ning the
flowers and vines, but all the while moving nearer and nearer to the
bit of white paper which the idle breeze stirred back and forth
tentatively. When she reached the spot she stooped and plucked some
flowers, gathering up the paper as she did so. And still in the
stooping posture, she read the note, crumpled it and stuffed it into a
hole in the wall.

Poor child! Every move had been watched as a cobra watches its prey.

She was to pretend illness at once. Plans had been changed. She stood
up, swayed slightly and staggered back to the seat. In truth, she was
pale enough, and her heart beat so fast that she was horribly dizzy.

"A doctor!" she cried, forgetting that she would not be understood.

The native girl stared at her. She did not understand the words, but
the signs were enough. The young white woman looked ill; and Umballa
would deal harshly with those who failed to stem the tide of any
illness which might befall his captive. There was a commotion behind
the fretwork of the palace. Three other girls came out, and Winnie was
conducted back to the zenana.

All this Kathlyn observed. She bade the mahout go to the house of the
zenana's doctor, where she donned the habiliments familiar to the
guards and inmates of the zenana.

Everything went forward without a hitch; so smoothly that had the
object of her visit been other than Winnie, Kathlyn must have sensed
something unusual. She entered the palace and even led the way to
Winnie's chamber--a fact which appeared natural enough to the women
about, but which truly alarmed Umballa's spy, who immediately set off
in search of the man.

One thing assured her: the hands of the zenana's real physician were
broad and muscular, while the hands she saw were slender and beautiful,
brown though they were. She had seen those hands before, during the
episode of the leopards of the treasury.

It was very hard for Kathlyn to curb the wild desire to crush Winnie in
her arms, arms that truly ached for the feel of her. Even as she
fought this desire she could not but admire Winnie's superb acting.
She and her father had misjudged this butterfly. To have come all this
way alone in search of them, unfamiliar with the customs and the
language of the people! How she had succeeded in getting here without
mishap was in itself remarkable.

She took Winnie's wrist in her hand and pressed it reassuringly, then
puttered about in her medical bag. Very softly sh