believe they were Mustad and his companion, whom he had heard in the
house. A few minutes later he made another halt. He was able, despite
the gloom, to identify the spot where he had left the boat, but it was
not in sight.

"I told them not to wait for me, and they acted on my suggestion. They
can't be far off, and I hope have run into no trouble."

The occurrences of the last quarter of an hour gave Jack a vivid idea
of the increasing peril. The natives from the nearby town were hunting
for the physician, his daughter and himself, all of whom had not left
the house a minute too soon and now, while he paused on the shore of
the river and listened, he too caught the sound that had filled his
friends with dread. There were no noises from the jungles to the
eastward, though at times the outcries are terrifying, and the shouts
and shrieks of the mutineers and their victims at Meerut and Delhi were
too far away to reach his ears, but he heard now and then the faint
sound of paddles out on the stream.

"Anderson spoke of using paddles," reflected Jack, "but it was a
misnomer, for they have none, and they would not have pushed so far out
from shore when they knew I expected to return so soon. All that
proves that a party of devils have also a boat and are hunting for the
one in which our new friends are groping for safety."

This threatened to make a new complication, but the plain course for
Jack was to keep along the shore of the river and press his search for
the craft, which he was certain was not far off.

His experience had taught him the need of unceasing vigilance, and as