nothing.

"It's just possible they may have done so, of course," said Kitwater,
"but how are we to know? We couldn't prevent them, for we don't know how
many of them there may be. That fellow you saw this evening may only
have been placed there to spy upon our movements. Confound it all, I
wish we were a bigger party."

"It's no use wishing that," Hayle returned, and then after a pause he
added--"Fortunately we hold a good many lives in our hands, and what's
more, we know the value of our own. The only thing we can do is to
watch, watch, and watch, and, if we are taken by surprise, we shall have
nobody to thank for it but ourselves. Now if you'll stand sentry, Coddy
and I will get tea."

They set to work, and the meal was in due course served and eaten.
Afterwards Codd went on guard, being relieved by Hayle at midnight. Ever
since they had made the ghastly discovery in the jungle, the latter had
been more silent even than the gravity of the situation demanded. Now he
sat, nursing his rifle, listening to the mysterious voices of the
jungle, and thinking as if for dear life. Meanwhile his companions slept
soundly on, secure in the fact that he was watching over them.

At last Hayle rose to his feet.

"It's my only chance," he said to himself, as he went softly across to
where Kitwater was lying. "It must be now or never!"

Kneeling beside the sleeping man, he felt for the packet of precious
stones they had that day obtained. Having found it he transferred it to
his own pocket, and then returned to his former position as quietly as
he had come. Then, having secured as much of their store of ammunition
as he could conveniently carry, together with a supply of food
sufficient to last him for several days, he deserted his post, abandoned
his friends, and disappeared into the jungle!

PART III

The sun was slowly sinking behind the dense wall of jungle which hems
in, on the southern side, the frontier station of Nampoung. In the river
below there is a Ford, which has a distinguished claim on fame, inasmuch
as it is one of the gateways from Burmah into Western China. This Ford
is guarded continually by a company of Sikhs, under the command of an
English officer. To be candid, it is not a post that is much sought
after. Its dullness is extraordinary. True, one can fish there from
morning until night, if one is so disposed; and if one has the good
fortune to be a botanist, there is an inexhaustible field open for
s