e outlines of things were very clear, he failed
to descry them, and could not but think that they had encamped for the
night. If it was so, still greater was the necessity for speed, since at
any moment the attack on the tower might be begun and the frail
barricade forced or blown up.

Every now and again he paused for a moment to listen, both for sounds
from the village behind him and for the hoofs of the horses. In the
still air of the night the crack of musket-shots might well reach him if
the assault on the tower were begun. But he heard nothing save the
rustle of falling water or the cry of a jackal, and he went on again,
buoyed up by a great hope that he might be in time.

At length, heated and weary, after breasting a steep knoll he espied, in
a well-sheltered hollow far below him, the glow of camp fires. With the
caution habitual in a hill-man he crept down warily; if he should
blunder on a hostile party the chances of saving the village and warning
his father would be small indeed. Taking cover from bushes and angular
projections of the hillside, he drew nearer and nearer to the camp. He
had little fear of encountering a sentry, for the Pathans, in some
matters highly cautious, are in others equally careless. And thus he
came within earshot of the camp, and, lying flat on his face, peered
down to spy if the men there were or were not his friends.

Now he was able to see the dark forms of a number of horses tethered to
trees beyond the camp, and in the middle of the hollow, around the
fires, the shapes of sleeping men. Still he was unable to distinguish
them. He wriggled forward on all fours until he was within a spear-cast
of them, and then caught sight of the red turban which his father always
wore. No other man of the tribe wore a turban of that colour; but still
it might be affected by one of another tribe, and Ahmed was not yet
satisfied. So he crept very stealthily round the encampment until he
reached the line of horses, and his heart leapt with delight when, on
the very first of the line, he recognized the housings of Rahmut Khan's
favourite arab. He hesitated no longer, but gave a low hail, and rising
to his feet walked down towards the fires. His call, low as it was, had
reached the ears of several of the men and of the chief himself. They
rose, gripping their long muskets that lay beside them, and as they
recognized Ahmed, they came forward to meet him, and asked him eagerly
the meaning of this noct