questions, and learnt from the khansaman the
simple story of the doctor's rescue. He had been left for dead by the
mutinous sepoys a few yards from his door, and had there been found by
Kaluja Dass, who had conveyed him by night to the secret underground
chamber. It was situated immediately below the fountain in the garden,
and was ventilated and dimly lit in the daytime through an ingenious
series of openings in the ornamental stonework at the base of the
fountain. What appeared to an observer in the garden as a delicate
pattern of tracery was really the ventilating system of the room below.
There he had remained ever since. The healing of his wounds had been
slow, and his anxieties and the deprivation of fresh air had retarded
the full recovery of his strength. No one but the khansaman knew of the
secret entrance through the surgery wall, and it had been a happy
thought of his to place the almirah against it, and to make the sliding
panel. The blanket was stretched across the ceiling so as to prevent a
stray beam of light from the oil-lamp from filtering through the
apertures to the garden.

The doctor was much gratified that Ahmed had been allowed to enter the
city to search for him. He inquired for his old friend General Barnard,
to learn with sorrow of his death. He asked eagerly what steps had been
taken to capture the city, and sighed heavily when he heard how the
little army on the Ridge was waiting until the reinforcements and the
siege-train which Sir John Lawrence was collecting in the Panjab should
arrive. Again he pleaded with the khansaman to take him from the city,
but Ahmed supported the good servant's contention that to attempt to
escape now would be to court innumerable perils, and that it was better
to remain in hiding until the city should be retaken. Ahmed promised to
acquaint General Wilson--who had succeeded General Reed in the
command--of the doctor's safety, and to send word to his daughter in
Karnal. The khansaman asked very anxiously how the information was to be
conveyed to the British lines. He was greatly disinclined to trust any
messenger whom he did not know.

"I will take it myself," replied Ahmed.

During the conversation Dr. Craddock kept his eyes fixed on Ahmed's
face, in the manner of a man seeking to recall something.

"Surely I have seen you before!" he said at length. "Have you been in
Delhi before?"

"Never, sahib."

"Perhaps it was in Lahore?"

"No, sahib; I have never