y contest between the Maw-Sayah and the black object which we
had endeavoured to track. Thinking that the Kachyen was being destroyed,
the juggler had not fastened his door, and the enraged man-eater had
seized him as he rested on the ground, quite at its mercy!

The Maw-Sayah was struggling with his bony hands to extricate himself
from the clutches of a monstrous tree-spider! We had seen, on an island
in the South Seas, several cocoa-nut crabs, and this reptile somewhat
resembled them, but was even larger. Grasping the juggler with several
of its long, furry-looking claws, it fixed its glaring red eyes in mad
anger upon him as he grasped in each hand one of its front pair of
legs, which were armed with strong, heavy-looking pincers. He besought
us wildly to shoot, even if we killed him, held as he was by his
relentless foe.

"Harold," cried my companion, "keep clear, and look out for yourself
when I fire at this reptile; most likely it will make for one of us." He
drew right close to it, and thrusting the barrel of his pistol between
its eyes touched the trigger. The explosion shook the hut, its effect
upon the spider being to cause it to rush frantically about the floor,
dragging the Maw-Sayah as if he were some slight burden scarcely
observable.

[Illustration: "A RELENTLESS FOE."]

"You missed it!" I cried. "Look out, Hassan, guard the doorway!" The
Arab stood, sword in hand, waiting for it to make for the entrance,
while Denviers exclaimed:--

"I shot it through the head!" and a minute afterwards the trueness of
his aim was manifest, for the claws released, and the Maw-Sayah, wounded
badly, but saved, stood free from the muscular twitchings of the dead
spider.

"You scoundrel!" said Denviers to him, "I have a good mind to serve you
the same. You deserve to die as so many of these simple-minded,
credulous Kachyens have done." I thought for one brief second that my
companion was about to kill the juggler, for through all our adventures
I had never seen him so thoroughly roused. I stood between them; then,
when Denviers quickly recovered his self-command, I turned to the
Maw-Sayah and asked:--

"If we spare your life, will you promise to leave this village and never
to return?" He turned his evil-looking but scared face towards us
eagerly as he replied:--

"I will do whatever you wish." Denviers motioned to him to rest upon the
ground, which he did, then turning to me, said:--

"It is pretty apparent what