been mentioned by his
unscrupulous enemy, his thoughts had flown thousands and thousands of
miles, far away from the hot, glaring East, with its mysteries and
dangers, to the cool, quiet English meadows amid which lay Rushmere
School, where his only son, as he believed, worked and played in
safety.

And all the time Jack was within a few yards of him, hidden, a
prisoner, behind the muslin curtain. How he had got there, how he had
fallen into the terrible hands of U Saw, were the most insoluble of
mysteries to the elder man, and he could only stare at his son with a
white and ghastly face, for he knew only too well the character of the
men in whose power they both lay.

The jeering voice of the half-caste broke out on a high note of
derision. "And is there no one among this den of thieves for whom you
care, Mr. Haydon?" he cried. "If there is not, what an unnatural
parent you must be!"

A deep guttural chuckle from U Saw echoed this speech. The Ruby King
said never a word from first to last. He sat on his cushions as one
enjoying the play. His gross face was filled with an evil joy, his
small dark cunning eyes twinkled for ever with laughter at the scene
which was enacted before him, but he maintained, except for his
laughter, a perfect silence, and there was something terribly uncanny
and threatening about this.

"Where has he come from?" asked Thomas Haydon, in a low and troubled
voice. Yes, it was Jack, bound there; he was compelled to believe his
own eyes at last. It was not an hallucination; it was a piece of
dreadful fact, and in it the elder man saw his difficulties trebled
upon the spot.

"Oh, as to that, he will have plenty of opportunity to tell you
himself in a short time," smiled the half-caste. "We shall shut you up
together to talk things over. In the meantime, another piece of work
demands U Saw's attention."

He waved his hand and the Kachins led Thomas Haydon aside and placed
him against the farther wall. There was a shuffle of feet at the door,
and three or four natives from the village brought in a man whose
hands were bound behind his back. They were followed by at least a
score more of men and women, and for the next half hour there was a
fearful babel of tongues. As far as Jack could gather it seemed a sort
of trial, and the Ruby King acted as judge.

The latter uttered never a word, all the questioning being done by
Saya Chone; but at last he opened his mouth and pronounced a verdict.
I