avy
boxes; the smoking of this vile paste which she now saw a third Chinaman
dip out of a tiny bowl, on a stick, and drop into his pipe in the form of
a "pill."

_Opium!_

If these men--and the white men of the speed launch--did any smuggling it
was not diamonds they smuggled. It was opium. And they were probably
running Chinese across the border as well. Ruth knew that she was in a
very serious predicament when she had swiftly thought this out, if she
had not realized it before.

What would these evil-looking yellow men do to her--and to poor Chess?
The latter, she was relieved to feel, was biding his time. But what
chance was likely to arise which would lead to their escape from this
cavern?

She looked about the place. Two of the yellow men were between her and
the passage through which she and her companion had been dragged. If she
wanted to, she could not make a dash for liberty.

She turned again to the bedraggled and ragged-haired old man, curiosity
about whom had led to this predicament. The King of the Pipes was
watching her with eyes that glittered like a bird's.

"Hush!" he whispered, moving nearer again. "You cannot escape. The Pipes
are very strong and very agile. They would not let you. To tell the
truth, they fear so much for my safety that I haven't the freedom myself
that I would sometimes like."

"Can't you leave this place?" Ruth asked softly.

"Hush!" he warned her in his usual stealthy way. "Don't speak of it. Of
course a king can do no wrong, and naturally a king can do as he pleases.
Otherwise, what is kingship? But it is always well to bow to the
peculiarities and the prejudices of one's subjects. They do not like me
to leave the throne-room at certain times. So I do not attempt to do so.
When you met me before, my dear, there was nobody on the island but
myself. But to-night you see how many are here, and more yet to come."

"More Chinamen?" she whispered.

"No. Perhaps no more of the Pipes," and she thought he showed involuntary
disgust of the opium-smokers. "But other subjects of mine who must be
catered to. Oh, dear, yes! Being a king is not all it is cracked up to
be, I assure you."

For some reason Ruth felt more alarm because of this last statement of
the poor old man than of anything that had gone before. She realized that
he, of course, really had no influence with the opium smugglers. But she
began to understand that there were other men coming here who might be
more sava