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Updated: June 13, 2025
Then, at the next second, he saw two brilliant spots of colour, and knew that the Panthays were not alone. A little cavalcade of six riders, mounted on ponies, followed the two naked men on foot. The whole of the tiny procession passed over a little clearing, and was lost again in a clump of bamboos. Jack's heart beat fast and he drew a deep breath.
Jack kept the sharpest look-out, but could catch no sign to show that his lair was still watched. "If they can wait," thought Jack, "so can I. I'll not stir an inch from my cover, however silent they may be." At that instant he caught a sharp, low cry of surprise behind him. He whirled round swiftly, for in his intentness he had actually forgotten the two Panthays, his fellow-prisoners.
Then we can't be far now from the country where the Ruby King rules the roost. But the point for the moment is, how to dodge Mr. Saya Chone." He beckoned to the Panthays to follow him, and all three retreated to the depths of the cave. The elder Panthay ran ahead, waving his hand to Jack to follow. "Hullo!" thought Jack, "looks as if this chap knew of a spot to hide in," and he hurried forward.
Each tucked his new-gained riches in his waist-cloth, and then they busied themselves in making Jack comfortable for the night. He was soon satisfied. He was far too tired to be very critical of his sleeping quarters. As a matter of fact, they were excellent. The cave was dry and warm, and the Panthays made up for him a big heap of soft dried grass.
He looked at the Panthays and saw that they could render him no help. They were trembling like leaves with terror. He caught a name on the elder Panthay's lips, and knew it. "Saya Chone," the man was murmuring. "Saya Chone." "Oh," thought Jack, "this fellow recognises the half-caste and fears the vengeance of a powerful enemy.
The Panthays at once followed him, and all three pushed over the broken floor within, towards the shelter of the cave. Inside, the place hollowed and widened out. Thirty feet back from the entrance it was dusky, and here Jack seated himself on a huge fragment of rock which had fallen from the roof.
He turned his head and saw the two Panthays fleeing to the uttermost part of the cave. They trembled before these terrible enemies. At this moment the Panthay tracker climbed into the cave. He spoke for a few moments to Saya Chone, pointing to the tunnel where Jack stood, but where in the darkness no one could see him.
But in this part of the country, where white men very rarely came, a white face was regarded with the deepest reverence, and the simple, harmless Panthays at once set about the task of relieving the sahib who seemed unable to rise in his carriage. One of them disappeared at once into the jungle, one remained in the bushes.
Thereupon, the foreign Ministers pressed for personal interviews; and after much obstruction on the part of the Manchu court, the first audience was granted. This same year saw the collapse of the Panthays, a tribe of Mahometans in Yünnan who, so far back as 1855, had begun to free themselves from Chinese rule.
As the sun approached high noon a halt was called in shade of a thicket on a little ridge, where the air was fresher than in the dark, steaming hollows. Here they stayed for three hours, and Jack, after he had eaten the meal the Panthays prepared, dozed in the shade.
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