clouded, "Oda Yorimoto, the chief of the tribe, is with her."

The mucker sprang to his feet with an oath, and would

have bolted for the village had not Theriere laid a detaining

hand upon his shoulder.

"It is too late, my friend," he said sadly, "to make haste

now. We may, if we are cautious, be able to save her life, and

later, possibly, avenge her wrong. Let us act coolly, and after

some manner of plan, so that we may work together, and not

throw our lives away uselessly. The chance is that neither of

us will come out of that village alive, but we must minimize

that chance to the utmost if we are to serve Miss Harding."

"Well, wot's de word?" asked the mucker, for he saw that

Theriere was right.

"The jungle approaches the village most closely on the

opposite side--the side in rear of the chief's hut," pointed out

Theriere. "We must circle about until we can reach that point

undetected, then we may formulate further plans from what

our observations there develop."

"An' dis?" Byrne shoved a thumb at Oda Iseka.

"We'll take him with us--it wouldn't be safe to let him go

now."

"Why not croak him?" suggested Byrne.

"Not unless we have to," replied Theriere; "he's just a

boy--we'll doubtless have all the killing we want among the

men before we get out of this."

"I never did have no use fer Chinks," said the mucker, as

though in extenuation of his suggestion that they murder the

youth. For some unaccountable reason he had felt a sudden

compunction because of his thoughtless remark. What in the

world was coming over him, he wondered. He'd be wearing

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