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