went
towards the town. He stopped, as before, a short distance outside.
Just as it was dusk, the men returned carrying the rope that Meinik
had bought, and a store of food. With these they were sent to the
shelter, and Stanley entered the town, where he met Meinik.

"I have sent in the fruit," the latter said. "I had no difficulty
about it. I told the first soldier who came out, after I had bought
it, that I came from the village where the white officer had been
captured by the bandits. He had been very kind to us all and, as we
knew that he had been carried off badly wounded, I had come over to
get some fruit for him; but I found that they would not let me in
at the gate. I said I would give an ounce of silver to him, if he
would hand the things to the prisoner for me.

"He said, at once, that he would do so. He had heard that the
whites always treated their wounded prisoners very well; and that
there would be no difficulty about it, for that there was a window
at the back of the hut where he was lying, and he could easily pass
things in there without anyone noticing it. If the prisoner was, as
I said, a good man, it was only right that he should be helped.

"I told him that I should look out for him, and might want him to
do the same, another day. I think that he was an honest fellow, and
might have passed the fruit in, even without a reward. Still,
everyone is glad to earn a little money.

"He told me that a strange thing had happened, last night. One of
his comrades had declared that he had found a giant, standing at
the window where the prisoner was. He put his hand upon him, when
he was struck down by lightning. No one would have believed his
tale at all, if it had not been that his nose was broken. The other
prisoner had been questioned but, as he did not understand Burmese,
they could learn nothing from him. Two guards were, in future, to
be placed at the back of the house, as well as in the front."

"That part of the business is bad, Meinik."

"I dare say we shall be able to bribe them, master. You may be sure
that most of them are eager to get back to their own villages and,
for a few ounces of silver, they would be glad enough to help us,
and then to make their escape and go off to their homes. The man I
saw today might find one among them ready to do so, with him;
especially if their homes happened to be on the other side of the
hills, and there would then be no chance of their being seized, and
sen