Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/293

 "‘Deucedly clever, don't ye know,' muttered Danby, going as limp as a rag in a second.

"The silence in the forest was deathlike after we fired the two mines. Evidently the Dacoits were somewhat perplexed.

"‘Where's Mike?' asked Tib, suddenly. 'Quick! Now's the time to clinch this!'

"We found him wrapped in a rug, groaning industriously. We yanked him forth and Danby stood ready to kill him or anything else Tib might order. Our leader, however, unfastened the veranda door and dragged Mike out among the supper dishes. 'Can he make 'em understand?' asked Tib of the excited Danby.

"‘The rascal can talk any dialect in the hills,' replied our host.

"‘Good! Now, Michael, cry out to those people and inform 'em that if they don't leave here immediately we'll explode 'em as we did their howling pack of dogs.'

"Mike, in a quavering voice, gave the necessary information, and soon some one replied from the woods.

"‘What does he say?' I asked.

"‘Oh, sahib, he says if you brought his pets to death by the devil's thunder you are mighty and much to be feared. But he says he has seen guns shoot shells that burst, and he knows it was one of