sible to descend anywhere, we must sleep till sunset, then strike
the road above the fort, go down at night, and manage to slip past the
sentry."

"The only thing is, Sahib, that it seemed as if the fort lay right
across the entrance to the gorge, and the road went through it."

"It did look like that, Surajah. Certainly the road went through a
gateway. But there must be a break somewhere. We could see that, in
the wet season, a lot of water comes down there, so there must be some
sort of passage for it; and if the passage is big enough for the storm
water to go through, it must be big enough for us."

Surajah agreed, and they turned off from the line that they had before
been following; no longer hurrying, but walking at a leisurely pace.
They were not pressed for time. There was no chance, whatever, of
pursuit; and as they had been going, for some six hours, at the top of
their speed, they were both feeling exhausted.

After proceeding for two miles, they came upon a small stream. Here
they sat down, lighted a fire, mixed some flour and water--for
although the ghee had been taken from them, when they were disarmed,
they had been allowed to retain their supply of flour, for their
sustenance in prison--and made some small cakes. These they cooked in
the glowing embers. They could not be termed a success, for the
outside was burned black, while the centre was a pasty mass. However,
they sufficed to satisfy their hunger, and after an hour's rest, they
again went forward.

It was not very long before they stood on the edge of the rock wall.
They followed this along, but could nowhere find a spot where a
descent seemed at all possible. After walking for an hour, they saw a
road winding up a long valley below them.

"That is our road," Dick exclaimed. "That clump of houses, Surajah,
must be the one where we generally turned. I know that, from below,
these rocks looked as steep as walls, so there is no chance of our
finding a way down anywhere, between this and the fort."

Surajah nodded. To him, also, the ascent of the ghauts had seemed
impracticable.

"It is no use following this line any more," Dick went on. "We may as
well strike across, until we come onto the edge of the pass, somewhere
above the fort; find a place where we can descend easily, and then lie
down and sleep, till it is time to make our attempt."

In another hour, they were looking down on the road, a mile or so
above the fort. The slopes here wer