it at night on a charpoy near
the Lahore Gate?"

The brown skin assumed a sallow tinge.

"That is good speaking," he gurgled.

"Then help me and my friend to escape. Compel your chief to leave the
island. Kill him! Plot against him! I will promise you freedom and
plenty of rupees. Do this, and I swear to you I will come in a ship and
take you away. The miss-sahib's father is powerful. He has great
influence with the Sirkar."[Footnote: The Government of India.]

Taung S'Ali was evidently bewildered and annoyed by this passionate
appeal which he did not understand. He demanded an explanation, and the
ready-witted native was obliged to invent some plausible excuse. Yet
when he raised his face to Jenks there was the look of a hunted animal
in his eyes.

"Sahib," he said, endeavoring to conceal his agitation. "I am one among
many. A word from me and they would cut my throat. If I were with you
there on the rock I would die with you, for I was in the Kumaon
Rissala[Footnote: A native cavalry regiment.] when the trouble befell
me. It is of no avail to bargain with a tiger, sahib. I suppose you
will not give up the miss-sahib. Pretend to argue with me. I will help
in any way possible."

Jenks's heart bounded when this unlooked-for offer reached his ears.
The unfortunate Mahommedan was evidently eager to get away from the
piratical gang into whose power he had fallen. But the chief was
impatient, if not suspicious of these long speeches.

Angrily holding forth a Lee-Metford the sailor shouted--

"Tell Taung S'Ali that I will slay him and all his men ere tomorrow's
sun rises. He knows something of my power, but not all. Tonight, at the
twelfth hour, you will find a rope hanging from the rock. Tie thereto a
vessel of water. Fail not in this. I will not forget your services. I
am Anstruther Sahib, of the Belgaum Rissala."

The native translated his words into a fierce defiance of Taung S'Ali
and his Dyaks. The chief glanced at Jenks and Iris with an ominous
smile. He muttered something.

"Then, sahib. There is nothing more to be said. Beware of the trees on
your right. They can send silent death even to the place where you
stand. And I will not fail you tonight, on my life," cried the
interpreter.

"I believe you. Go! But inform your chief that once you have
disappeared round the rock whence you came I will talk to him only with
a rifle."

Taung S'Ali seemed to comprehend the Englishman's emphatic motions.
Waving h