"How comes this?" asked Ahmed.

"I had taken food to the sahib when Minghal Khan and the darwan came to
us with a sepoy: without doubt the darwan had spied me entering the
wall. They were armed: the sahib had his pistol, but it is useless
striving against fate. We should have been slain, and I bethought myself
that the sahibs are in the city, and perchance if we were spared they
could save us. While there is life there is hope. And we were bound, and
Minghal Khan had us carried here, and demanded to know the place where
the sahib's treasure is concealed. Hai! what treasure have we! He had
tortured me to loose my tongue, and would have done the same to the
sahib but that thou camest. Truly Allah is great!"

"Have we taken the city?" asked the doctor.

"We have entered, sahib, and Nikalsain is here; but there is still much
to do, and I heard it said that Reid Sahib has been checked, and the
Lahore gate is still to be won."

"Well, then, we must hold this house until the rebels are driven away,"
said the doctor; "it will be a hard task for us three."

"There are men with me, sahib," said Ahmed. "We make about a score in
all."

"Then we can do it. What men are they?"

"Some Sikhs, sahib, and two Englishmen."

"It could not be better. Go and see what can be done to put the house in
a state of defence, and come to me here. I am still too weak to do very
much, I fear; but I can advise, and the men will obey me."

Ahmed hastened away with the khansaman. In the dining-room they found
several large bales of goods ready packed: Minghal had evidently
prepared for the inevitable. It was clear, in spite of his professed
poverty, that he had managed to amass a good deal of plunder, and he had
apparently only delayed with the prospect of adding to his store the
treasure which he believed the doctor had concealed in the house. There
were two pistols on a shelf: he had not had time to snatch them up as he
fled. And in the passage Ahmed discovered a musket and ammunition left
behind by one of Minghal's men in the hurry of departure. With these
latter Ahmed armed the khansaman, who like most Mohammedans had some
knowledge of the gun. The pistols would form an excellent reserve in
case of fighting at close quarters.

Ahmed did not suppose that Minghal had gone for good. With three-parts
of the city still in the hands of the mutineers there would be no lack
of men to help him recover the house that held not only his enemy, but
a