ng the journey was
resumed at earliest dawn, and now they held their way for mile after
mile through wild, gloomy passes between lofty mountains, where no
sign of human life or cultivated fields was to be seen. Hour after
hour they pushed on through this deserted hill country, until, late in
the afternoon, they topped a stony ridge, and Jack gave a sharp
exclamation of surprise.

Below him the ground fell away steeply to a small and fertile valley
with a river running down its midst, and fields of paddy and plantain
lining the course of the stream. Groves of palmyra, and teak, and
palms were dotted about the scene, and in the midst of the valley rose
a tall house of stone. Instinctively Jack felt that they had reached
their journey's end, and that before him was the goal he had set
himself to win, the stronghold of U Saw, the Ruby King. But how
different was his approach from that he had hoped to make! Instead of
advancing upon it in company of his trusty friends, he was marching in
as a prisoner, fettered hand and foot.

Jack fixed his eyes eagerly on the great house below as another idea
sprang to his mind. Was his father there? Had his quest been in vain,
and was Thomas Haydon far away from this lonely valley set among the
wild hills? But Jack believed that his father was there; everything
seemed to point to it. Well, he would soon know, one way or the other.

The path now ran through a native village, whose slender huts of reed
and cane bordered both sides of the narrow way. The people ran to
their doors to gaze upon the passers-by, and Jack knew them for
Kachins. He recognised the short, dark, sturdy forms of the men.
Beside the latter, women in embroidered kilts, with big, queer
head-dresses, and brown, naked, nimble children, came to look upon the
sahib who rode into their valley, the captive of their lord and
master, U Saw.

The village was passed and a grove of palms was entered. Beyond the
palms the land ran smooth and open to the front of the great strong
house of stone which U Saw had built to keep himself and his treasures
safe.

The cavalcade halted before a strong gate formed of huge bars and
beams of teak, and in another moment half of the gate was flung open
by a pair of blue-kilted Kachins. Jack's pony was led inside, and the
English lad now found himself in a large courtyard beside the house.
The walls of the courtyard were formed of great logs of teak, and
round them ran rows of thatched huts