which happened to be
literally true), and proposed to spend the night with him at the other
end of the city. But it would be a pity to disturb his bales at this
time of night; he might safely leave them in his friend the bhatiyara's
care.

"It is understood that you will make some little charge for the
storage," he said, "and I know I leave them with an honest man."

"True, O banijara: I will gladly keep them for you: and as to a charge
for storage, I can without doubt trust to your sense of justice."

In reality the honest innkeeper reflected that in these troublous times
there was always a chance that a stray bullet, or a round shot from the
Feringhis' batteries, might end his customer's career--an unfortunate
matter for the customer, but likely to be very profitable to himself,
with the goods left on his hands. This being satisfactorily arranged,
Ahmed dismissed his coolie, ordered a meal, and while he ate it pondered
the difficult problem--his escape from the city.

There were batteries at intervals along the wall, from the Water bastion
on the extreme north to the Ajmir gate at the south-west corner of the
city. These would be fully manned during the night. The wall would be
watched along its whole circumference; more loosely on the south side,
no doubt, than on the north or west, for in that quarter the city had
not even remotely been threatened by the besiegers. On the other hand,
the sentries there being in no danger of shot or shell, would have
nothing to do but watch, whereas on the west and north, and particularly
on the latter, they would be in some degree concerned in keeping under
cover. Further, if he left the city on the south side he would have a
very long way to go before he could arrive at the Ridge, or at any of
the British outposts, and there was also a chance that he might fall
into the hands of the rebels as he passed through the populous suburbs.
These were strongly held by the mutineers, especially Kishenganj, which
would be directly in his path.

On the whole he decided that it would be best to make an attempt at the
north side, somewhere between the Shah bastion and the Kashmir gate. He
would have to let himself down over the wall, twenty-four feet deep,
into the ditch, ascend the scarp on the opposite side, and gain the
glacis; then there would be nothing but a stretch of jungly country
between himself and the Ridge.

The first requisite was a rope. He had this ready in the cords by whi