afford, but because they were in such abundance,
and so fearless, that they often came in here, knowing that they
had naught to fear from me."

"Then you think that he will return soon?"

"As he told me not of his intention of going out at all, I cannot
say. He is away, sometimes, for hours in the forest."

"Well, in any case, we shall watch here until his return. It may be
that he is some idle fellow, who prefers killing snakes to honest
work; but it may also be that he is the escaped prisoner of whom we
are in search."

"I hear little of what passes in the town," the priest said,
quietly. "News would disturb my meditations, and I never question
those who come here to ask for my prayers. I have heard of the
escape of no prisoner."

"It was a young English officer who got away. There has been a
great stir about it. Every house in the town has been searched, and
every guard boat on the river has been warned to allow no boat to
pass, without assuring themselves that he is not on board."

"This was a brown man, like ourselves, clad only in a petticoat of
rough cloth, like other peasants."

"He may have dyed his skin," the officer said. "At any rate, we
will stay until he returns, and question him. Two of my men shall
take their places just inside the entrance, and seize him as he
enters. Has he arms?"

"None, save his knife and the stick with which he kills the snakes.
It may be that he has seen you coming hither and, if he has
committed any crime, he would flee, and not return here at all."

"If he does not come back before it is the hour when I must return
to the town, I shall leave four men to watch for him; and they will
wait here, if it is for a week, until he comes back again."

"You can do as you please," the priest said, "only I pray you
withdraw your men from the neighbourhood of this cell. I would not
that my meditations were disturbed by their talk. I have come
hither for peace and quietness, and to be apart from the world and
its distractions."

"You shall not be disturbed," the officer said respectfully, and
Stanley heard a movement of feet, and then the closing of the door.

Thinking it probable that the officer might make a search round the
temple, he at once made off into the wood behind the temple. As
soon as he was well among the trees, he exchanged his cloth for the
disguise he had worn in the town and, folding it up to be used as a
blanket at night, he went further into the wood, sat do