly into a clump of wild-fig bushes. Jack
picked it up with a cry of recognition.

"Look here," he said; "the Burman's hit the trail all right. Here's
one of the governor's empty tobacco tins. He's never smoked anything
else in my knowledge of him."

Jack held in his hand an empty tin which bore the name of a brand of
Carolina tobacco. Though little known out of America, the tobacco was
an immense favourite with Mr.. Haydon, who carried an ample supply of
it with him wherever he went.

"Sure thing," chuckled Buck. "That's one o' the Professor's tins.
Well, we'll follow him up."

They camped that night under the teak trees, and with the first light
of the next morning, began to follow up the track which Mr.. Haydon
had taken some time before, the track which led into the wild
hill-country, where U Saw, the Ruby King, was all-powerful.

They now moved with the utmost caution. When they saw a caravan of
cattle, laden with salt, marching along a hill road they were about to
cross, they hid from it in the jungle. When they saw afar off the
spire of a pagoda peeping over the trees, and knew they were near a
village, they sent Me Dain ahead to make inquiries, and find whether
the villagers were familiar with the name of U Saw. And so for three
days they worked cautiously along the track running up into the hills
where Thomas Haydon had found the immense ruby of priceless value.

On the fourth morning they were just breaking camp, when, to their
surprise, a troop of gaily dressed villagers passed them, and called
out a cheerful greeting to Me Dain. The Burman went forward to talk to
them, while Jack, Jim, and Buck went on with their packing, and tried
to look unconcerned.

They were in reality vexed that they had been seen. But the bunch of
walking figures had descended the ravine in which they were camped so
suddenly and unexpectedly, that there was no time to get out of the
way.

"Where under the sun have these people turned up from, in so lonely a
part of the hills?" said Jack to Buck. "Why, we haven't seen a village
since yesterday morning."

"I dunno," replied Buck. "This beats the band. They seem to have
dropped from the sky."

When Me Dain came back to them, the explanation was simple enough.
Four hours' march ahead was a large village, where every three years a
great religio