ging it to its
utmost speed. A few yards from the house the pony slipped on the
smooth stones and nearly came down. This, perforce, checked its
headlong career, and the Malay drew it in to a walk. Everyone held
their breath, and Jack watched the dark, sinister figure pace by,
wishing that his furious speed had not been interrupted.

He was past, he was gone, and Jack breathed more freely. Then, oh,
unhappy turn of luck, the infant in its mother's arms stirred and gave
a feeble cry.

The mother hushed it at once, and the fugitives looked at each other
aghast. Had that cry been heard? The answer came at once. They heard
the pony swiftly wheeled on the stones without. A second later it
dashed back the way it had come, the Malay flogging fiercely, reckless
of slips or stumbles.

"It was U Saw's man, that big Malay," said Jack to his father. "What
shall we do?"

"We must push on and see what lies beyond the town," said Mr. Haydon.
"It is clear that he suspects something. All depends now on whether
our line into the open country is blocked."

The little party swiftly sped up the farther part of the alley, and
worked their way through the town by the narrow lanes which threaded
the mass of buildings like runs in a rabbit warren. Through these
by-ways the native woman proved a sure guide, and soon, through a gap,
they saw the open, sandy waste which lay around the deserted town.

From the last patch of cover they looked out cautiously and saw a
dismal sight. The town, as has been said, lay in a great cup-like
depression. On the rim of the farther rise, straight in their path, a
horseman sat motionless. Jack knew him again at once. It was the
Malay. He had drawn up his pony on the ridge above the town, and now
sat there, watching intently, a dark figure on the sky-line.

"We are beset front and rear," groaned Mr. Haydon. "He is waiting for
companions, and watching to see which way we break cover."

Mr. Haydon had hit upon the truth. At earliest dawn skilful trackers
had been set upon the trail of the fugitives at the point where Jack
had silenced the dog. Thence they had followed them to the mouth of
the pass, and had divined their number and the identity of those who
made up the party.

U Saw and Saya Chone had been on the scene without loss of time. The
Ruby King ordered that a party of his men should march up the pass
and pursue the fugitives. He himself, with the half-caste, the
Strangler, and a score of other me