The lower part had a verandah around it, and was floored a little above the ground with bamboos. The gharrie was accommodated in a portion of this lower place, and arranged for the travellers' accommodation at night.
The women of the house prepared them some rice while this was being done, and served it, with fish upon a separate platter.
The rain was over for the time when they were rested and refreshed, so they started for an expedition into the jungle, with which the village was closely surrounded.
They soon found plenty of orchids, and became so much interested in the selection of the rarest specimens, that the light failed them, and they could scarcely "distinguish the veins in a man's hand," which their Burmese guide seemed to consider a felicitous method of describing the hour.
They remounted the gharrie, and were proceeding on their way with the slow deliberation which formed the bullocks' greatest speed, when Ralph perceived a huge, dark mass of something lying right across their path, with two points of living fire gleaming sullenly from it.
It was an enormous leopard, taking its rest, but with watchful eyes.
The bullocks, perceiving the danger in the same moment as the men, made a sudden lurch to one side, nearly upsetting the gharrie, and causing the wheels on one side to sink into a mud-hole, half filled with water from the recent rain.
They stuck fast in this, and the terrified beasts could not drag them out. They plunged, snorted, and laboured desperately; while the beautiful sleek brute rose, stretched himself, and prepared to spring.
Ralph thought his last hour had arrived, but firearms were at hand.