t the fort; and round the yard were low
buildings, doubtless containing provisions and munitions of war;
and some of them allotted to the picked corps who did duty there,
the huts for the rest of the garrison being lower down the hill,
near the second wall.

In one corner of the room was a door. On trying it, he found it to
be unfastened and, opening it, he walked out. There was a flight of
narrow stone steps, in what was evidently a projecting turret.
Ascending these, he found himself on a flat roof, on the top of the
tower. He spent half an hour here, examining carefully the features
of the ground and the defences of the fort. The place, though
strong, did not approach, in this respect, many of the hill forts
that he had seen in the Deccan; and he concluded that a British
force of moderate strength could easily effect its capture though,
if stoutly held, it could defy native attack.

He then returned to the room below. Half an hour later, some armed
natives entered. One of them carried a large bundle of straw, which
he threw down in one corner; another bore a dish of rice, and a
third a skin of water. They had evidently been told not to address
him for, as soon as they had placed their burdens on the ground,
they retired without any remark.

"This is bad," Harry said to himself, when they had left. "I would
just as lief sleep on straw as on a bed but, if I had had some
blankets, I might have made myself a rope; though I don't think it
would have reached the roof of the house below, much less to the
courtyard, so that idea must be given up. I have heard of fellows
working their way through the floors of their cells; but they have
taken away my knife, and there is not a scrap of furniture from
which I could get some iron to manufacture a tool. There is no
concealing a knife, when they bring my food; for it is sure to be
as it is today--rice, or some other grain, boiled, and not even a
spoon to eat it with.

"The door seems the only possible way though, at present, I cannot
see where the possibility comes in. It is of solid wood, and strong
enough to cage a tiger. Still, if I am to get out, I fancy that it
must be through the door."

A closer examination of it did not increase his hopes. Even when he
pushed his hardest against it, it did not yield in the slightest
degree. He sat down on the straw, and turned over every possible
idea in his mind. No scheme of getting out of the difficulty
presented itself.

"The