nto it, I followed Denviers, who
had mounted the short bamboo ladder, and was endeavouring to obtain
admission to the hut. We heard a harsh sound within, then the cry of
someone apparently terror-stricken, and a moment afterwards we had
pushed past the Maw-Sayah, who by no means was willing to allow us to
enter the rude dwelling.

The single room, which seemed to constitute the hut, was extremely low
and bare of furniture entirely. A few bamboos were spread in one part of
it, while at the far end was a fire, the light from which was partly
obscured by the smoke, which almost suffocated us, so thickly did it
roll up and then spread through the hut. Near the door stood a man
scarcely clothed, upon whose face we saw a look of the most abject
terror, for, as we surmised, the noise of our entry was mistaken by him
for the approach of the fell thing to which he was condemned by the
Maw-Sayah. We moved towards the latter as he threw himself down by the
fire, which he had only left to see who it was that came unbidden to the
hut where to enter was the preceding event to death. He was clothed in a
long blue strip of linen, which wound round his waist and covered his
body, partly leaving his dark chest uncovered. His features were stamped
with an appearance of supreme cunning, his oblique eyes reminding us of
a Chinaman, while the fierce look in them as they glared at us from
either side of an aquiline nose, which betrayed his Burmese descent, did
not increase our confidence in the man as he stretched out his bony
hands over the fire as if for warmth, although outside the hut we had
found the heat almost insupportable.

"What do ye seek?" he demanded, as he looked into our faces in turn and
seemed astonished at our strange features.

"We are travellers who wished to see a Kachyen village," responded
Denviers, "and we further desired to see some of its inhabitants; but
as none were visible we entered this hut, even against your will. Where
are the people who dwell here?" The man whom my companion addressed
pointed to the Kachyen near the doorway, as he responded:--

"There is one of them, and in a short time even he will never be seen
again."

[Illustration: "WHAT DO YE SEEK?"]

"Can you give us food?" hazarded Hassan, in order to get the man to
continue his conversation, for the Arab evidently was expecting that the
Nat would soon arrive upon the scene. The Maw-Sayah rose and pointed to
the entrance as he cried:--

"That