Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/288

 "It was all done in two winks of the eye. But Tib was mad. Not mad at the Dacoits so much as he was at their dogs.

"‘Did they hurt you?' wailed Mrs. Danby, as we wrung his scorched old hand and tenderly patted out several smouldering coals on his coat.

"‘Not once,' he growled; 'but how can the fire-company answer a box if those brutes are to remain on the watch to eat him up?'

"And then the full import of the dogs' presence appealed to us. A sally might be made to stop the flames, as the Shan people seemed to have no firearms. But it was a serious proposition to play the hook-and-ladder act with twenty curs waiting for a bite.

"Furthermore, the pests were certainly wise; for they now formed a ring about the two doors and growled heartily. The Dacoits encouraged them with shrill cries, and while we were debating if it would do to waste our precious ammunition on the beasts there came another fagot rush. Only this time two of the hewers of wood remained with us, as Tib expressed it, in statu quo.

"‘Billy,' he whispered, 'I'm afraid, unless something unusual happens, they'll get us before morning. If they do, try to get Mrs. Danby to the river, where you may find a boat.'

"Here he was interrupted by a prolonged howl