“Now forward,” said Mr Braine in a low earnest voice. “The plan will be to keep on till we come upon a place that we can hold against attack. Frank, Ned, lead on with the ladies; we will come last. Quick, and in silence. Single file.”
Frank led on, but at the end of half an hour no likely spot had been found, and distant shouts told that their pursuers were closing in.
Mr Braine came now to the front.
“We must have some place found at once, boys,” he whispered, avoiding the inquiring looks of the ladies. “If it is only a patch of rocks or a dense clump of trees.”
But no such spot offered itself, and on all hands he could see how easily they would be surrounded and at the mercy of the enemy.
At the end of another quarter of an hour they were approaching a steeper place than usual, but their pursuers were very near now, and the gentlemen owned to themselves that though they might shoot down a few of their enemies, the Malays would certainly conquer; when Ned, who had been staring about him wildly for some minutes, suddenly uttered a low cry.
“Here, quick!” he cried. “Follow me;” and turning at a sharp angle to the left, he seemed to be going almost back to the enemy.
“Stop! Are you mad?” whispered Murray, dashing after the boy and seizing his arm.
“No. I know the place: this way.”
“Yes, follow him,” said Mr Braine. “He may know;” and without hesitation he ran after Ned for a few hundred yards, till the boy stopped to gaze about him wildly, as the voices of their pursuers were now very plainly heard.