es, could save their lives from one. My blood turned to water,
as I saw the beast climbing out on that bough, and you going out
after it."

"I have done a good deal of tiger and leopard hunting, in my time,"
Harry said, "and know that a leopard cannot spring from a bough,
unless it is a fairly stout one--stout enough for it to stand with
all its paws upon it.

"Well, the day is beginning to break. In half an hour's time the
sun will be up, and the wild beasts will have all retired to their
lairs. I hope we shall see no more of them. It is all very well to
fight under such advantages; but on foot, were a tiger hiding near
a path, he would be sure to have one of us as we went along. Our
knives would not do more than tickle him."

Chapter 12: The Defence Of Johore.

Half an hour later, the little party were on their way. They were
stiff, at first, from passing the night in a sitting attitude; but
it was not long before they were able to break into a trot. This
they kept up for an hour then, to their great satisfaction, the
forest abruptly ceased, and they saw, at a distance of about a mile
and a half, the little town of Johore, lying in cultivated fields
that extended to the edge of the forest.

They broke into a walk, for a short distance; and then continued at
their former pace, for they could not tell how close their pursuers
might be behind them. It was not long before they saw men at work
in the fields. The interpreter shouted to them that a party of the
enemy were not far behind and, throwing down their tools, they also
made for the town, spreading the alarm as they went. Fresh and
fleet footed, they arrived some minutes before Harry's party and,
as these entered the place, they found the whole population in the
street, the men armed with spears and krises.

Asking the way, they soon reached the rajah's palace, which
consisted of a central house, round which a number of huts were
built; the whole surrounded by a stone wall, some eight feet high.
The rajah, when they arrived, was questioning some of his people as
to the cause of this sudden alarm. He was greatly surprised at the
sight of Harry, in his full uniform, attended only by one soldier
and a native.

"How comes it that you arrive like this?" he asked, angrily.

"Explain what has happened," Harry said, to the interpreter.

The rajah's brow darkened, as he heard how the escort he had sent
down had been slain, to a man, on the previous day. But