. "I'd like to make my men
march round the city and blow trumpets, and then see the walls fall
down. I can think of several things to do, if we could only get inside.
But I can't think how to get there."

"I have found a way in!" said Juggut Khan. "I have cross-questioned
that fakir of ours as well, with a little assistance from a cleaning-rod
wielded by one of your men. He knows the way too. He says he is the only
man who knows it--in which he lies, since I too have discovered it. But
his knowledge may help as well."

"What's that about a cleaning-rod?" asked Brown.

"It was used on him to help him forget his vow of silence."

"When?"

"When you were up that tree, sahib!"

"Have you been giving my man orders?"

"Nay, sahib!"

"How did he come to beat the fakir, then?"

"We both arrived at the same conclusion at the same moment, and the
fakir received the benefit!"

"Who held him, you?"

"Nay, sahib! God forbid! I am a clean man. I listened to his
conversation. The Beluchi held him."

"Oh! Well, I like you well enough, Juggut Khan, but there are things
about you that I don't like. You're too fond of doing things on your own
responsibility, and you're much too fond of using oaths. Y our soul
is none o' my business; you're a heathen anyhow, and no longer in the
Service. But, I'll trouble you not to use those disgraceful oaths of
yours in the presence of the men! Do you understand me?"

"I understand you, sahib. If my respect for all your other qualities
were not so profound, I would laugh at you! As it is, if your honor
should see fit to turn the bullocks loose, and tie the fakir fast
between two men and follow me, it seems to me dark enough by now, and I
know the way. Might I furthermore suggest that the ammunition-box would
make a reasonable load for another two men?"

"Hadn't we better bring our rifles too?" asked Brown sarcastically.
"Upon my honor, Juggut Khan! You're getting childish! Are your nerves
upset, or what? Lead on, man! Lead on!"

"Listen. There are two ways, sahib. One way leads from the burned-out
barracks to the cellar where the women lie hidden. That way is closed by
debris. The other way leads from the outer wall by a very winding route
to the cellar where the women are. The fakir knows that way, and I do
not, though I know of it. There is a third way, though, that leads from
the outer wall, where I have been exploring, straight almost, if you
disregard a wind or two, to the inside