ps not," cried Lingard.

"Too late," said Jaffir, "we are ten only, and at sunrise we go out to
die." He went to the cabin door and hesitated there with a puzzled air,
being unused to locks and door handles.

"What are you going to do?" asked Lingard.

"I shall swim back," replied Jaffir. "The message is spoken and the
night can not last forever."

"You can stop with me," said Lingard, looking at the man searchingly.

"Hassim waits," was the curt answer.

"Did he tell you to return?" asked Lingard.

"No! What need?" said the other in a surprised tone.

Lingard seized his hand impulsively.

"If I had ten men like you!" he cried.

"We are ten, but they are twenty to one," said Jaffir, simply.

Lingard opened the door.

"Do you want anything that a man can give?" he asked.

The Malay had a moment of hesitation, and Lingard noticed the sunken
eyes, the prominent ribs, and the worn-out look of the man.

"Speak out," he urged with a smile; "the bearer of a gift must have a
reward."

"A drink of water and a handful of rice for strength to reach the
shore," said Jaffir sturdily. "For over there"--he tossed his head--"we
had nothing to eat to-day."

"You shall have it--give it to you with my own hands," muttered Lingard.

He did so, and thus lowered himself in Jaffir's estimation for a time.
While the messenger, squatting on the floor, ate without haste but with
considerable earnestness, Lingard thought out a plan of action. In his
ignorance as to the true state of affairs in the country, to save
Hassim from the immediate danger of his position was all that he could
reasonably attempt. To that end Lingard proposed to swing out his
long-boat and send her close inshore to take off Hassim and his men. He
knew enough of Malays to feel sure that on such a night the besiegers,
now certain of success, and being, Jaffir said, in possession of
everything that could float, would not be very vigilant, especially on
the sea front of the stockade. The very fact of Jaffir having managed
to swim off undetected proved that much. The brig's boat could--when the
frequency of lightning abated--approach unseen close to the beach, and
the defeated party, either stealing out one by one or making a rush in a
body, would embark and be received in the brig.

This plan was explained to Jaffir, who heard it without the slightest
mark of interest, being apparently too busy eating. When the last grain
of rice was gone, he stood up, too