, in words that could not be
mistaken, that the whole country would soon be aflame with
insurrection."

"Did he offer any advice?" asked Dr. Marlowe, less impressed with the
news than was his visitor or his daughter.

"He did; he said that the escape of myself and of your family could be
secured only by leaving this place at the earliest moment possible."

"But whither can we go? We are hundreds of miles from the seacoast and
should have to journey for weeks through a country swarming with
enemies."

"I asked him that question, and his answer was that we should make for
Nepaul."

"That is the province to the east of us. It is a mountainous country,
a long way off, and hard to reach. Why should he advise us to go
thither?"

"I questioned him, but he seemed to fear that his companions would grow
suspicious over our conversation and he said nothing more. I thought
he would add something definite when we came to separate, and, to
loosen his tongue, I gave him an extra fee, but he added never a word,
and, unless I am mistaken, regretted what he had already said."

"It seems to me," observed the daughter, "that the man knew it is
impossible for us to get to the seacoast, and believed that by going
further into the interior we should reach the people who are not
affected by the insurrection. Wide as it may be, there must be many
points that will not feel it."

"That is the true reason," said her parent, "but, confound it! I have
lived in this spot for twenty years; the little town of Akwar lies
near, and there is hardly a person in it who has not been my patient.
I am known even in Meerut and Delhi, and I can hardly believe the
mutineers, for such they seem to be, will harm me or my friends."

"You once told me," replied Mary, "that when an appeal was made to the
religion of this people they knew no such thing as fear or mercy."

"And I told you the truth," said her father gravely. "But since we
have weapons and plenty of ammunition, and know how to handle the
firearms we shall not be led like lambs to the slaughter."

"That is true enough," said Jack, "but it will be of little avail, when
our enemies are numbered by the hundred and perhaps the thousand."

"I take it, then, that you favor an abandonment of our home?"

"I do, and with the least possible delay."

"And you, my daughter, are you of the same mind?"

"I am," was the emphatic response.

"Then my decision is that we shall start for the inter