t was a German
Mauser of the latest pattern.

'It's hell-for-leather till we find a place for a stand,' said Sandy.
'The game's against us this time.'

Once more we entered the mist, and presently found better going on a
long stretch of even slope. Then came a rise, and on the crest of it I
saw the sun. Presently we dipped into bright daylight and looked down
on a broad glen, with a road winding up it to a pass in the range. I
had expected this. It was one way to the Palantuken pass, some miles
south of the house where we had been lodged.

And then, as I looked southward, I saw what I had been watching for for
days. A little hill split the valley, and on its top was a _kranz_ of
rocks. It was the _castrol_ of my persistent dream.

On that I promptly took charge. 'There's our fort,' I cried. 'If we
once get there we can hold it for a week. Sit down and ride for it.'

We bucketed down that hillside like men possessed, even Blenkiron
sticking on manfully among the twists and turns and slithers. Presently
we were on the road and were racing past marching infantry and gun
teams and empty wagons. I noted that most seemed to be moving downward
and few going up. Hussin screamed some words in Turkish that secured
us a passage, but indeed our crazy speed left them staring. Out of a
corner of my eye I saw that Sandy had flung off most of his wrappings
and seemed to be all a dazzle of rich colour. But I had thought for
nothing except the little hill, now almost fronting us across the
shallow glen.

No horses could breast that steep. We urged them into the hollow, and
then hastily dismounted, humped the packs, and began to struggle up the
side of the _castrol_. It was strewn with great boulders, which gave a
kind of cover that very soon was needed. For, snatching a glance back,
I saw that our pursuers were on the road above us and were getting
ready to shoot.

At normal times we would have been easy marks, but, fortunately, wisps
and streamers of mist now clung about that hollow. The rest could fend
for themselves, so I stuck to Blenkiron and dragged him, wholly
breathless, by the least exposed route. Bullets spattered now and then
against the rocks, and one sang unpleasantly near my head. In this way
we covered three-fourths of the distance, and had only the bare dozen
yards where the gradient eased off up to the edge of the _kranz_.

Blenkiron got hit in the leg, our only casualty. There was nothing for