for another hour; and then, continuing
their journey, arrived at the village before nightfall. They were
received with great joy, the villagers setting up a shout of
welcome--the friends of the men and boys being especially exuberant
in their joy, for they had become extremely anxious at their long
absence. The two troopers were still there; and these saluted
Stanley, with less than the usual stiff formality of the Mohammedan
soldier.

He himself laughed.

"I don't look much like a British officer, at present," he said, in
their language. "Well, has everything been quiet here?"

"Yes, sahib. A sowar brought us orders, from the general, to remain
here; and to send at once, if we heard any news of you. We sent off
one of the villagers, when the man came back to fetch the others,
and said that you had good hopes of getting Lieutenant Brooke sahib
out of the hands of the Burmese."

"I will write a note," Stanley said. "Get your horse saddled, at
once. Directly we have made Mr. Brooke comfortable, I will give you
the letter."

During the time that Stanley had been absent, the houses had been
re-erected, and the village had assumed its general appearance. A
hut was at once handed over to them, and Harry laid on a bamboo
pallet. He had not slept, most of the way down.

"You see I was quite right, Stanley. I told you that the journey
would be nothing."

"Fortunately, it has turned out so. Meinik has already killed a
chicken, and will make it into broth for you. It will be a change,
for you, after your diet of rice. The cooking was excellent, for
the first three or four days; but it fell off sadly. That was one
of the reasons why I gave way to your wish to start at once. You
have done wonderfully well, but a constant diet of rice is not
quite the thing for building up a sick man.

"Now, I am going to write a few lines to the general to say that
you have got safely down, but will need at least another week
before you are able to sit on a horse. Of course, you can be
carried on; but I think that the air here is a great deal more
healthy, and bracing, than it is at Prome and, the longer you stay
here, the better."

Stanley's note was a short one. It merely said that he had
succeeded in getting his cousin, and the trooper who was carried
off at the same time, from the hands of the Burmese, but that Harry
was still very weak; and that, if he himself could be spared, he
would stay with him at the village for another week