hours' sleep, so as to be both close to
the quail-ground; and fresh for running. You are so near the boundary of
the preserves that you will not want your permit further; no one will
meet you, and should any one do so, you need only give your names and say
that you have made a mistake. You will have to give it up to-morrow at
the Ranger's office; it will save you trouble if I collect it now, and
give it up when I deliver my quails.

"As regards the curiosities, hide them as you best can outside the
limits. I recommend you to carry them at once out of the forest, and
rest beyond the limits rather than here. You can then recover them
whenever, and in whatever way, you may find convenient. But I hope you
will say nothing about any foreign devil's having come over on to this
side. Any whisper to this effect unsettles people's minds, and they are
too much unsettled already; hence our orders to kill any one from over
there at once, and to tell no one but the Head Ranger. I was forced by
you, gentlemen, to disobey these orders in self-defence; I must trust
your generosity to keep what I have told you secret. I shall, of course,
report it to the Head Ranger. And now, if you think proper, you can give
me up your permit."

All this was so plausible that the Professors gave up their permit
without a word but thanks. They bundled their curiosities hurriedly into
"the poor foreign devil's" blanket, reserving a more careful packing till
they were out of the preserves. They wished my father a very good night,
and all success with his quails in the morning; they thanked him again
for the care he had taken of them in the matter of the landrails, and
Panky even went so far as to give him a few Musical Bank coins, which he
gratefully accepted. They then started off in the direction of
Sunch'ston.

My father gathered up the remaining quails, some of which he meant to eat
in the morning, while the others he would throw away as soon as he could
find a safe place. He turned towards the mountains, but before he had
gone a dozen yards he heard a voice, which he recognised as Panky's,
shouting after him, and saying--

"Mind you do not forget the true reading of the Sunchild's prayer."

"You are an old fool," shouted my father in English, knowing that he
could hardly be heard, still less understood, and thankful to relieve his
feelings.

CHAPTER V: MY FATHER MEETS A SON, OF WHOSE EXISTENCE HE WAS IGNORANT; AND
STRIKES A