his son.

"Cumner's Son carries the sword that hung in the belt. We are for war,
and the sword should be out of the belt. When we are at peace again ye
shall put the sword in the belt once more, and hang it upon the wall of
the Palace at Mandakan, even as ye who are brothers shall never part."

Two hours Tang-a-Dahit rested upon skins by the bathing pool, and an
hour did the slaves knead him and rub him with oil, and give him food
and drink; and while yet the sun was but half-way down the sky, they
poured through the Neck of Baroob, over five hundred fighting men, on
horses that would kneel and hide like dogs, and spring like deer, and
that knew each tone of their masters' voices. By the Bar of Balmud they
gathered another fifty hillsmen, and again half-way beyond the Old Well
of Jahar they met two score more, who had hunted Boonda Broke's men, and
these moved into column. So that when they came to Koongat Bridge, in
the country infested by the men of the Dakoon, seven hundred stalwart
and fearless men rode behind Pango Dooni. From the Neck of Baroob
to Koongat Bridge no man stayed them, but they galloped on silently,
swiftly, passing through the night like a cloud, upon which the dwellers
by the wayside gazed in wonder and in fear.

At Koongat Bridge they rested for two hours, and drank coffee, and broke
bread, and Cumner's Son slept by the side of Tang-a-Dahit, as brothers
sleep by their mother's bed. And Pango Dooni sat on the ground near them
and pondered, and no man broke his meditation. When the two hours were
gone, they mounted again and rode on through the dark villages towards
Mandakan.

It was just at the close of the hour before dawn that the squad of
troopers who rode a dozen rods before the columns, heard a cry from the
dark ahead. "Halt-in the name of the Dakoon!"

V. CHOOSE YE WHOM YE WILL SERVE

The company drew rein. All they could see in the darkness was a single
mounted figure in the middle of the road. The horseman rode nearer.

"Who are you?" asked the leader of the company.

"I keep the road for the Dakoon, for it is said that Cumner's Son has
ridden to the Neck of Baroob to bring Pango Dooni down."

By this time the chief and his men had ridden up. The horseman
recognised the robber chief, and raised his voice.

"Two hundred of us rode out to face Pango Dooni in this road. We had
not come a mile from the Palace when we fell into an ambush, even two
thousand men led by Boonda Brok