"Let him think I'm asleep if he likes--an ugly Eastern beast!"

The Malay turned now to Archie to look fixedly at the poor fellow's
head, before touching the injured scalp with one brown finger, with the
effect of eliciting a deep-drawn sigh of pain.

Then the man rose, and apparently satisfied with the helplessness of the
prisoners, he uttered a low, abrupt order, and his little train
shouldered their spears and marched out, one of them carrying the empty
basket, his companion shouldering the heavy earthen jar.

Peter Pegg lay back motionless, to listen to the barring of the door,
half-wondering the while at the great change that the closing door made
upon the interior: one moment the last rays of the setting sun were
flooding the great stable with a deep, blood-red glow; the next the
place seemed by comparison quite dark.

The lad listened till the last retiring steps had died away, and then he
sat up suddenly, with the recollection of a little knife and fork given
to him years before by his grandmother, and chuckling softly to himself,
he half-whispered:

"A present for a good boy!--Of course," he said, after a pause to make
sure that no one was going to return; "I am not going to bounce, but I
was a very good boy for not pitching into that 'nana. Oh my! Ain't it
splendid!" he continued, turning over on hands and knees and scrambling
like a quadruped to where the jar and basket had been placed. "There's
going to be such a supper! But don't I wish I was going to have
company! Oh, you beauty!" he cried hoarsely, as he hugged the great jar
to his chest, bent down till he could press his lips to the thick edge,
and then tilting it slightly, drank and drank and drank.

At last he lowered the jar till it stood firmly in its place, raised
himself upon his knees, and uttered a long, deep sigh.

"Oh, ain't it splendid!" he said. "They have got water here! Talk
about a horse drinking--well, I suppose any one would say I drank like a
hass or a pig. No, I didn't, because I've only been drinking the
helephant's share if he comes again--not yours, Mister Archie. I do
wish you were awake.--Here, I say, let's have some of that bread," he
said, half-aloud now; and breaking the cake in four, he placed himself
in a comfortable position and took a bite.

"That ain't quite comfortable, though," he muttered, and raking a lot of
the leaves into the corner of the place, he seated himself so that he
could rest his back in t