ds together, devising a plan by which they might still achieve their
designs against Rahmut Khan.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD

Ordeal

The underground chamber in which Ahmed was confined was perfectly dark.
The floor was damp; the air stuffy. He leant for a while against the
wall, ruminating on this sudden check in his fortunes. That Minghal Khan
had not killed him at once showed that he was reserved for a worse fate.
And what had Minghal meant by the reference to Rahmut Khan? His words
seemed to imply that he supposed father and son to have entered Delhi
together, and to be engaged in some scheme against him. Ahmed was for a
time at a loss to understand what had given rise to this belief. Was
Minghal unaware that Rahmut was a prisoner of the English? But then he
remembered the conversation he had overheard in the room above. This
"old rogue," this Asadullah, of whom the officers had spoken--could it
be that he was Rahmut Khan? He was a Pathan--so much all Delhi knew; was
it possible that the old chief had been released, or had escaped from
prison, and had come into the city to wreak vengeance on the sahibs?
This was a course he was very likely to follow: yet Ahmed hoped that it
was not so; he did not like to think of his adoptive father and himself
being on opposite sides.

Then he fell a-wondering how long he was to remain thus mewed up. And
remembering the talk of a great onslaught to be made on the British
lines on the morrow, he was dismayed. If Minghal Khan went out to fight
he might remain absent for a whole day or more; he might, indeed, never
come back; and then, unless a way could be found out of this dungeon, or
some one came to release him, he might starve to death. The thought made
his blood run cold, and in a sudden frenzy he began to strain at his
bonds, trying to tear the staple from the wall and to snap the links of
the chain. But from this he soon desisted; his struggles were useless;
he only bruised himself. His exertions and the stuffiness of the room
had made him hot; he was parched with thirst.

He sank down upon the floor, and squatted there, trying to calm himself.
There was perfect silence. By and by he fell into a doze, and woke with
a start in confusion of mind, from which he was roused by the clank of
his chain as he moved. How long had he been asleep? Was it night or day?
The profound stillness oppressed him; if he could but have heard some
slight sound he would not have felt so u