"On my brother, on, for these rogues are doubtless the troops of the rebel Li-Kong," exclaimed the princess, as she leant forward from the litter with the bent bow in her hand; and onward they went, with open ears, and as noiselessly as possible; passing along the side of a mountain into which the wood opened, till they came to a gorge, when the guide stopped, and proposed that they should make a _detour_, in order to avoid the passage of the mountain platform. "It is not possible, my master; for to the right are the banditti, to the left the wolves. Let us keep onward and dare this platform;" and again they proceeded through the gorge. Still the wolves kept up their dreary howling, and the trampling of the banditti, if banditti they were, seemed at no greater distance from them than the animals; at length they passed through the gorge, when a sight was before them that would have caused the stoutest hearts to quail. There, leading from the gorge, was the platform of which the guide had spoken. It was supported by rafters, which stood out some six feet from the rock, a mere shelf, without edge or railing, at least five hundred feet above the level of the sea, which the mountain skirted. "It would be death to cross with these animals; we must turn back and make the _detour_," said the guide. "Open thy ears. We dare not, O noble Nicholas," said Chow! "for the wolves are upon us." "Onward, my brother, for there are sounds of more terrible beasts than wolves. Let us trust ourselves in the hands of Providence," said the princess.