sured themselves that no English
captives were contained in any of them. The governors all said that
prisoners were never kept there many days, and that it was only when
Tippoo wished to get rid of them that they were sent there. None of
the governors made any objection to answering Dick's questions on the
subject, generally adding an expression of satisfaction that prisoners
were never left long under their charge.

"It entails a lot of trouble," the governor of Outradroog said. "They
have to be watched incessantly, and one never feels certain they may
not slip away. Look at this place. You would think that no one could
make his escape; and yet, some ten years ago, fourteen of them got
away from here. They slid down a precipice, where no one would have
thought a human being could have got down alive. They were all of them
retaken, except one, and executed the following day; but the sultan
was so furious that, although it was no fault of the governor, who had
sentries placed everywhere, he sent for him to Seringapatam, and threw
him to the tigers, declaring that there must have been treachery at
work. You may be sure that I have no desire to hold English prisoners,
after that; and when they have been sent here have been glad, indeed,
when orders came for their execution.

"A good many were ordered to be starved to death. But I never waited
for that. It took too long. Do what I could, the guards would smuggle
in pieces of bread, and they lingered on for weeks; so that it was
more merciful to finish with them at once, besides making me feel
comfortable at the knowledge that there was no chance of their making
their escape. There were sentries at their doors, as well as on the
walls, when the fourteen I have told you about escaped; but they dug a
passage out at the back of their hut, chose a very dark night, and it
was only when the sound of some stones, that they dislodged as they
scrambled down the precipice, gave the alarm to the sentries, that
their escape was discovered.

"No, I do not want any prisoners up here, and when they do come, there
is no sleep for me until I get the order to execute them. But they do
not often come now. Most of the prisoners who were not given up have
been killed since, and there are not many of them left."

Upon finishing their round, they returned to Seringapatam, where Dick
drew up a full report of the result of their investigations. The
sultan himself went through it with them, quest