and
their hiding-place was hit upon in a very odd fashion, a fashion which
could not have been foreseen or guarded against. It was about
midnight, and Jack had the watch, for one or other stood on guard all
the time. He sat with his back against a great post which ran from
ground to ridge-pole, and, without the least warning, he felt that it
was shaking very slightly.

In an instant Jack was on the alert. He could not hear the faintest
sound, but the post still trembled, and Jack felt certain that
something or someone was climbing up it. In a few moments he was
certain of this, for he heard faint rustlings on the reed roof as if
someone was moving about. He stretched out his hand and shook his
father gently. Mr. Haydon woke at once. He made no sound, only shook
Jack's arm in return to let his son know that he was on the alert.

The rustling on the roof grew a little louder. The thatch was being
torn aside, but so cautiously, so cleverly, that the two watching
below could only catch the sound by listening intently. Suddenly the
stars flashed upon them. A hole had already been made above them, and
in this hole they saw the head of a native against the sky.

They remained perfectly still and silent, and watched the hole grow.
Silently, deftly, the midnight marauder plucked handful after handful
of the reed thatch away and enlarged the opening. Both of those below
who watched him, had grasped by this time what it all meant. This was
no man in the pay of U Saw, who suspected a hiding-place; it was just
a common thief, pure and simple, who had an eye to nothing save the
widow's paddy. Believing that she was alone and defenceless in the
house, he had come to plunder her loft.

But, whatever his motive, the risk to the Haydons remained the same.
In another moment he would drop among them and infallibly discover
their presence. Then his outcries would arouse the village and their
capture would be certain.

Very, very slowly the thief slipped his legs in at the hole, which was
now big enough to admit him, and began to slide downwards. As Jack
watched the rogue gently drop upon them, he felt for a second his
father's hand laid upon his throat, and he understood; the man was to
be seized and choked into silence; nothing else remained for them to
do.

Inch by inch the rascal slipped down. So cunning was he that he made
less noise than a mouse moving among the dried grass, and, without
doubt, he thought that he was carrying