"Stay here; don't move an inch," he commanded Sadie. "I'm going back to help him."
But whatever help he could have given would have been useless to the Chinaman by the time Jim could have arrived; for the rascal who had fired followed up his attack by rushing towards the fallen Chinaman. Jim saw him bend down swiftly, and then, just as swiftly, he went reeling to one side; for Ching had risen. Like a greyhound set loose he sprang upon his enemy, and the moon shining down upon the whole scene flashed upon something in his hand. Ching had used his formidable knife. The Chinaman, it appeared later, when he was able to give his tale, had merely feigned to be hit. He had waited for the man to come closer, and then had stabbed him. Now he finished the work he had begun with a swiftness which was appalling. He was close to his man in an instant, showing an agility of which Jim had never suspected him capable before, and quick as a flash the knife went home, sending the robber thudding to the ground.
"Back! Run!" shouted Jim, for there was now no need to keep silent. "Back here, and let us get to cover quick!"
"I coming, allee lighty," came the laconic answer. Ching swung the two bundles across his shoulder, bearing the pack saddle with them, and ran swiftly across to the channel; but as he ran the two remaining figures beside the blackened ashes of the fire sprang to their feet, and shots rang out loudly. There came a loud thud as one of the bullets struck the pack saddle, then Ching was out of range.
"Allee lighty, Massa Jim," he sang out coolly. "Ching here; him follow."
And our hero waited for no further information. He took his sister by the arm and hurried her along the gully.
"Bend low," he urged her as they came to the end. "Then run into the jungle; I shall be just behind you."
In a moment or two they were speeding across the open, across the rocky ground which intervened between themselves and the forest, and with a gasp of relief Jim felt that the branches and leaves had closed over them.
"You there?" he demanded of the Chinaman.
"Allee lighty, massa," came the laconic repetition.
He gripped Ching by the end of his pigtail, for the Chinaman handed him that article promptly, realizing, perhaps, that it was well suited for the purpose; then, holding Sadie with the other hand, he followed close on Ching's heels. In that order they came within a few minutes to the spot where Tom and Sam were lying.