it.

"Then began the strange events which made the name of Yu Chan so
memorable. For some years a band of marauders had taken possession of
the far range known as the Three Hundred Peaks, but hitherto their raids
in Burmah and Siam had attracted scant attention, while in Ayuthia few
knew of their existence. To them the bonze went, and when the
half-savage troops sent in search of him were encamped on the edge of
the plain the mountaineers unexpectedly swooped down upon them. The
remnant which escaped hastened back to the monarch with strange stories
of the prowess of the enemy, and especially of Yu Chan, the exile, whom
they averred led on the foe to victory. The ruler of Siam, deeply
chagrined at their non-success, ordered the vanquished ones to be
decapitated for their failure to bring back the bonze or his lifeless
body.

"A second expedition was sent against them, but the mountaineers held
their fastnesses so well that, in despair of conquering them, the few
who survived their second onslaught slew themselves rather than return
to Ayuthia to suffer a like fate to that which the monarch had awarded
the others. Maddened at these repeated defeats, the ruler himself headed
a large army and invested the passes, cutting off the supplies of the
mountaineers, in the hope of starving them into subjection. So deeply
was he roused against Yu Chan that he offered to pardon the rebels on
condition that they betrayed their leader.

"They scornfully rejected such terms, and withdrew to the heart of the
mountains to endure all the horrors of famine with a courage which was
heroic. At times the brave band made desperate efforts to break through
the wall of men which girded them about, and each onset, in which they
were beaten back, inspired them to try yet again.

"The Malay who told me their story declared they were reduced to such
straits at last that for one dreadful month they lived upon their dead.
Never once did they waver from their allegiance to Yu Chan, whose
stern-set face inspired them to resist to the last, for well he knew
that the monarch's promise could not be trusted, and that surrender for
them meant death. Often would they be repulsed at sunset in an attempt
to break through the cordon which held them, and yet before nightfall,
at the entrance of some precipitous pass, far remote from that spot,
swift and sudden the gaunt and haggard band appeared, led on by Yu Chan,
sword in hand, as he hewed down those who da