vanished.

My discovery set me pacing up and down that cellar in a perfect fever
of excitement. I longed for wireless, a carrier pigeon, an
aeroplane--anything to bridge over that space of half a dozen miles
between me and the Russian lines. It was maddening to have stumbled on
vital news and to be wholly unable to use it. How could three
fugitives in a cellar, with the whole hornet's nest of Turkey and
Germany stirred up against them, hope to send this message of life and
death?

I went back to the map and examined the nearest Russian positions. They
were carefully marked. Prjevalsky in the north, the main force beyond
Deve Boyun, and the southern columns up to the passes of the Palantuken
but not yet across them. I could not know which was nearest to us till
I discovered where we were. And as I thought of this I began to see
the rudiments of a desperate plan. It depended on Peter, now
slumbering like a tired dog on a couch of straw.

Hussin had locked the door and I must wait for information till he came
back. But suddenly I noticed a trap in the roof, which had evidently
been used for raising and lowering the cellar's stores. It looked
ill-fitting and might be unbarred, so I pulled the table below it, and
found that with a little effort I could raise the flap. I knew I was
taking immense risks, but I was so keen on my plan that I disregarded
them. After some trouble I got the thing prised open, and catching the
edges of the hole with my fingers raised my body and got my knees on
the edge.

It was the outbuilding of which our refuge was the cellar, and it was
half filled with light. Not a soul was there, and I hunted about till
I found what I wanted. This was a ladder leading to a sort of loft,
which in turn gave access to the roof. Here I had to be very careful,
for I might be overlooked from the high buildings. But by good luck
there was a trellis for grape vines across the place, which gave a kind
of shelter. Lying flat on my face I stared over a great expanse of
country.

Looking north I saw the city in a haze of morning smoke, and, beyond,
the plain of the Euphrates and the opening of the glen where the river
left the hills. Up there, among the snowy heights, were Tafta and Kara
Gubek. To the east was the ridge of Deve Boyun, where the mist was
breaking before the winter's sun. On the roads up to it I saw
transport moving, I saw the circle of the inner forts, but for a moment
the guns w