t Hossein no longer bought articles from men
who brought them up to sell to the soldiers, but that every morning he
went out early, and purchased all the supplies he desired from the
shopkeepers in the town. Tim mentioned the fact to his master, who
said:

"You see, Tim, Hossein has determined that I shall not be poisoned
without his knowing it. The little peddlers who come up here with
herbs, and spices, and the ingredients for curry, might be bribed to
sell Hossein poisoned goods. By going down into the town, and buying
in the open market, it is barely possible that the goods could be
poisoned. You need have no more anxiety whatever, Tim, as to poison.
If the attempt is made again, it will probably be by sword or dagger."

"Well, yer honor," said Tim, "anything's better than pison. I've got
to sleep almost with one eye open. And you've got sentries outside
your windows. What a pity it is that we ain't in a climate where one
can fasten the windows, and boult the shutters! But now the wet season
is over again, ye might have yer bed put, as ye did last year, on the
roof of your room, with a canopy over it to keep off the dew. Ye would
be safe then, except from anyone coming through the room where I
sleeps."

Charlie's bedroom was at the angle of a wall, and on two sides he
could look down from his windows, two hundred feet, sheer into the
valley below. The view from the flat terraced roof was a charming one,
and, as Tim said, Charlie had, in the fine weather, converted the
terrace into a sleeping room. A broad canopy, supported by poles at
the corner, stretched over it, and even in the hottest weather the
nights were not unpleasant here.

Chapter 13: An Attempt At Murder.

The house, of which the bedroom occupied by Charlie formed part, was
elsewhere two stories higher; this room jutting out, alone, into the
angle of the wall. The rest of the suite of rooms were in the house
itself, but access could be obtained to this room through the window,
which looked on to the terrace of the wall. Charlie's lieutenants
always took pains to place men upon whom they could thoroughly rely as
sentries, on this terrace.

One night, a fortnight after the events which have been described,
Charlie was asleep on his bed, on the flats above his room. On one
side the house rose straight beside it. On two others was the fall to
the valley, on the fourth side was the wall, along which two sentries
were pacing to and fro. From time