"Ah, sahib! Praised be the name of the Most High, you are alive. I was searching among the slain with a sorrowful heart."
The Mahommedan's voice came from some little distance on the left.
"The slain, you say. How many?"
"Five, sahib."
"Impossible! I fired blindly with the revolver, and only hit one man hard with the iron bar. One other dropped near the wood after I obtained a rifle."
"Then there be six, sahib, not reckoning the wounded. I have accounted for one, so the miss-sahib must have—"
"What is he saying about me?" inquired Iris, who had risen and joined her lover.
"He says you absolutely staggered the Dyaks by opening fire the moment they appeared."
"How did you come to slay one, Mir Jan?" he continued.
"A son of a black pig followed me into the cave. I waited for him in the darkness. I have just thrown his body outside."