heeks.

He kept down the exciting feelings, though, by a mighty effort, and
crawled softly on, as the second dammar-torch burned out, and all was
darkness.

He passed the last man, and was now out well in the middle of the great
room, with the open doorway before him, dimly seen like a square patch
of star-lit sky. The hard breathing of the sleepers came regularly, and
there was the low sighing of the wind without, then the softened,
distant roar of a tiger, heard again and again, and repeated far more
distantly. Then all was very still: the only noise being the faint
rustle of his sarong, as he crept on nearer and nearer to the opening,
from whence he meant to lower himself silently and make straight for the
river, and try to find a boat.

It was hard work to keep crawling along there, inch by inch, lest the
bamboos should creak. They bent and yielded to his weight over and over
again, and twice over they gave so loud a noise that Ali paused,
listening for the movement of his guards, meaning then to spring up and
flee. Still no one moved, and in spite of his intense desire to make a
bold rush, he crept on, knowing how great would be his advantage if he
could get off without waking his guards, and free from the pursuit of a
party following upon his track like a pack of hungry hounds.

Not two yards from the door now, and it seemed as if he would never
reach it. His breath came thick and fast, and his heart throbbed so
that he felt the bamboos over which he crawled vibrate, but still no one
moved.

Another yard gained, and still all was darkness and silence, while the
strain upon his nerves seemed greater than they could bear.

The last yard, and he grasped the bamboos to lower himself softly down,
when there was a rush, a cry, a hurriedly-spoken order, and the Malays,
who seemed to have divined that he was there, dashed across the floor in
pursuit.

Ali told himself that he must not be taken, and dropping to the earth,
he dashed across the reed and grass-grown space, and made for the
jungle-path, meaning to follow it for a certain distance, and then
strike off at the first opening across to the river.

To have attempted the jungle at once would have been utter madness, for
he could not have forced his way a dozen yards through the tangled
growth. All he could do was to trust to swiftness of foot and follow
the track, and that was horribly overgrown. Thorns caught and tore his
baju and sarong, rattan can