IN THE DESERTED CITY.
Jack had known the rider at once. It was the tall Malay, the Strangler. He was mounted on a nimble pony, and flogging it to its utmost speed. A few yards from the house the pony slipped on the smooth stones and nearly came down. This, perforce, checked its headlong career, and the Malay drew it in to a walk. Everyone held their breath, and Jack watched the dark, sinister figure pace by, wishing that his furious speed had not been interrupted.
He was past, he was gone, and Jack breathed more freely. Then, oh, unhappy turn of luck, the infant in its mother's arms stirred and gave a feeble cry.
The mother hushed it at once, and the fugitives looked at each other aghast. Had that cry been heard? The answer came at once. They heard the pony swiftly wheeled on the stones without. A second later it dashed back the way it had come, the Malay flogging fiercely, reckless of slips or stumbles.
"It was U Saw's man, that big Malay," said Jack to his father. "What shall we do?"
"We must push on and see what lies beyond the town," said Mr. Haydon. "It is clear that he suspects something. All depends now on whether our line into the open country is blocked."
The little party swiftly sped up the farther part of the alley, and worked their way through the town by the narrow lanes which threaded the mass of buildings like runs in a rabbit warren. Through these by-ways the native woman proved a sure guide, and soon, through a gap, they saw the open, sandy waste which lay around the deserted town.
From the last patch of cover they looked out cautiously and saw a dismal sight. The town, as has been said, lay in a great cup-like depression. On the rim of the farther rise, straight in their path, a horseman sat motionless. Jack knew him again at once. It was the Malay. He had drawn up his pony on the ridge above the town, and now sat there, watching intently, a dark figure on the sky-line.
"We are beset front and rear," groaned Mr. Haydon. "He is waiting for companions, and watching to see which way we break cover."
Mr. Haydon had hit upon the truth. At earliest dawn skilful trackers had been set upon the trail of the fugitives at the point where Jack had silenced the dog. Thence they had followed them to the mouth of the pass, and had divined their number and the identity of those who made up the party.
U Saw and Saya Chone had been on the scene without loss of time. The Ruby King ordered that a party of his men should march up the pass and pursue the fugitives. He himself, with the half-caste, the Strangler, and a score of other men, all well mounted, had galloped by a long detour to gain the other end of the pass, in hopes of cutting them off. It was a long journey which the mounted party had to make, and they would have failed if Jack and his friends had been able to keep steadily forward. But the long delay on the shelf-road had told heavily against the fugitives, and now, as they suspected, fierce enemies lay between them and the open country.
As the Ruby King and his followers approached the place where the pass ran out on to the plain, the Malay had been sent forward to gallop at breakneck speed down the path the fugitives must follow, and report any sign he could observe of their presence. He had heard the cry of the child, and suspected at once their presence in the deserted city. Now he sat watching the hollow and waiting for his companions.
"Can we dodge back through the city, and slip out on the other side?" said Jack anxiously. His father shook his head.
"The lie of the ground is dead against that," said Mr. Haydon. "The place is built in a cup. Leave it where you may, you must go up open hill-side, and he will see us at once."
"Then we must find a hiding-place among the ruins until nightfall," said Jack.
"That's all there is for it now," replied his father. "If we can keep out of their hands until the dark, we can slip off and travel by the stars."
He told the native woman what had been decided upon, and she nodded. She knew perfectly well what terrible fate awaited her and her child if they fell alive into the merciless hands of U Saw. The little party turned in search of a hiding-place, and their steps were quickened by seeing the figures of half a dozen mounted men rise over the rim of the ridge and join the Strangler.
In a few moments the fugitives had lost all sight of the men without the city; they were swallowed up in the maze of narrow lanes and by-ways which had once been thronged by busy crowds of city folk, and were now given up to the snake, the owl, and the wolf.
Here and there they glided, looking on every hand for some secure hiding-place, but found none; every house, every room seemed open to the sun and the broad light of day.
"Surely among so many houses we should hardly be found, if we lay close in some of these open places," murmured Jack, but Mr. Haydon shook his head.
"They will split up, and every man will take a patch of the city for himself," replied Mr. Haydon. "And they are adepts at a search of this kind."
"Hallo, what's that?" said Jack in a low voice. They paused and listened, then looked at each other. The chase was afoot. They could hear afar off the voices of men shouting to each other as they hunted through the deserted city.
"That sounds as if they were about the main street," said Mr. Haydon.
"Sure to be there first," replied Jack. "They're searching the place where the Malay heard the youngster cry."
"Very true," said the father. "Let's strike towards the pagoda. It lies away from the danger zone, and there may be a chance for us there."
As they hurried towards the tall shaft which shot high above the maze of ruined houses, Mr. Haydon chatted coolly about its possibilities.
