Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/284

 would serve to guide them, and they would thus be saved the slow tracking and uncertainty which de- lays the hunter and gives the quarry his best chance of escape. In their flight from the Familiar of To' Pangku for such they firmly believed the tiger to be -the Sâkai had trampled the thorn-thickets and the underwood recklessly, and even an European would have found little difficulty in reading the tale which their hasty footmarks told so plainly.

Ka', bidding his people follow him, turned his back upon the ascent for none dared again face the fury of the Familiar-and plunged into the jungle, worm- ing a way through the packed tree trunks and the dense scrub with wonderful deftness and speed. Ka', bent almost double, went al a kind of jog-trot. steady, swift, but careful and unhurried; and his people, young and old, streamed along at his heels adopting the sanie nimble gait. They were covering the ground now at a far faster rate than any Malay could hope to maintain through virgin forest; but they were leaving behind them a trail that a chi! 1 could follow without difficulty, and in their passag they were partially clearing a path for the use of their enemies.

All day they kept on steadily, only halting now and again for a brief breathing space when old Sem-pak, overweighted by her load of seventy years, could no longer keep up with her fellows. The adults were from time to time carrying some of the smaller children who had begun the day on foot. At first the sound of the sorak had been heard once or twice,