lf; finally he
seized the _dah_ which one carried swinging in a thong over his
shoulders, and made a motion as of passing the keen weapon across his
throat.

By their looks of intelligence he saw that the Panthays had fully
grasped his meaning. They spoke swiftly to each other for a few
moments.

[Illustration: A SUDDEN ALARM.]

Jack awaited the upshot in keenest anxiety. If these men did not stand
by him he was indeed lost. Then, to his immense relief, the elder man,
he who had dropped into the howdah and had taken the lead from the
first, stepped forward, raised Jack's hand, and kissed it. Then he
pointed to the depth of the jungle. Jack nodded and patted him on the
shoulder. The younger Panthay swung the basket on his back, and away
glided the three, leaving the path, and striking off directly among
the trees.

In two minutes they were out of sight of their camping-place, and as
the advancing party was not yet at the foot of the slope, Jack never
doubted but that the half-caste would be thrown off the scent, and
would pass on towards the ravine where the wood-cutters were known to
be at work. But he had made one mistake, the error of supposing that
the two Panthays in front of the horsemen were the first of the party.
They were not. A single tracker had led the way some distance ahead,
and him Jack had missed among the thickets and groves which hid the
path here and there. So that, as the three fugitives disappeared among
the thicker growth of jungle, a dark figure gained the crown of the
slope, and with swift and noiseless tread approached their
camping-place.

The quick eye of the Panthay at once caught sight of the retreating
men, above all of the sahib, so easily to be known by his dress, and
the tracker drew back instantly into the bushes.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE CAVE IN THE RAVINE.

In the meanwhile Jack and his companions hurried forward, quite
unconscious that they had been spied upon. The elder Panthay led the
way through the jungle, and within a mile they came to the edge of a
steep descent. Down this they climbed with much difficulty, swinging
themselves by creepers and holding on to the boles of saplings until
they gained the foot of a deep ravine.

The Panthay paused and pointed with a laugh. Jack nodded cheerfully.

"By George!" he murmured to himself, "we shan't be hard up for a
hiding-place here."

The wall of the farther side of the ravine was honey-combed with black
holes, lookin