As the light faded, Jack
lay and wondered what had become of his father and the native woman,
and what would be the next turn in their strange and wild adventures.

The sun sank, and the night fell with tropic swiftness; soon he was
gazing at a velvety sky, full of bright stars. Still no one came near
them, and his guards sat before him like two statues.

An hour after nightfall a voice called to them from the lane without,
and they obeyed the command at once. They sprang up, and removed from
Jack's ankles the thong which bound them together. Next they dragged
him to his feet and led him forward.

At the gap in the wall, where once a door had been, two other guards
awaited the prisoner, and marched one before and one behind him. Thus
closely watched, Jack was led along the narrow lane. They went fifty
yards or more, and then entered the very courtyard into which the
secret passage opened. Here a huge fire of brushwood and broken beams
was burning, and the place was as light as day, and filled with busy
figures. Jack was led across the courtyard and placed near the
opposite wall.

He looked round, but could catch no glimpse of his father. He saw the
native woman, their companion in misfortune, seated in a corner, a
Kachin beside her as if on guard. The woman's head was bent upon her
breast, and her child was closely clasped in her arms. She did not
look up when Jack was brought in, and her attitude was one of utter
dejection. She had already learned her fate. She was to be taken back
to the village from which she had fled, and there suffer by fire in
the presence of the other villagers. Thus would U Saw teach a lesson
of obedience to all.

The Ruby King himself was seated on a rug spread over the stones of
the courtyard on the other side of the great fire. A meal was just
over. A smaller fire was smouldering near the entrance to the
courtyard, and beside it lay cooking-pots and the long, square baskets
in which food had been carried. Several of the retainers were still
devouring the last fragments of their portion, and the rest were
placidly smoking as they moved to and fro. U Saw was quietly pulling
at a huge cheroot, his eyes fixed dreamily on the leaping flames of
the great fire, and, save for the prisoner and his armed guards, the
whole scene had the air of a peaceful camp, of a caravan of merchants
resting for a night on their march.

An hour passed, and the scene had but changed to this extent that the
movi