of the powder-magazine. It
enters the magazine through a doorway secretly contrived in an upright
pillar--or so the fakir swears. Now this is my notion, sahib. If we
go in by the lower way, we must come out that way, and run the risk of
being caught as we emerge. That risk will be greatly enhanced when
we have frightened women with us whose eyes have been blinded by the
darkness. But, if we go in by the upper way, and enter the magazine
itself, I can make the fakir show us how to lift the stone trapdoor I
spoke of--the one that I closed when I hid the women. Then I can ascend
with him, and with say four men, while you ascend to the platform at the
top with the remainder of the men, and guard our rear and our exit.
From the top, you will be able to see us as we emerge, and can cover our
retreat, and follow."

"That sounds like a roundabout sort of plan to me!" said Brown. "Why not
go straight in by the lower route, and gather up the women, and carry
'em out, and make a bolt for it?"

"Because, sahib, we will be at the fakir's mercy."

"Nonsense! He's at our mercy."

"Think, sahib! There, he will be in his own bat's nest, so to speak.
These fakirs are the only men who know the windings of all the secret
passages. They are the rats of religion and intrigue. At any step he
might lead us into an ambush, and we might be overwhelmed before we knew
that we were attacked. If we go the other way, though, I can lead the
way myself, and we need only take the fakir to show us how to open the
door."

"Very well," said Brown. "Let's get a move on, though! I'm beginning to
think that you're a better talker than a fighter, Juggut Khan!"

"Yes, sahib? I trust there will be no fighting!" But the Rajput smiled
as he said it, and thought of a certain lance-shaft which had been
broken in the streets of Jailpore.

"Lead on! Fall in behind me, men! Walk quietly, now, and remember. Hold
your tongues! Each man keep his eye on me, and a finger on the trigger!"

The Beluchi and the fakir and Juggut Khan moved in the van, with two
men to hold the fakir. Next marched, or rather tiptoed, Sergeant Brown,
followed by the other men in single file. In that order they hastened
after Juggut Khan, through the darkness, across a dried-out moat and
round the corner of a huge stone buttress. There they disappeared inside
the wall, and a stone swung round and closed the gap behind the last of
them. There was no alarm given, and not a sign or a sound o