"Me too," said the Burman, snuffing cautiously. "There is a fire somewhere ahead."
"A fire," said Mr. Haydon. "We must take care. Who have lighted it, and what are they doing in a lonely spot like this?"
A dozen steps again and the questions were answered. They cleared a little ridge and saw, two or three hundred yards ahead, a great glowing patch of red where a big fire blazed up, and figures moved to and fro about it.
"A watch-fire," said Jack. "We'd better dodge back. Luckily they're up wind."
The fugitives retreated until the fire was hidden from their view by a great rock, then put their heads closely together to whisper to each other.
"Watchmen," said Me Dain; "they are watchmen keeping guard over the path which runs out of the valley towards the hills."
"Then those cunning villains have set a watch over every road," murmured Mr. Haydon. "Do you know of any way to get out without following a path, Me Dain, any way by which we can clamber over the hills?"
"No, sahib, I do not," replied the Burman; "but here is the woman who has lived ten years in the valley. I will ask her."
For a couple of minutes Me Dain and the native woman held a whispered conversation, then the Burman breathed a deep sigh of relief.
"She can take us out of the valley, sahibs. She can lead us by a way, very rough and hard to follow, but very little used, where they would not trouble to set a guard. But we cannot follow it in the darkness. She will take us to the mouth of the pass, and there we must wait for daylight."