so transparent a device! thought Frobisher. He ought to have
suspected a trap directly he discovered that his boots had been removed,
and he might have known that such jailers as he was dealing with do not
leave cell doors unlatched by accident, or leave keys to open other
doors hanging on walls in conspicuous places, just where an escaping
prisoner would be most likely to see them. How those pirates would
laugh and jeer at him on the morrow, when they arrived and found him
there, shivering with the bitter cold of night in that climate, at that
time of year! The mere thought of such humiliation caused Frobisher to
grit his teeth with anger, and he had almost made up his mind to chance
a quick dash across that cruel barrier, trusting that he would not
injure himself so severely as to make escape absolutely impossible, when
something occurred which caused him quickly to change his mind, and made
him shrink back into the shadow of the door, pressing himself up into
one of the corners, to avoid observation and consequent discovery, if
possible.

He had caught sight of the figure of a Chinaman emerging from the shadow
of the jungle which surrounded the fort on its landward side. The man's
figure stood out plain and clear-cut in the moonlight, which was so
bright that Frobisher could easily distinguish his every movement, could
even see how the man was dressed; and he wondered what the fellow could
be doing there at that time of night.

In that part of northern China, especially at that season, men do not
wander about in the jungle at night, or indeed at any other time, if
they can help it, having a very natural objection to being caught and
eaten by prowling, hungry tigers; and it was therefore not a little
strange that this man should arrive at the fort by that way,
particularly as it could be reached much more easily by the road which
the pirates had constructed for their own convenience. It would almost
appear as though the man bad come by this route in order to avoid the
pirates' observation; and the longer Frobisher considered the matter,
the more certain did he become that this was actually the case, and the
more he wondered what the reason might be.

The man had only stood in full view for a few brief seconds, just long
enough to convince the Englishman that he was real, and not a figment of
his own heated imagination. Then he had stepped back quickly into the
shadow of the jungle, crouching down beside a clu