"I must run all risks," he said; "there is nothing else for it. We must get down to the mouth of the river and out into the main stream as soon as possible," and having fully made up his mind what he would do, he turned to Helen Perowne. "I am going to start at once," he said; "but before we set off--I say this so as to help me, perhaps, in our effort to get away--" "Effort to get away?" she said, piteously. "No, no; I don't quite mean that," he said; "but before we set off would you not like to make yourself look a little more like an English lady?" She looked up at him with an imploring look, and the tears began to trickle down her cheeks. "Only too gladly, doctor; but you do not understand. They managed their cruel task only too well! Do you not see?--this is a stain, and it cannot be removed!" The doctor frowned as he thought of his store of drugs and chemicals at home in his little palm-thatched cottage, where he wished they were themselves; and then he wondered whether there was anything amongst them that would remove the brown tint from his companion's face. She rose as he held out his hand, but trembled so much, and seemed so agitated, that when he led her to the boat she would have tottered and fallen had not the doctor caught her in his arms, and lifted her in; while directly after the two stout Malays thrust the boat over the shallow sands and gravel till deeper water was reached, the current helping them in their task, which was a long and arduous one, for there were long stretches of shallow and rapid, over which the bottom of the sampan grated before the paddles could be used. And all this time the doctor noted that his companion's wild eyes were constantly searching the shore for danger, such as he was fain to confess might be encountered at any moment, and in view of which he carefully charged his revolver, and altered the cartridges in both barrels of his gun. At last, though, the boatmen were able to give up wading, and seizing their paddles, they leaped into the boat, making it glide down the stream, whose course here was very swift. The doctor talked to his companion, but she was very silent, and they were soon both of them occupied in watching the shores, the doctor growing more uneasy moment by moment; while Helen, in her ignorance, felt that every paddle-stroke took her farther and farther from pursuit--made her safer from being recaptured by him who caused a shudder--when literally she was now every hour being taken nearer to the house that had been her prison all through those weary days. As the time wore on the doctor asked her a few questions about her adventures, but he noted that she trembled so, and became so painfully agitated, that from sheer kindness he soon refrained; and leaving her to make what confidences she chose, he sat with his gun across his knee, watching the shore for enemies, and they journeyed on almost in silence.