owards the ridge; and in
doing so he found that flat, rough, slaty pieces of stone followed at
intervals to weight the roof, and formed supports for his feet, so that
he was able to creep with the greatest ease right up to the ridge.

"Be quite jolly," he said, "if it wasn't for the feeling that I may be
crawling over millions of snakes. However, I am in for it now, and I
must chance it. Now about getting down."

He lay upon the back slope of the building, resting with one arm over
the ridge, listening intently, knowing that he must be gazing in the
direction of the sentry; but the silence was as intense as the darkness,
and he still hesitated as to whether he should lower himself down again
in the direction from which he had come.

Feeling, however, that if he descended from there it would be into the
jungle, which he knew from experience was one tangled and matted mass,
impervious to human beings, he decided to go on, and proceeding very
cautiously, he began to lower himself down towards the eaves by the help
of the many stones which offered support to hand or foot.

"Why, it's just like going downstairs," thought the lad; and then, as if
to prove it was not so easy, one of the stones, upon which he was
bearing with his foot, slipped from its rotan tie and began to rustle
loudly down before him.

Then there was a sharp hiss, which made the lad cling tightly and begin
to feel a return of the paralysing shudder which had unnerved him a few
minutes before. The hiss was repeated, and followed by a sound like a
quick reiteration of the word _Yah_; and then Peter Pegg's heart began
to palpitate heavily as he realised that it was a human utterance coming
from the direction of the sentry's tree, and followed by a quick
movement as of some one advancing towards the stable door.

"You brute! How you frightened me!" said the lad to himself, as,
obeying his next impulse, he tore a stone that was held in its place by
the thin cane, raised it above his head, and hurled it with all his
might in the direction of the sentry.

"There's a fool!" he muttered to himself as he lay full length,
listening to a gabbling, threatening utterance from below, which was
slurred with hisses and dotted with angry ejaculations. "He's
a-swearing at me in his ugly lingo," thought Peter. "Can't see him, so
he can't see me, and of course he can't tell who it is up here. Here, I
know," he continued, as there was a series of hisses such as wou