ere several chiefs were seen
embarking in a naga, or dragon-boat, eager, though looking very stolid,
to hear the news.

It was on the whole good, for on the party landing it was to announce
that they had, after a sharp fight, captured the stockade, driving the
Malays, who were headed by the Rajah Gantang himself, to take refuge in
another stockade, in a ravine some three miles inland, and then the
river fort was set on fire.

The officer who had attacked the second prahu had met with similar
ill-success to Lieutenant Johnson, and upon relating the incidents of
the fight, found but little sympathy from the late occupants of the
other boat, who were rather rejoiced to find they had not been excelled.

The escape of the second prahu was followed by a short council; and
several Malays being found ready enough to act as guides to the
stockade, to which the rajah and his men had fled, it was decided to
follow him up, and read him a second severe lesson.

It was a risky proceeding, for the guides might prove treacherous and
lead them into an ambush; but after giving them notice that they would
receive no mercy if they proved false, a small portion of the little
force was left in charge of the boats, and, lightly equipped, the men
went off in search of the second stronghold.

It proved to be an arduous task, for the way was through one of the
jungle-paths, with walls of dense vegetation right and left, of the most
impenetrable nature. Every here and there, too, the enemy had cut down
a tree, so that it fell with the branches towards the pursuers, who were
compelled to force a way through the dense mass that choked the narrow
path.

But these impediments were laughed at by the Jacks, who hacked and
hewed, and soon made a passage, through which, in the darkness of the
forest, the little force crept on till they halted, panting, for the
Malay guides to go on first, and act the part of scouts.

"Perhaps to give warning of our coming," said Captain Smithers.

"No," said Tom Long, "I don't think that. I should say that they have
had spies out all along the path, and that they know our position to an
inch."

"You are right, Long," said Captain Smithers, as, one after the other,
several reports rang out. "They are firing on our friendly Malays."

So it proved, for the men came running back to say that they had been
fired upon as soon as they neared the stockade; and now, as there was no
chance of a surprise, the men were