"A pagoda, my boy, is often a solid piece of masonry, built above a relic chamber. The latter is a large room of immense strength, and if anything has stood in the place, that is the most likely. If it has stood, and we can find the way in, we may be able to hide till nightfall. In any case, we can make it an awkward job to attack us."
Both father and son had brought a dah from the battle-ground, and at close quarters no better lethal weapon can be found.
They arrived before the pagoda, and Mr. Haydon, leaping on the first platform, ran swiftly to and fro in search of the entrance. His wide knowledge of such buildings guided him to the spot where it would most likely be found, but, as it happened, the entrance was not difficult to find. They saw a low doorway half-blocked by a huge fallen stone, but with ample room left for them to creep in.
"Here's the spot," said Mr. Haydon. "In we go. But," he hesitated for a moment, "we don't know what may be inside. I'd give a trifle for a torch."
"We'll make one," said Jack. "There are heaps of dried sticks and grass about, and I've got some matches."
He put his hand into an inner pocket of his tunic, and pulled out a waterproof metal box half full of vestas.
"Good! good!" ejaculated Mr. Haydon. "I haven't had a match for a long time, and I'd forgotten you might have a few."
He caught up a bundle of dried grass, and Jack took up several sticks, dry and tindery, ready to burst into flame as soon as a light was set to them. All three now crawled through the low, half-blocked doorway. As soon as they crept into the darkness, a strong, fetid, musty smell, mingled with a horrible scent of decay, made the air pungent and choking.
"Some beasts or other here," murmured Mr. Haydon calmly. "Let's see if they're dangerous."
He struck a match and applied it to the great bundle of dried grass which he had collected. The flame ran through it at once, and it flared up strongly. Jack thrust a stick into the blaze, and they now had ample light to see around them.
They found themselves in a large, low room, whose floor was littered with bones and the remains of animals dragged there for food. They darted glances on every side to discover what kind of beast it was whose lair they had entered. But for a moment they saw nothing. There was a movement in a bed of dried reeds in one corner, and presently they saw two pretty little creatures, having the appearance of big cats, bound out and begin to yowl plaintively. At sight of them the native woman gave a shrill scream of terror.
"Tiger cubs!" snapped Mr. Haydon.
He glanced quickly around the place, but there was no sign of any other living creature there save the two cubs, which now began to frisk about the light.
"Lucky for us Mrs. Stripes isn't at home," said Jack, "or it would have been a case of out of the frying-pan into the fire."
"It would," agreed his father. "But it isn't long since she was here," he added. "Here's a fresh kill."
He pointed to a small buck lying almost at their feet. The blood was still wet on the graceful creature's coat, and it was untorn save for the rents made by the huge claws which had brought it down and dragged it to the tiger's lair.
"If this is the only place available," said Mr. Haydon quietly, "we shall have to creep out again. It isn't healthy to ask a tigress to go halves in her den when she's rearing a family."
"We'll have a look round in any case," laughed Jack, and they crossed swiftly to the other side of the place, holding their torches high, so that a red, dancing light was cast before them.
"What's this?" cried Jack, who was a little ahead. "What's this?" He was standing at the foot of a narrow flight of stone steps which ran upwards and was soon lost to sight in the thickness of the wall.
"Up, up!" cried Mr. Haydon. "This is what I hoped for."
The little party climbed the narrow, winding stairs as fast as they could go. Round and round in the wall the steps twisted, and then they saw a dim light ahead, and came out into a second room, as large as the one below. A broken door of teak hung loosely at the narrow opening which led into the room, and Mr. Haydon put his shoulder to it at once.
"Here's our refuge, Jack," he cried joyously.
"Half a minute, father, before you clap that door to," said Jack. "I'm frightfully hungry."
"So am I, ready to drop," returned his father. "What of that?"
"I'm going to fetch that buck up, or a good piece of it," remarked Jack. "It's a fresh kill, and quite sweet."
"I'll come with you," said Mr. Haydon. "Food is priceless at present, for we may well need all our strength."
"No, no," said Jack, "I don't want to brag, father, but I can leg it a lot quicker than you if the old lady comes home suddenly."
"Very likely," said his father. "I don't doubt that for an instant, Jack, but I'll come all the same." They lighted a couple of fresh torches and went quickly down the steps and across the room below. They found the tiger cubs, drawn by the scent of blood, playing with the new kill, trying to fix their baby fangs into it, and leaping to and fro like a couple of kittens.
"Clear off," said Jack, thrusting one of them aside with his foot, "we want this."
The buck was only a young one, not more than forty or fifty pounds' weight, and Jack swung it up from the ground by its horns. As he drew it away from them, both cubs gave a loud cry of complaint. Their cry was answered upon the instant by a frightful roar, and turning their heads, the two men saw a long, low, huge form gliding in at the opening with lightning speed.