“Look!—look!” whispered Helen, suddenly. “That is where they took me from the boat!” and she pointed to an opening in the jungle, the doctor recognising the spot which he had noticed as they came up the river, and here was where the prahu had turned.
“There is a house inland from here, then?” said the doctor.
Helen shuddered.
“Yes,” she said, faintly; “my prison. I cannot bear to talk about it now.”
The doctor nodded: and feeling that this was the critical part of the journey, he bade the Malays eat and drink as they paddled on, so as to gain strength for any energetic push they might have to make. For his own part he was decided enough as to the course he would pursue, meaning to trust to flight if possible, but if pursued he vowed to himself that he would fire upon his pursuers.
“And I am an Englishman!” he said to himself, proudly. “They dare not fire upon me!”
“Double pay if you get us safely back to the station,” he said, “and in quicker time.”
The boatmen nodded and smiled, toiled harder with their paddles, and they were half-way back to the great river at least, when plainly heard upon the still afternoon air, came the loud beat of the many oars of a great prahu.