trange country to struggle through, for roads hardly had any
existence. The rivers were the highways, and upon the banks the
villages or campongs of the Malays were invariably placed. There were a
few narrow tracks, such as the one the retreating party hurried along,
but all else was dense jungle, the untrodden home of wild beasts. So
dense was it that there was fortunately nothing to fear from attack on
either side. It must come from the front, or else from the rear.
Neither friend nor foe could penetrate many yards through the wall of
verdure that shut them in to right and left. To have tried to flank
them without literally breaking a way through the canes and interlacing
plants was impossible.

On being asked how long it would take to march to the river and strike
it high up, the Malay replied, three days of hard walking; and the
hearts of his hearers sank as they thought of their position, with
scarcely any provender, no covering against the night dews or heavy
rains, and only the earth for their resting-place, while a virulent
enemy was always on their track, striving hard to cut off all they
could.

There was no other course open, however, but to face it, for it would
have been madness to have tried to fight their way through the hostile
country; and every one bent manfully to the task.

As they struggled on through the steamy bush the rear-guard was changed
again and again, a fresh party of defenders taking up the task of
keeping the pursuers at bay, and to each man in turn was the warning
given that no shot must be fired unless it could be made to tell;
consequently the fire was less fierce, but, as the Malays found to their
cost, more fatal.

The end of the third day was approaching, and the progress of the party
had grown slower and slower, for their guide's strength had failed. The
poor fellow had fought on bravely in spite of his wounds, insisting that
he was well enough to walk, when all the time he was suffering intense
agony; and this was not to be without its result.

During the day the Malays had attacked far more fiercely than usual, and
though always repulsed, it had not been without loss. Several men had
fallen, while others were wounded, increasing terribly the difficulties
of the case, for the injured men had to be carried by those who found
that their task of fighting their way through the jungle in the midst of
the dense heat was already as much as they could bear.

Still no one mur