he sustained himself, as he hung at length with
his head only in the room, and to his horror he found that it would not
pass through; for he was opposite two of the knots of the bamboo, and
strive how he would, he could not manage to get himself a little way
along, to where the wood curved in.

Just then a light flashed upon his face, and he saw that his guards had
succeeded in re-illumining their room; while to his horror, he now found
that they were coming in to him.

With a tremendous effort, and feeling now that it was no time to study
about noise, Ali forced himself a little way along, but in doing so
slipped, and hung by his head, fixed between the bamboos, as the leader
of his captors entered, uttered a shout, and made a bound forward to
seize him.

That did it!

Had he come forward carefully, he could have seized his helpless
prisoner; but this leap on the elastic, hollow canes bent one down, and
set Ali free, his guard uttering a shout of rage as his captive
literally slipped through his fingers, Ali's head disappearing from the
light of the torch, and revealing the long narrow slit, looking dark and
strange, in the floor.

"Quick, the door!" shouted the Malay, as he tried to force himself down
through the slit--but had to struggle back, giving Ali moments to
recover himself from the painful shock he had sustained; and when the
man had reached the door, torch in hand, and leaped down to where his
men were hurrying here and there, it was for the light to gleam for a
moment on Ali's bright, silken baju, as he plunged into the jungle,
forty yards away.

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

A SWIM IN THE NIGHT.

As has been said, Ali suffered quite a shock from the jerk he received
in escaping from his prison, and had his captors rushed down directly,
his attempt would have resulted in failure; but the effort made by the
Malay to follow him afforded the prisoner time to recover a little, to
struggle up from where he had fallen, and to stagger off in a strange
confused state, feeling all the while as if his head had been wrenched
off.

Each moment, however, gave him force; he heard the shouts of the men as
they leaped down from the platform; and as the light of the torch
flashed upon his path, he seemed to regain his strength, and ran on with
his guards in full pursuit.

The young man set his teeth hard, and grasped the weapon supplied to him
by his father's hand. He was far from being bloodthirsty; contact wi