"Three times," he muttered to himself--"three times has my hand been crossed with silver to-day. By God! I have him now. Thanks to the chattering tongue of that servant girl, I know her secret and his. I will strike _there_--_there!_"--and he pointed to the retreating figure--"and this will make him live with a heart wound. For a whole year have I waited and worked and planned, and now the time has come. Oh, that this were the day! But I will not disregard a single omen. Thrice crossed with silver, therefore the third day from this. Courage, Bah Hmoay!" Once more palsy stricken, his feeble steps tottered along the lane and led him toward the pagoda. There at the feet of one of the two great griffins that guarded the gate he crouched, swinging himself backward and forward, and ever and anon calling out, "Alms, in the name of the Buddh!" So he sat until about the hour of sunset, when the womanfolk of the place gathered to the temple, and then he saw one whose stately step and carriage were unmistakable. It was Ma Mie, and as she passed by he called out her name softly, and she turned with a start. At a glance she recognised him. "_You_ here!" she said with a little gasp that choked the word "devil!" which she hissed under the breath. "Yes, but not alone. Where can we speak?" "Come to my house; my mother is there, and there is no harm in listening to the advice of a holy bonze." "Ever ready with your tongue as usual," said the dacoit as he rose, flung his saffron robe loosely around him and followed her with feeble steps. And as she led him toward the house Ma Mie was thirsting for revenge. Here, here was the man who had led her into disaster, and he, above all others, with a price on his head, was walking beside her, going to her own house. The old fox was noosed at last, and it was with a beating heart that she led him into her house, where her mother, old, wrinkled, and hideous beyond measure, mumbled out a greeting. "See, mother, this is a friend, a holy man, whom I have brought to rest here a while. I knew him in the old days, and he has something to say to me." The hag chuckled out: "He is too old for a lover; let him speak, I will not be in hearing," and she went out of the door and sat hard by on a rude seat at the foot of a large palm tree. "Now, what is it you want here?" said Ma Mie; "you with a price on your head!" "You, at any rate, will not give me away." "And why not?" "First, because your brother is one of us, and lies sick in a place I know of; if I am lost, so is he--I have but to speak a word; and, secondly, because you want revenge, and I offer it to you." Ma Mie dropped her eyes for a moment to hide the fierce light that came into them, and pretended to adjust the rich folds of her _tamein_. "Yes," she said slowly, "I want revenge," and she looked at Bah Hmoay straight in the face.